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George Lucas’ Empire Gets Its Revenge N.R. Archive. Boston -- May 2005. The final act in the Star Wars cycle, titled Star Wars – Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, has laid bare creator George Lucas’ underlying left-wing critique of American Empire. For many Americans, the original Star Wars (1977), was an exhilarating portrayal of courage and heroic struggle against tyranny and an evil galactic empire (in that age, generally perceived as against Soviet imperialism). Indeed, for most of the 1980s the political discourse in our country over how America would meet the challenge of confronting a dying and desperate...

Folks, first the good news: I watched Star Wars Episode III: The Revenge of the Sith twice. I also read the excellent novelization of the script by Matthew Woodring Stover. Of course, this is a great saga, good story-telling almost 30 years in the making. I was there, 12 years old when the first Star Wars came out, standing on line on a stormy day in Ponce, Puerto Rico, and like many other fans, have watched the franchise grow and read uncounted novels involving the characters we all love. Star Wars is a morality tale. One may see countless influences...

Political Lessons Learned from "Revenge of the Sith" Emperor Palpatine: The Shadow of Modern American Liberalism by Frank Williams -- June 8, 2005 When "Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith" premiered several weeks ago, liberals were crowing that President George W. Bush had much in common with Darth Vader, one of the chief villians in the Star Wars series. As a die-hard Star Wars fan who has already seen Episode III more than once, I must take exception with their analysis. I believe the strongest parallel between Star Wars and modern American politics is found in Palpatine, the...

What can you say about a movie whose most engaging character is a two-foot tall, pointy-eared, green alien? "Star War III: The Revenge of the Sith" is heavy on special effects but sparse on drama, romance, and emotion. It’s also filled with director George Lucas’s muddled thinking. And, yes, it’s science fiction in the service of Michael Moore’s worldview. Despite its record-breaking opening, the last Star Wars installment is bad cinema, because it is a poor narrative. The light-saber duels are fun. The alien creations are cool. The attempts to portray passion or the corruption of the human spirit (how...

While thousands of people waited in line for the premiere of "Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith," hundreds of others didn't wait in line at all. And they didn't have to pay. They downloaded pirated copies of the movie, burned them onto DVDs, and watched the last and latest of the Star Wars saga in their homes. Illegal? Yes. And also very, very easy. What is apparently a pre-release studio copy of "Revenge of the Sith" was uploaded onto the BitTorrent file-sharing network. First hundreds, then thousands of people downloaded it. And one of the features of...

STAR WARS EPISODE III: REVENGE OF THE SITH Vengeance is mine, saith the Sith, whith thoundth like Violet Elizabeth Bott. No such luck. Instead, it’s George Lucas, with what he insists is the final film in the Star Wars sextet. My guess is the first film in the new Star Wars septet will be opening circa 2008. Anyway, Revenge of the Sith is, so Lucas assures us, a ‘tragedy’. It might have been wise to have stationed an announcer at every movie house to announce this fact over the PA system since it eluded the audience I saw it with...

In my son's multimedia class - during the time for finals - they watched 2 hours of this movie, Star Wars Ep. 3. Teacher claimed to be a friend of George Lucas. He said it wasn't illegal, pirated, or downloaded. The menu on the dvd was not multimedia. Anyhow, what would you do? Nothing? Something? What kind of values are they teaching anyway. Never mind, don't answer the last question. :)

Vengeance is mine, saith the Sith, whith thoundth like Violet Elizabeth Bott. No such luck. Instead, it’s George Lucas, with what he insists is the final film in the Star Wars sextet. My guess is the first film in the new Star Wars septet will be opening circa 2008. Anyway, Revenge of the Sith is, so Lucas assures us, a ‘tragedy’. It might have been wise to have stationed an announcer at every movie house to announce this fact over the PA system since it eluded the audience I saw it with last weekend. When the Sith hits the fan,...

Politics gets into everything these days, even "Star Wars." "George Lucas must be a Democrat," said our 15-year-old son as he arrived home from the opening day of the latest Star Wars movie, "Revenge of the Sith," a film with the unfortunate initials, "ROTS."Ah, The Force is strong in this one, I thought, echoing Darth Vader. For, without the benefit of any advance word or special Jedi abilities, our young Jedi easily detected the anti-Bush propaganda that some liberals, to their delight, and some conservatives, to their fuming outrage, allege is imbedded in Lucas' new flick. In keeping with today's...

Pity George Lucas. Why should we pity George Lucas? The man could fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool with ten-thousand dollar bills and still have money left over. The Lucas six-episode saga of good versus evil, StarWars, is being dissected by nearly everyone who sees them. I must admit, I can’t resist doing some dissection myself. This last episode, Revenge of the Sith, is drawing more attention than the previous five installments. For anyone not familiar with the Star Wars movies, all one needs to know is that the Jedi Knights and the Sith are sort of like cousins. Both have...

Is the United States in danger of becoming an empire ruled by military force? Star Wars creator/director George Lucas and some of his fans appear to think so, judging by the content of Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, which opened in cinemas across the world last week. The question is, if Star Wars is an allegory of our times, who is the emperor and who is Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader? When conceiving the notion of the democratically elected chancellor-turned-emperor back in the 1970s, Lucas initially wanted audiences to identify with a contemporary figure and had then-US president...

AUSTRALIA... ENGLAND.. NOW USA... NEWSCORP Lord Rupert Murdoch can now claim the top spots in the media industry. The 20th Century Fox, Murdoch, 74, has become 21st Century Daddy. On Wednesday night the TV season ends with an IDOL bang and FOX finishing #1 -- for the first time -- in the ad demo, 18-49, and #1 in teens. At the box-office Murdoch takes #1 by distributing REVENGE OF THE SITH. In the heated cable news race, FOXNEWS [despite faulty Internet rumors] continues to dominate all dayparts, all demos, all ratings, and has all but caught CNN in ad revenues....

The current episode of "Star Wars" is dynamite for the duplicitous Bush administration. Palpatine, a Sith Lord masquerading as a galactic Republican, becomes Chancellor of the Galactic Republic through deception. Palpatine uses wars that he instigates to elevate security over the power of the Senate and to become dictator. In a moment of triumph, Palpatine tells the Senate, "In order to ensure our security and continuing stability, the Republic will be reorganized into the first Galactic Empire, for a safe and secure society." The senators respond with sustained cheering and applause. Padme says, "So this is how liberty dies, with...

It is arguable that the most famous line in “Revenge of the Sith” comes from Padme Amidala. When Palpatine announces to a rapturous Senate that the Republic is to be re-organised as the first Galactic Empire, she says: "So this is how liberty dies. With thunderous applause”. We are supposed to infer from this statement that freedom has been traded for security, and democracy traded for a dictatorship. As such, it is supposed to be a dark day, a tragedy, one which will take 20 years and the original three films to remedy. However the question that no one asks...

First, there are three good references on the Didache or Teaching of the Two Ways http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/info/didache-wace.htmlhttp://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp%3Fartid%3D341%26letter%3DD&e=9707http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04779a.htm There is a fourth reference that has the complete Didache contents (translation):http://www.didache.com The Didache starts out with: There are two Ways, one of Life and one of Death, and there is a great difference between the two Ways. In Star Wars, there are two ways -- the way of the Jedi and the way of Darkness. In Star Wars Episode III, key to the success of the Jedi is being unselfish and avoiding the sins of passion. The Sith, on the other hand, are...

For those who have seen Epsiode 3, will there be a 3 1/2? Click though to comments... I don't want to post my spoilers where those who have not seen it will see....

Frank Oz provides the voice of Yoda in Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith 'Star Wars' earns $108.5 million in first U.S. weekend Sunday May 22, 3:03PM ET George Lucas' final "Star Wars" movie scored the second-best three-day weekend of all time on Sunday, but the Force was not strong enough to prevent overall ticket sales in North America from posting a year-on-year-decline for the 13th consecutive weekend. "Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith" sold an estimated $108.5 million worth of tickets for the Friday-to-Sunday period, taking its total to $158.5 million since...

Wherever you are, Adam Smith, call your agent. Darth Vader is stealing your best stuff. The new installment of "Star Wars" has set off the usual dreary red-blue squabble, with liberals using the film to attack Republicans, and some conservatives calling for a boycott. But - and I know this is hard to believe for a movie with characters named General Grievous and Count Dooku - there's actually a serious bipartisan lesson about the dark side of politics. If you can sit through the endless light-saber duels and robotic dialogue, you finally see what turned Anakin Skywalker into Darth Vader....

Jewish World Review May 20, 2005 / 11 Iyar, 5765 W. is the dark side of new ‘Star Wars’ By James P. Pinkerton http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | The politics of the "Star Wars" movies have twisted around for the past three decades, but now, in the final episode, director-creator George Lucas has made a bid for critical acclaim — even if it costs him commercial success. But that's OK. Lucas, now in his seventh decade, has his billions. What he needs now is absolution for past Jewish World Review May 20, 2005 / 11 Iyar, 5765 click for rest of article

Warning*** In case you didn't pay attention to the title, this review is full of spoilers. Simply put, this is what the first two movies in this cycle of the Star Wars saga should have been. If the first two had been condensed to one movie and Revenge of the Sith had been expanded to two movies, I would have been thrilled. Alas that was not to be, so we are left with two movies that meandered along a path that has a clear destination until we have to sprint to that destination with little time to spare in the...

official tabulations coming soon. this is the initial estimate

BRUSSELS -- I just saw a press screening of the new Star Wars movie, Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, and here's my capsule review: It's superb; the last 15 minutes are better than anything George Lucas has ever done; and as Yoda would say, "This film must you see; love it, you will." However, I left the theater with something more than the feeling that after nearly 30 years as a Star Wars fan, a cinematic era of my life -- with plenty of ups and downs along the way -- had been closed on a thrilling and thoroughly...

For some in the tech industry, the chance to see Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith in its opening couple of days is just not something they're willing to pass up—at any cost. And while that early viewing may be a badge of honor for geeks around the world, the "Star Wars flu" may pull down productivity figures, analysts warned. "There's nothing like being here for the first showing," said an IT manager for a financial brokerage firm on Wednesday, while standing in line in front of the Metreon theater complex in San Francisco. He had called in...

LOS ANGELES — The last of the "Star Wars" movies has done what no movie in history has ever accomplished — sold $50 million worth of tickets in a single day. "Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith" grossed $50,013,859 from showings at 3,661 theaters and more than 9,000 screens around the country Thursday, including special midnight shows, according to box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations. That beat the one-day record set in May 2004 by "Shrek 2," which sold $44.8 million on a single Saturday — its fourth day in theaters. The George Lucas film, which features the transformation...

"Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith" scored $50 million in first-day receipts at 3,661 theaters across the nation on Thursday, box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations said Friday. The take handily beats the one-day record of $44.8 million set last year by "Shrek 2." "Sith" is distributed by News Corp.'s (NWS) 20th Century Fox film unit.

I just thought I would share a few thoughts about the latest star wars epic with my fellow freepers before I crash completely. Its a little after 3am ET here as I write this. I attended a midnight screening of the film, in lexington, KY. In my opinion it is the best of all six. It finishes off both trilogies completely, and leaves nothing to be desired. I give the film 4.5 of 5 stars, with minor points taken off for slightly wooden dialogue, and a few over the top FX. The over the top FX may be too much...

'The Force' ins't with President George W. Bush, as least as far as George Lucas is concerned.The blogosphere has been abuzz for days with reports that Episode III contains several barely concealed digs at the Bush Administration.In a much cited scene, Ewan McGregors Obi Wan Kenobi decares, 'Only a Sith Lord deals in absolutes,' after Hayden Chirstensen's Ankin Skywalker/Darth Vader character says, 'If you're not with me, you're my enemy,' an obvious reference to President Bush's statements regarding the war on terror.As the Senate cedes power to Palpatine under the guise of 'intergalatic security,' Natalie Portman's Princess Padme Amidala exclaims...

LONDON (Reuters) - The final chapter of the Star Wars saga has gone over to the Internet's dark side. "Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith" has been leaked onto a major file-sharing network just hours after opening in theaters, at a time when Hollywood is increasingly concerned about online piracy. At least two copies of the film, which was first shown in theaters in the early hours of Thursday, have been posted to the BitTorrent file-sharing network -- a new and increasingly popular technology that allows users to download large video files much more quickly than in...

A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day Free Republic made its debut in September, 1996, and the forum was added in early 1997.   Over 100,000 people have registered for posting privileges on Free Republic, and the forum is read daily by tens of thousands of concerned citizens and patriots from all around the country and the world. A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day was introduced on June 24, 2002. It's only a small room in JimRob's house where we can get to know one another a little better; salute and support our military and our leaders; pray for those in...

Friday was the day Star Wars fans have been anticipating for years. Many Hoosiers flocked to the opening of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. It looks like some wookies may have played hooky. It's promising to be the best among the recent trio of Star Wars flicks. While it will rake in plenty at the box office, analysts say it'll cost the economy more than $600 million. Plenty of people took the day off to see the new Star Wars movie. News 8 found people who went to the opening of Revenge of the Sith, but did...

While the storm troopers of doubt circled the beleaguered boxoffice of late, the Force was beginning to flex its power as 20th Century Fox's "Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith" was shattering records out of the gate with an estimated $16.5 million-to-$17 million in receipts from the midnight shows alone, the distributor said Thursday. "We'll be counting the grosses for a while. It's an absolutely remarkable number. It seems like the industry got kickstarted last night at midnight," said Bruce Snyder, president of domestic distribution for Fox. Snyder noted that final numbers will not be available for...

For sheer lack of subtlety, the light-saber-wielding forces of good and evil in George Lucas's "Star Wars" movies can't hold a candle to the blogging, advertising and boycotting forces of the right and left. (Or left and right.) More a measure of the nation's apparently permanent political warfare than of a filmmaker's intent, the heroes and antiheroes of Mr. Lucas's final entry, "Episode III - Revenge of the Sith," were on their way to becoming the stock characters of partisan debate by mid-Wednesday, hours before the film's opening just after midnight: The liberal advocacy group Moveon.org was preparing to spend...

George Lucas supposedly takes a slam at George Bush in his new movie, Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Will you see the film? Take the poll at Michael Medved's site.

Zero Stars For Star Wars VI May 16, 2005 This column was written by John Podhoretz. The final Star Wars is, as writer-director George Lucas promised, a tragedy -- but it's not the tragedy Lucas thinks it is. Ever since he began making his second set of Star Wars movies a decade ago, Lucas said that Episode III: Revenge of the Sith would be the unvarnished story of the young knight Anakin Skywalker's degeneration and conversion into the black-helmeted, black-outfitted Darth Vader, the villain of the first three films. The tale of woe it really tells is that of George...

AP) All those "Star Wars" geeks, who've been waiting for weeks outside movie theaters with their Yoda sleeping bags and their homemade lightsabers, finally have a film that's worthy of their perseverance. The Force is strong with "Episode III — Revenge of the Sith," the sixth and final piece in George Lucas' galactic saga, which represents a welcome return to the ideas and the spirit that made his original "Star Wars" a pop-culture juggernaut 28 years ago. The circle is now complete, as Lucas' characters are fond of saying, and much of the film's joy comes from watching these familiar...

. 5/16/2005Star Wars Episode III: Review + Extended CommentaryFiled under: GeneralMovie Reviews— Jason @ 3:34 pm [Editor’s Note: the review/commentary below contains some plot spoilers.]Last night Govindini and I attended a private screening of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith organized by Lucasfilm at the USC Cinema School (George Lucas’ alma mater). It was very kind of the folks at the Ranch to arrange this screening, and of longtime ‘Star Wars’ editor and sound-designer Ben Burtt to come down and chat with everyone. Like most of the people there, I was not a ‘neutral’ or impartial observer. It’s...

STAR WARS director George Lucas brushed off critics of the last three installments of his genre-defining series last night as he attended the glittering world premiere for Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith in Cannes.Critics have hailed his new film as a vast improvement on the first two prequels, but Lucas said he paid little heed. "I see it all as one movie and I don’t pay much attention to whether people like one chapter or another," he said. "We have two fan bases - the over-25s and the under-25s. The over-25 fan base is loyal to the...

CANNES — The last episode of the seminal sci-fi saga "Star Wars" screened at the Cannes film festival Sunday, completing a six-part series that remains a major part of popular culture — and delivering a galactic jab to U.S. President George W Bush. "Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith" was seen ahead of a celebrity-laden evening screening to be attended by its creator and director, George Lucas, and its cast, including Natalie Portman and Hayden Christensen. Reaction at advance screenings was effusive, with festival-goers, critics and journalists at Cannes applauding at the moment the infamous Darth Vader...

breaking tomorrow!

CANNES, France — Without Michael Moore (search) and "Fahrenheit 9/11" at the Cannes Film Festival (search) this time, it was left to George Lucas and "Star Wars" to pique European ire over the state of world relations and the United States' role in it. Lucas' themes of democracy on the skids and a ruler preaching war to preserve the peace predate "Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith" by almost 30 years. Yet viewers Sunday — and Lucas himself — noted similarities between the final chapter of his sci-fi saga and our own troubled times.

Fandango, the nation's largest online and phone movie ticketing service, is already reporting that Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith is slated to be the top selling title in the company's five year history.The film is positioned to dethrone the former ticketed champ, Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.SITH has seen a 75% week over week continious increase in ticket sales. An astounding 80% of US film fans responding to a Fandango poll said they planned to see SITH the opening weekend.SITH has accounted for 79% of Fandango's weekly ticket sails. Moviegoer anticiapation is so high that...

CANNES, France For some Europeans, George Lucas' latest "Star Wars" film is invoking comparisons to today's political climate. Audiences viewing "Episode Three -- Revenge of the Sith" at the Cannes Film Festival are comparing the story of Anakin Skywalker's fall to the dark side and the rise of an emperor through warmongering to President Bush's war on terrorism and the invasion of Iraq. Among the lines they cite is when Anakin tells former mentor Obi-Wan Kenobi "If you're not with me, then you're my enemy." After the Nine-Eleven attacks, Bush said, "Either you are with us, or you are with...

'Wars' Raises Questions on U.S. Policy Sunday May 15 12:37 PM ET Without Michael Moore and "Fahrenheit 9/11" at the Cannes Film Festival this time, it was left to George Lucas and "Star Wars" to pique European ire over the state of world relations and the United States' role in it. Lucas' themes of democracy on the skids and a ruler preaching war to preserve the peace predate "Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith" by almost 30 years. Yet viewers Sunday and Lucas himself noted similarities between the final chapter of his sci-fi saga and our own troubled...

The May 19 opening of Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith may cause headaches for employers, according to global outplacement firm Challenger & Grey Inc.The company today released a report saying that absenteeism could cost employers as much as $627 million over the first two days of the four day opening weekend, as workers take off to see the film.

One of the most powerful images from “Revenge of the Sith” is that of Anakin Skywalker, having turned to the Dark Side, leading a battalion of Clone Troopers to storm the Jedi temple. In several of the trailers, we see the Coruscant skyline, Anakin rising up the stairs in dark flowing robes, with the troopers holding their blasters at the ready. The coterie ascends, and then marches through the grand hall, the clatter of clone trooper boots contrasting with Anakin almost silently flowing across the floor like a wisp of dark cloud.We can safely assume from this scene that the...

Director STEVEN SPIELBERG wept at a premiere of pal GEORGE LUCAS' final STAR WARS movie EPISODE III: REVENGE OF THE SITH. JURASSIC PARK film-maker, Spielberg was so moved by the eagerly-awaited conclusion of the sci-fi saga, he burst into tears at its screening last week. But he's unashamed by his tears, insisting fans will also cry at the end of the film, because its moving conclusion marks the end of Lucas' epic story. Spielberg says, "I saw it about a week ago, and it's absolutely amazing. "It's the best of the last three episodes. It's the best way you could...

The Force returns with most of its original power regained in "Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith." Concluding entry in George Lucas' second three-pack of space epics teems with action, drama and spectacle, and even supplies the odd surge of emotion, as young Anakin Skywalker goes over to the Dark Side and the stage is set for the generation of stories launched by the original "Star Wars" 28 years ago. Whatever one thought of the previous two installments, this dynamic picture irons out most of the problems, and emerges as the best in the overall series since...

I imagine that Revenge of the Sith is very much the film Lucas's fans want to see, but are some of them ready for an anti-Bush diatribe? Though every Star Wars film until now has existed in an insular comic-book world, a lot has happened since 1999 and 2002 in the real world and Lucas dares, for the first time, to address how the hollow political conflict in his franchise correlates with the reality outside its panels. (It would have been stupid not to strike a parallel.) Revenge of the Sith's two greatest moments tap into the uncertainty of our...

Well, you can all relax. While ROTS isn't a masterpiece, it's pretty darn good. I managed to slip into a preview showing earlier today and had a thoroughly good time. Yes, it's pretty grim in places. Yet if anything, I'd say it wasn't grim enough. The opening battle will have your jaw hitting the floor. Wall-to-wall butt-kicking on a cosmic scale. And the betrayal of the Jedi...well, it really, really hurts. Even when you know it's coming, it hurts. Oh, yes. This one's a keeper.

Ask George Lucas about his hopes for the closing instalment of Star Wars, Revenge of the Sith, and he replies that he expects it to fail. In an interview with TIME magazine, Lucas says that like everyone who makes movies, he is "always convinced the next one will be a flop". "So right now I’m thinking it probably won’t make any money and will be considered a failure." But in spite of his fears, he concedes he is very satisfied with the final product. "I think it turned out as well as I could have hoped, and at the same...