When I saw Revenge of the Sith for the first time. There were many things about it that bothered me. The most exciting and anticipated film and I ended up walking away disappointed. This is a blog topic I have in the que to post at some point, but to the jist is that I read the book first and went into the movie expecting a lot. It was only a temporary problem however.

One of the problems I had ( the point of this blog ) envolved the defeat and murder of Dooku. The book brings much to this scene. Anakin and
Obi-wan play their cat and mouse game. The over confident thoughts of Dooku as he sizes the pair up. Then they change from the expected to the unexpected and things get interesting. The action keeps going and climaxes with the very dramatic defeat of Dooku. You get all of the thoughts as he realized what Anakin was and how he had been duped. It was a very emotional, long but fast paced scene that had your heart pounding while reading it.

The movie on the other hand was short and anticlimactic. I still feel the fight scene was too short but I no longer have a problem with how the murder was handled. I only just came to this thought yesterday as a matter of fact. Perhapse its been discussed before but I haven't seen any of it to my knowledge.

What is my reason for changing my mind? It was happening in real time and of course real time emotion. We as a generation have been bombarded with comic book dramatics. This has bled over into the movie genre as film makers try to out do the others with dramatic, action packed, high intensity emotion filled scenes. Birds-eye and worms-eye perspective are use. Sweeping motions and camera pans that can now be accomplished with CG are the norm. We have come to expect it. I am guilty of it. I admit. Was this needed here in this case. For the action junkie perhaps but I think I finally glimpsed Lucas' prowes here. The coldness of the action here needed the real time treatment.

The sandpeople he murder were heat of the moment, passionate anger. He had temporary insanity and couldn't see what he was doing and lost all control. The quick intense (dramatic) scene fit this moment. With Dooku this isn't the case. He was thinking very clear and new his duty. He was being goaded along however by Palpatine and did something he knew was wrong. How many times have we as humans done things that we could not take back, big or small. We at a moment cross a line and there it is snip. The proverbial white elephant in the room or in this case the head rolling across the floor. You see yourself doing or saying what ever it is and when the act is finished it is just that. Its done and time keeps going. You are stuck there feeling cold, dumbfounded even, but nothing in this world can change or take back what just happened.

I can think of a few not of this caliber but that made me feel similar. Once as a child around four I took a frog and tossed it up in the air letting it drop to the ground again and again. The last time It missed the grass and it hit pavement with a splat. A horrible feeling over came me as I realized I had killed a living thing. A feeling I still remember. What right did I have to do this. Another time while goofing around shot my dog in the foot with a BB (the only gun I have ever owned BTW). I was trying to scare him but his own movements and my stupidity collided. It actually stayed lodged in his foot for nine years before it caused an infection and had to be removed. Once while on my way home from class and was driving on Sam Cooper Blvd. in Memphis a dog walked out onto the road which is essentially a busy highway. I couldn't stop and hit his hind end. Not my fault but I actually cried on my wifes shoulder about it for two hours. I had a crystal that belonged to my maternal grandfather that I had carried with me for years after his death (very important to me)and used it in meditation. It is depicted in some of my artwork shown at the end of these blog entries. here, and here I had said crystal in my jacket pocket one cold winter night about three and a half years ago, and bent over. It was pushed out of the shallow pockets and hit the concrete with a clear toned ringing shatter. Though I have a different and much better take on this today, I was devistated then. I could come up with more but I'm not writing a novel. Everyone has these moments and will have more. We can only hope they don't include the death of a person.

Back to Anakin however. This was a cold and brutal what have I done, life keeps going on around you moment that Anakin at least on the surface wanted to take back (strong with the Force he is, but not that strong). I believe the music even goes quiet here as you have the cold thud of the head and body. The scene as structured by Lucas and his team sets the hard reality of the moment. When real life happens we don't have a score or camera angles. It just is. Then life goes on.