This has to be the most thought-provoking Star Wars movie ever. I haven't read so many interesting and disparate musings on the boards since...well, ever.

I just saw Revenge for the fourth time last night, this time in digital. The color and sharpness were stunning - environment shots are literally breathtaking. I got lucky; there's a digital theater less than a half-hour from here, in San Jose. Next time I'm gonna sit in the second row - it seems that digital is clear enough that it wouldn't be too blurry. The theater was packed, though, even ten days after opening. The line outside was three times longer than when I saw it on opening night. Good crowd, too - chuckles and cheers all around. If you have the means, I highly reccomend it. But enough dawdling, let's get onto the meat and potatoes:

Somebody Get Freud
Anakin must hate kids. When he killed the Tuskens in Clones, he made it a point to kill "not just the men, but the women, and the children too". Now we get the whole Padawan slaying thing. Next up, Vader cuts off Luke's hand right before he tells Luke that he's his pop. Could it be because he subconciously hates the child for "killing" Padme during childbirth, or is it just that he hates the innocence of that little boy he was on Tatooine? (Disclaimer: most of this is tongue-in-cheek and doesn't really work inside of the timeline, but it's an interesting thought nonetheless)


Build Your Own Chosen One
Some people have conjectured that Palpatine created Anakin. I doubt this, because he said that Darth Plagueis was the only one that was able to do it. Even IF he were telling the truth. If anyone created Anakin, it would be Darth Plagueis. But honestly, I think Plagueis created Palpatine, and Anakin was the Force's light-side backlash to Palpatine's creation. Palpatine was created by Plagueis to be the artificial Chosen One, wrought of dark magics and twisted from conception.

Think about it - not only is he the second-most powerful Force-user in the universe, but he's also the only character in the Star Wars universe that's pure evil. This explains not only why Palpatine is so interested in Anakin, but also their strange affinity to each other.


Sand is the Path to the Dark Side
This one from my friend Scott: Anakin HATES sand. He likes soft, smooth things. Padme is soft, and smooth, and brings him to his happy place. Sand is where his mother was killed, and were he was enslaved. And where does he land - limbless, beaten and smoldering? SAND. That's why Tatooine is the perfect place to hide Luke. Think Vader's ever gonna come near sand again?


Empathic Kids
It kind of bothers me that people worry so much about Leia not really seeing Padme. Not only do we cut away to the reconstruction of Vader before we see if they have a "moment" together (it's entirely possible that they do), but it's entirely possible that Leia senses her through the Force.

Not to place gender stereotypes or anything, but women are typically more empathic than men. It seems likely that Leia would not only sense her mother when she's in the womb, but after birth as well. Not only that, but Leia grows up surrounded by those who knew her mother quite well. I would be surprised if her latent Force powers didn't absorb memories from her father, or the psychic residue permeating Artoo and Threepio.

Luke has no such benefit, since Obi-Wan isn't even allowed near him. Owen and Beru probably only remember Padme as "that space tramp that Anakin was hanging out with".


Man vs. Destiny
Further proof of George Lucas' genius: we know the ending of the story, what would happen if the characters knew it too, and were trying to avoid it? This is what the whole premonition thing probably springs from, and why we feel "with" the characters even though we know the ending.

Anakin knows that Padme is going to die. He knows the end of the story (or part of it), and he does everything that he can to avoid it - creating a self-fulfilling prophecy in the process. Somehow, amazingly, George managed to have Anakin know part of we know, causing us to be "with" the characters even though we know what will happen. And he's had this in mind all along, too - Anakin's foresight is the only way the he can race pods. It's the only way that he knows he's going to see his mother again. It's the only way that he knows he's going to marry Padme, even though she's five years older. It's the only way that he knows his mother is going to die.

George has been planning this all along, making a story about unavoidable premonitions right under our noses. I can do nothing but shake my head in wonder at it all.

Next issue - I review the "Revenge of the Sith" video game!