ROTS: Take Two

[dangermousie]

I went to see ROTS for the scond time yesterday. What can I say? It was even better this time around. The theater was still very full, the people still applauded at the beginning and at the end.

I ended up loving the guy sitting next to me, whoever he was. On the other side was a "couple" (a man with a bushy mustache and a skinny girl) who continued to talk loudly and non-stop throughout all of the trailers. Also, mustache boy kept flipping his Blackberry. Ugh. I even asked the guy on my other side if I could move to the unoccupied seat on the other side of him. As they continued talking as the LucasFilm logo flashed on the screen (to applause), the guy next to me leaned over to them and loudly asked them if they were planning on talking throughout the entire movie. They shut up after that and I ended up profusely thanking the stranger.

Also, finally saw Narnia trailer, and it looked incredible. I am all interested now, and I haven't even read the books.

Now, on to my observations of ROTS viewings number 2:

1. Obi-wan leaving Anakin to die there, and walking away without making a move to help him OR kill him. That way lies the Dark Side, and at that moment Obi-Wan has quite crossed over to it. This said, I liked the symmetry of both Anakin and Obi-Wan giving each other a way out during that final duel. Obi-Wan when he begs Anakin not to jump (but presumably to float away and land somewhere else and walk away), and Anakin, even Anakin who is Sith, who is blaming Obi for Padme's "betrayal," telling Obi to walk away as he doesn't want to kill him (and all that without making it a choice between joining him or dying). If that doesn't prove there is still good in him, I don't know what would. Can you imagine Dooku or Maul or Palpatine offering this to anyone?

Also, and yes, I am a doofus for not noticing it the first time, when the mask is lowered on him we see what he will see for the rest of his life and it is horrible. I would have killed myself after a few days and we also see that his eyes are blue, not the hideous Sith yellow. Argh! Oh, Anakin....poor messed-up, fallen, self-hating Anakin.

Yeah, I ended up crying. In fact, knowing the inevitability and what was coming next made me want to curl up in a fetal ball. I cried at Order 66, at Anakin in the Temple with the Younglings, at Padme dying, and, oddly enough, at Obi-Wan and Anakin's farewells in Coruscant. When Obi tells Anakin that he is proud of him and they wish each other "May the Force be with you" I teared up because it was for the very last time, ever. Yeah, twist the knife a bit deeper, George!

I have also ended up wondering if it was Darth Plagueis who created Anakin. Otherwise why would Palpy mention his ability to influence midichlorians to create life (and we know that Anakin literally has no father). What if Anakin is both a Sith and a Jedi Chosen One? Sith because he was created by the Sith to achieve revenge, but the Jedi one because the Jedi profesy talks about one created in such a fatherless way bringing the balance (which he does in ROTJ).

More observations to come later in the day....

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I discussed the question of Anakin's origins with a few of my friends (one of them had seen the movie 7 times by last Saturday...) and we came to the conclusion that Darth Plagueis (sheesh, what a name) is the "father" of Anakin through meddling with the midichlorians. Just as you said, why would Palpatine have mentioned it, if that wasn't the case? I think it'd also explain why Anakin's midichlorian count was said to be off the scale high. Or at least it would seem understandable. And I think Anakin sort of has to be some sort of Chosen One for both sides, although there was only one prophesy. I suppose the Sith may have tried to tip the scale towards their end of the game, well aware of the fact that a prophesy can fulfill itself in more than just one way and may even be left unfulfilled, if the jedis' Chosen One is lured to the Dark Side. I'm thinking there's no balance if there's only one side to the coin.

I don't think I make much sense with this, but then again, I think I did mention I identify with Yoda quite a lot... ;)

Johanna

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Oh, you made plenty of sense.

Yeah, Jedi automatically assume that "balance" means their way (another bit of Jedi's arrogance). But one can bring balance precisely the way Anakin did. By having all the Jedi massacred so that the order starts anew.

[wasabi-girl1.livejournal.com]

I always thought the Plagueis thing was just what Palpatine said to sway Anakin even more. Hit closer to home and maybe he will believe that he was created that way. Because wasn't Darth Plagueis around a LONG time ago? That, and I think they might allude to it more than just one line, right?

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I don't know. In the book it seems pretty clear that Sidious was Plagueis's apprentice. But maybe I misread.

[ewanspotter.livejournal.com]

I have also ended up wondering if it was Darth Plagueis who created Anakin.

Wow, that really makes sense. Huh. Too bad George didn't think of it. ;D

And I'm going to defend Obi because, well, my freakin' username is 'ewanspotter'. You can't quite say he went Dark Sidey because he left Anakin. What really could he have done? Anakin just proved he wasn't going to go all light side again, even if Obi-Wan saved him (and then what happens if he saves him and Anakin goes back to killing?), and yet, would it be right to kill an unarmed man (no pun intended) like that, even if he were evil or in pain? I don't think that decision was necessarily of the Dark Side, nor particularly the Light. I just think in the end, he guessed Anakin would die there (he had no idea that Sidious would come for him). He couldn’t bring himself to just put his friend out of his misery. So a moment of human weakness perhaps, not being able to kill him, but Dark Side?

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

No, I don't think Obi should mail in his check to the Sith Anonymous for a lifetime membership.

But what he did was surely a deed of the Dark Side (he was angry, he left without doing a "mercy killing"). Does it make him a Sith? No. No more than Anakin was a Sith when he (e.g.) killed the Tuskens. The whole point is that people can come back from the Dark Side, from doing bad things, whether the dark deed was something in the heat of the moment (Obi in ROTS, Ani in Ep 2) or even something they did for years. One bad deed (or even many) does not necessarily make you irrevocably evil. This is something Luke understands, but the Jedi of the Prequels have yet to learn.