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Obi-Wan Kenobi: Part III (2022)
Using my IMDB account for the first time in years to review this...
I would, by and large, consider myself a mostly casual Star Wars fan.
I have watched the original trilogy several times since I was a kid in the 90's, and agree with the majority of the fanbase it is the best, most well-told arc Star Wars has to offer.
I recall watching the prequels in theaters, and while I didn't love much of them, I still enjoyed them, and found them a worthy addition to the franchise. I especially loved the era of the Jedi and force users they explored.
I read some of the books as a kid and enjoyed them. Played KOTOR 1, and 2, and agree with the universal praise the first got.
I remember being excited when I heard Disney, a company I've always been a fan of, was getting Star Wars, and that a sequel trilogy would be happening. And, as popcorn flicks - I enjoyed the sequels. But I also 100% agreed with the criticisms and the clear lack of a true vision for a three episode arc. Personally I think they ought to have had Rey either go to the dark side (a bad ending Star Wars, as a franchise, is one of the few capable of presenting), or else got the Rian Johnson route of "no Jedi, no Sith, just force users." Before the pitch forks get raised!! It'd have created a cool, third new era to explore... Prequels: Jedi reign, lots of cool fights and powerful force users. Originals: Empire reign, backs against the wall storytelling. Sequels: The Jedi, and the Sith, are gone - what does that universe look like?
Finally, I watched the Mandalorian, and enjoyed it, particularly the Luke episode, which was an incredible way to end what we've seen up until this point. Ignored Boba Fett because I heard it wasn't great and I've never cared for that character much to begin with. And haven't seen any of the cartoon shows / series. I did see Rogue One but largely don't remember it, same with Solo.
This episode, right here, is the first time I've truly felt like a kid again with Star Wars, and it all came down to the reunion between Obi-Wan and Anakin. I literally kept having to use the 10-second backtrack option on my remote to re-watch it, even on my first playthrough. Re-watching Ewan McGregor's face as he realized he sensed Anakin again for the first time since Mustafar. Fresh off believing he'd killed his former apprentice there in a fiery blaze. The fear in his eyes - the pain of recollection.
Then Vader comes strolling down the road.
I'll be honest: I have always thought Darth Vader was WAY overrated as a movie villain. Again - before the pitchforks! - in the originals, if you think about it, he really doesn't do much. He has a cool suite and voice, but repeatedly gets beat, and other than perhaps the greatest movie plot twist of all time - what more can you say about him? Palpatine, by contrast, was always the true enemy of Star Wars. The big bad. Vader was just a puppet.
Now?
It's like Disney truly understands what this character needs to be the great, big, scary threat Vader had always been portrayed to be. Every time I've seen Vader lately - you FEEL the tension in the room. You SEE the horror. You GET those spine shivers in your back. His presence is LEGITIMATELY terrifying in the last three things I've seen him in - Rogue One's hallway massacre, Fallen Order's "run or die, you have no chance," and now, this?
Obi-Wan, who in my opinion is the greatest Jedi / hero the Star Wars universe has to offer - dude literally never lost a fight in the prequels - has become a complete shell of a man and his former self. He thought Anakin dead. He realized he was still alive after episode 2. All the pain, grief, and guilt returned to him. Only now? Obi-Wan might as well be Finn from the sequels wielding a lightsaber - he has almost completely lost any connection he had with the force, and hasn't fought or touched a lightsaber in years. The one-time great Obi-Wan, who was able to best his apprentice fighting his hardest in a duel to the death on Mustafar - knew he was absolutely f#$&(#$ in this fight. So he tried to run. As he watched Vader, who sensed him there, brutally kill innocent people on the streets in an attempt to lure him out.
He ran - but Vader intercepted him. Weird teleporting people aside this episode (the sister did it with Leia too) - what an absolutely epic, incredible reunion. Vader lighting up his saber while Obi-Wan watches in horror and asks what he's become. Vader telling him he's what he made him. Obi-Wan running again. Vader, casually, torturously, hunting him. The set piece was irrelevant. This wasn't about the location of the fight. It was about two men with a painful history between them, finally reunited after 10 years, and about one of them exacting his revenge on his one-time better master.
I've seen people complain about the fight itself. Think about that though. It wasn't a fight because Obi-Wan damn near doesn't even know how to fight anymore. He's next to nothing of the man he once was during the prequel era. He was just trying to survive - not fight. Again, this was basically the equivalent of Finn vs. Vader, not prequel-era Obi-Wan vs. Vader, where the fight could have gone either way. And Vader could tell. He could see and sense the fear in his old master. He knew he'd won before the fight even started - the first time he saw Obi-Wan run away, he knew it was over. So Vader was toying with him in the fight. That's all it was. And I actually loved it for another reason as well - in the prequel era, with so many powerful Jedi and Sith, I understood why the fights were bombastic, crazy, full of force powers and crazy swordplay. But that's never made sense compared to the slow-moving swordplay of the Originals. Why couldn't Vader destroy Luke in Return of the Jedi? Take Anakin of episode 3 vs. Luke of episode 6 and it should be game over pretty quick. I viewed this fight, in some regards, as a transition between the powerful fighting days to the slower, more methodical ones. Again - Vader wasn't trying to win. He was trying to torture the man he felt left him to die.
And he succeeded. My God, the fire scene. I had no idea what to expect from these two characters seeing each other again other than - yeah, this'll be a fight. But Vader lifts Obi-Wan, pulls away his lightsaber, all like it's nothing to him (because it is), and drags him through fire to have Obi-Wan experience just how horrible Anakin's supposed death was?? How unbelievably poetic, cruel, and torturous could someone get?! And Obi-Wan's screams... it wasn't just the fire. Though that surely hurt like hell.
Vader could have killed Obi-Wan there. He could have easily gone after him despite the fire divide. I interpreted it as he didn't have to. The space port was shut down. He knew Obi-Wan was not a threat to him. And he's enjoying slowly hunting him down now and destroying him - mentally, spiritually, emotionally, physically - the worst form of torture. You know what you did to me. Now you're nothing, I'm the powerful one, and I'm going to to make you suffer like you've never felt before.
Unbelievable storytelling. I don't know how anyone could think anything less. If your answer is - because it negates the Originals... I'd argue that with you.
A) Obi-Wan never knew Anakin survived at the end of episode 3. This series rectifies that error, so when Ben Kenobi is telling Luke in episode 4 how Vader betrayed and murdered his father - it makes sense. He knows Vader is Anakin now. Before - how would he have known that?
B) Leia calling out to Ben Kenobi, "you're my only hope." A bit odd she'd specify the Clone Wars - perhaps she doesn't know in episode 4 that Ben is Obi-Wan - but it's also possible that this is how Leia knew about Obi-Wan - from their time together in this series.
C) Vader saying in episode 4... "A presence haven't felt since..." - that doesn't necessarily mean Mustafar. It could easily mean since this series.
To me - it all fits. And I feel like a kid again watching this episode. I absolutely loved it and can't wait for the rest of the series - don't worry - Obi-Wan will face Vader again before it's over.
Serenity (2019)
Better Before The Twist
Just finished watching this with my wife. I'd seen the trailer and it looked good... and it was, until about halfway through the movie where, in my opinion, it went off the rails with a stupid plot twist. I understood the twist and everything that transpired after, but felt it unnecessary and worse, that the movie would have been better without it, sticking to it's original setup. The whole landscape of the film changes after that twist and not for the better - it feels like it exists just so it can exist, and not for the betterment of the story.