Episode III Named Favorite Movie, Favorite Drama

I'd say this is exactly why we do what we do, as fans, as debaters, as mods, as admins, as bloggers, as posters, as a community -- this movie was the culmination of the Prequel Project, and it brought it all home.

Episode I: The Phantom Menace, though the source of some trepidation, grew on me in time. Two years later, I really started to appreciate its grand scope and story.

Episode II: Attack of the Clones was exciting, but in retrospect became my least favorite of my favorite movies of all time. Which still makes it a favorite.

Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, however, took those elements and drew them together into a tight, action-packed drama. It did justice to the arc of Anakin's tragedy, to Yoda and Obi-Wan's sacrifice, and to the demise of the once mighty Republic that for so long lived only in our imagination until Mr. Lucas could weave it into Episode III's rich tapestry through his own vision.

In the end, it really is as he said - it's all one movie. One very long, very exciting, very sad, very uplifting, very meaningful, very important movie that began as a fun matinee, spoke something to the heart in the middle, and ended as a fun matinee that, though it could be dark, gave hope. It even flows as one movie, starting with action and suspense, slowing in the middle as the characters and their conflicts are revealed, and ending with a spectacular crescendo that wil live on as a classic cinematic moment.

Imagine someone undertaking that endeavor: To take a story as monumental as Star Wars, tell the end of the story, and then go back to the beginning, only to end in the middle. The end product was singular in movie history - to make people eager to go back and see a movie they had already seen, and to enrapture an audience into reliving their childhood.

We've come full circle with this movie, in many ways. Congratulations Episode III Cast and Crew! And fans.

DM out

(more here in my long-suffered review)
(SW.com Release)