Review of War (2007) by Gregc. — 24 Dec 2009

I have seen all the Star Wars pictures(hey, I'm from North America, folks) even though I'm not particularly a Star Wars buff. Of all the Star Wars pictures, this is the only one with any serious emotional resonance for me.

In the all the early Star Wars pictures, George Lucas was trying to recapture the old Flash Gordon serials in high tech terms with an overlay of New Age mysticism. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't.

This is the only movie, to be blunt, where I think George Lucas is doing some serious thinking. He's contemplating why someone might turn to (if one might use an old-fashioned term here) evil. This gives the whole thing a gravitas that the rest of the series simply doesn't have.

While I suppose this film gives the viewer (to use a degraded bit of modern-day post-modern jargon) closure in respect to the character of Darth Vader, and the film ties up various plot and thematic odds and ends, it cuts much deeper.

George, who has clearly read Oscar Wilde's "The Picture of Dorian Gray", depicts how Anakin Skywalker's outer deformity grows out of his inner deformity. And George's perceptions here are on a higher level than the rest of the films.

He appreciates that Evil (if, again, I may use the term) is often a strange combination of bad intentions and good intentions. That is a very 21st century perception, miles away from the original "Star Wars.

" And, surprisingly, there is even some wit here. At one point, a character arrives at a planet, proclaiming,'I have come in regards to the War." The alien replies,"There is no War here.

Perhaps you brought one with you?" Ho, ho! Leave aside the whole question of highbrow and lowbrow. This is a great shaft of wit, period. If George had only written this one line, he'd deserve to live forever.

This is, figuratively and literally, the darkest Star Wars picture and quite rightly so. The sadness and the sense of dark inevitability are oddly haunting in their way here. It is said that Japanese popular culture is obsessed with the Star Wars mythos.

This is the film, in my opinion, that justifies the fascinationg. If I had to have only one Star Wars picture, this would be it. Greg Cameron, Surrey, B.C., Canada.