As a Father’s Day gift, I paid for my dad and me to go see Episode III. I’ve already written about seeing it before, but I have some additional observations, having seen it three times. There are a few lines in it that, first time around, seemed pretty bad. They appeared either treacle or melodramatic. Notably, I think of Anakin’s and Padme’s exchange about how in love they are with each other. It’s actually not so bad. The central issue of that dialogue is Anakin being blinded by love. In their conversation, the blinding is about making her look beautiful. However, we all know that the real result of her “blinding” him is his eventual turn to the Dark side.
The only problem that remains, and will always remain, is Obi-Wan’s bizarre promotion of subjectivism. Are the Sith really the only ones who speak in absolutes? One of the great things about Star Wars is its moral clarity and–yes–absolutism. Obi-Wan is absolutely good; Emperor Palpatine is absolutely evil. Indeed, Anakin is the only character with any sort of moral abiguity, and yet he is the one condenmed for speaking in absolutes. Obi-Wan’s line is completely out of character and radically at odds with the story. As soon as he reluctantly concludes that Anakin is going fully over to the Dark side (that is to say, “against him”), he fights to kill. Anakin is no longer with him, and so Obi-Wan must defeat him.
Aside from that one incongruous exhange, the movie is free of any
other really bad lines.