brijesh
17-08-05, 01:50 PM
The world’s most successful film series drew to a close with the official launch of the sixth and final Star Wars movie: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith. It had a glittering red carpet premiere in Cannes, complete with Darth Vader and Storm-Trooper look-alikes.
Cannes audiences made blunt comparisons between “Revenge of the Sith” — 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.
Two lines from the movie especially resonated:
“This is how liberty dies. With thunderous applause,” bemoans Padme Amidala (Natalie Portman) as the galactic Senate cheers dictator-in-waiting Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) while he announces a crusade against the Jedi.
“If you’re not with me, then you’re my enemy,”
Hayden Christensen’s Anakin soon to become villain Darth Vader tells former mentor Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor). The line echoes Bush’s international ultimatum after the Sept. 11 attacks, “Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.”
“That quote is almost a perfect citation of Bush,” said Liam Engle, a 23-year-old French-American aspiring filmmaker. “Plus, you’ve got a politician trying to increase his power to wage a phony war.”
Though the plot was written years ago, “the anti-Bush diatribe is clearly there,” Engle said.
Lucas said he patterned his story after historical transformations from freedom to fascism, never figuring when he started his prequel trilogy in the late 1990s that current events might parallel his space fantasy.
“As you go through history, I didn’t think it was going to get quite this close. So it’s just one of those recurring things,” Lucas said at a Cannes news conference. “I hope this doesn’t come true in our country.
“Maybe the film will waken people to the situation,” Lucas joked.
Hundreds of screaming fans surged to touch hands with Lucas and Natalie Portman, who plays Padme Amidala in the second trilogy. The day was one of emotion as well as glamour, with more than a few tears shed among audiences who watched the film.
Sith explains how Jedi Knight Skywalker is tempted over to the dark side. In one of the film’s most powerful scenes, Skywalker is rebuilt from a limbless, burning man barely alive to the towering, black-caped Vader.
After an early press screening in the packed Grand Theatre Lumiere, fans and journalists cheered and clapped, some expressing surprise at the darkness of the portrayal of Anakin Skywalker’s transformation into Darth Vader.
Actor Samuel L Jackson, who plays Mace Windu in the most recent trilogy, said Sith would change the way we viewed Vader.
“Now we know how he got to this particular place, so he seems more the tragic figure than an evil figure now,” he said.
Die-hard British fans paid up to 250 pounds ($464) per ticket to attend an all-day showing on Monday of the six episodes back-to-back. The 501st UK Garrison of Storm-Troopers will be there to open the doors at a central London cinema from 6 am.
Star Wars has earned more than $3.5 billion at the box office and an estimated $9 billion in merchandise sales.
Cannes audiences made blunt comparisons between “Revenge of the Sith” — 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.
Two lines from the movie especially resonated:
“This is how liberty dies. With thunderous applause,” bemoans Padme Amidala (Natalie Portman) as the galactic Senate cheers dictator-in-waiting Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) while he announces a crusade against the Jedi.
“If you’re not with me, then you’re my enemy,”
Hayden Christensen’s Anakin soon to become villain Darth Vader tells former mentor Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor). The line echoes Bush’s international ultimatum after the Sept. 11 attacks, “Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.”
“That quote is almost a perfect citation of Bush,” said Liam Engle, a 23-year-old French-American aspiring filmmaker. “Plus, you’ve got a politician trying to increase his power to wage a phony war.”
Though the plot was written years ago, “the anti-Bush diatribe is clearly there,” Engle said.
Lucas said he patterned his story after historical transformations from freedom to fascism, never figuring when he started his prequel trilogy in the late 1990s that current events might parallel his space fantasy.
“As you go through history, I didn’t think it was going to get quite this close. So it’s just one of those recurring things,” Lucas said at a Cannes news conference. “I hope this doesn’t come true in our country.
“Maybe the film will waken people to the situation,” Lucas joked.
Hundreds of screaming fans surged to touch hands with Lucas and Natalie Portman, who plays Padme Amidala in the second trilogy. The day was one of emotion as well as glamour, with more than a few tears shed among audiences who watched the film.
Sith explains how Jedi Knight Skywalker is tempted over to the dark side. In one of the film’s most powerful scenes, Skywalker is rebuilt from a limbless, burning man barely alive to the towering, black-caped Vader.
After an early press screening in the packed Grand Theatre Lumiere, fans and journalists cheered and clapped, some expressing surprise at the darkness of the portrayal of Anakin Skywalker’s transformation into Darth Vader.
Actor Samuel L Jackson, who plays Mace Windu in the most recent trilogy, said Sith would change the way we viewed Vader.
“Now we know how he got to this particular place, so he seems more the tragic figure than an evil figure now,” he said.
Die-hard British fans paid up to 250 pounds ($464) per ticket to attend an all-day showing on Monday of the six episodes back-to-back. The 501st UK Garrison of Storm-Troopers will be there to open the doors at a central London cinema from 6 am.
Star Wars has earned more than $3.5 billion at the box office and an estimated $9 billion in merchandise sales.