Star Wars: Episode 3 – Revenge of the Sith (2003, PG-13)

While I was big into The Phantom Menace upon its release (reminder: I was 12) and I’ve rewatched Attack of the Clones here and there over the years, I’m pretty sure I only saw Revenge of the Sith when it first came out. As such, I remembered the big, pivotal moments, but there was a lot here that I’d either forgotten or just plain wasn’t paying good attention to when I saw it the first time.

Set against the backdrop of the Clone Wars, Anakin Skywalker is seduced by the Dark Side. He’s impatient to become a Jedi master but knows he’ll be excommunicated if his secret love affair is revealed. A tempter whispers in the ear of the volatile young man, and he begins to let his fears and his anger rule him.

In retrospect, it’s clear the the Jedi’s rigid rules and emotional repression messes Anakin up at least as much the guy actively nudging him toward the dark side. The problem isn’t that Anakin is afraid or in love or resentful – it’s that the Jedi order continually lectures him to push those feelings down instead of engaging with them in a healthy way. The Jedi nix intimate attachments on the grounds that they’re dangerous, but if anything, Star Wars is all about showing how we need our loved ones standing beside us to win the day. Luke, Leia, and Han. Rey, Finn, and Poe. The Mandalorian and Grogu. Even the Rogue One crew, who goes into their mission having just met each other, but by the end, it’s clear how much they support and trust one another. Instead of teaching Anakin that his emotions are problems, which pushes him to keep them secret until he can’t control them, he might’ve been saved if he instead could’ve learned to lean into his relationships and express himself honestly.

But of course, then there would be no Star Wars, and what would we be doing here? The prequels squander a lot of promise, and I know I personally didn’t find my way back to Star Wars until The Force Awakens and beyond, but ultimately, we are here to learn the story of the boy/young man who becomes Darth Vader. So we need the descent, the darkness, the epic volcano fight, all of it, and there are places (like the aforementioned volcano fight) that are really well done. Unfortunately, the good parts, for me, are surrounded by a lot of over-the-top angst and dubious plot developments, which make the better moments harder to appreciate.

I’m not sure how, but in the years since 2003, I managed to completely forget General Grievous. No memory at all of a battle-scarred asthmatic droid that can split his arms apart to make more arms and wield a light saber with each one. How did I forget that, especially since a decent chunk of Obi-Wan’s plot focuses on him, and by this point, I was pretty much in it for the Obi-Wan? Not sure, but despite the CGI that definitely shows its age, I did enjoy that stuff.

As a final note, I realized I didn’t mention this in my Attack of the Clones review (admittedly, it was only relevant in the final scenes of that movie,) but Revenge of the Sith is one of a great many Star Wars movies to feature an able-bodied character playing a character with a disability. Even before he goes full Vader, Anakin starts the movie minus one hand – like father, like son, I guess. This is your obligatory reminder that, if Hollywood had been committed to authentically casting disabled characters all this time, actors with amputations would rule genre properties, along with a not-inconsiderable number of actors in wheelchairs and blind actors.

Warnings

Violence (the most disturbing moments are implied rather than shown, but this is still a film that earns its PG-13,) scary moments for kids, strong thematic elements, and an able-bodied actor playing a character with a disability.

The Book of Rannells: Invincible: Season 1, Episode 7 – “We Need to Talk” (2021)

Penultimate episode of season 1! Always a good bet that shit will go down in a major way at this point in a season, and the episode doesn’t disappoint on that front. On both a personal and superhero level, things in multiple plots are building to a fever pitch.

A lot of what’s happening here gets spoilery to talk about, so I’ll be as vague as I can. Mark is reeling after fallout from the last episode, questioning what he wants to do and who he wants to be. Unbeknownst to him, there’s a major situation going down with his parents at the same time, while over with the new Guardians, a game-changing move by one of the players shakes up the group dynamic in a big way.

I don’t want to get too much into the details of what’s going on, but it’s an exciting episode, one that features a lot of movement in the question of who’s on which side and who can be relied on. Secrets are revealed, people are betrayed, and long-game plans are realized. There’s a lot of action, but the character relationships don’t get lost in the melee, and that makes the set pieces hit harder. Some strong voice-acting here, especially from Sandra Oh and J.K. Simmons as Mark’s parents, and Ross Marquand does impressive work in his performance as a new character on the scene. As Mark, Steven Yeun continues to ground a larger-than-life story in emotions that feel very honest.

A lighter episode for William after he got more focus last week, but Andrew Rannells still delivers. Despite only being in a few scenes, William is closer to the action now and gets some good moments. As I said last week, I really like that he can take on that best-friend role without being a pushover. Mark’s a good kid at heart, but like a lot of main characters, he can also be myopic when it comes to his own problems. He needs a best friend who can give it to him straight, and that’s William all over. He takes the tough-love thing seriously and can give it to Mark when the guy needs to get his head out of his ass.

Also, Rannells and Yeun have some nice friend chemistry in their performances. We don’t get as much of it as I’d like, since William isn’t a super-prominent character on the show, but because, whenever we do see him, he’s usually with Mark, I’m reminded of it every time he’s onscreen. The two have good banter together and their friendship rings true despite its limited screentime. One moment I love between them here is this exchange, which follows a bit of harsh honesty from William: “What? Friends tell friends the truth.” “Not like that, they don’t!” Nice bit of levity in a heavy episode.

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021)

After Endgame, I think I was in the same boat as a lot of people in that, while some Phase Four MCU projects were interesting to me and I was looking forward to them, I wasn’t as all-around pumped for new Marvel content as I had been and wasn’t sure what the universe would look like going forward. But then 2020 passed without a single Marvel film or show, and now that the Disney+ series have got off the ground, Black Widow is finally on the horizon, and Tony Leung Chiu-wai in the Shang-Chi has me wondering if it’s fair to pick a new favorite MCU character without actually having seen the film yet, I can say it feels good to have new Marvel stuff on my screen, new reasons to write Marvelous Wednesdays posts. The latest outing, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, is certainly more “standard Marvel fare” compared to the wild WandaVision, but while it’s not without its issues, I liked it an awful lot.

Still figuring out what their lives are going to look like after the events of Infinity War, the Snap, and Endgame, Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes are thrown together into an unexpected mission when a new radical group known as the Flag Smashers turns out to be fronted by super-soldiers. The mission takes them around the world and unearths old friends and enemies alike, as both men struggle to relate to one another without the connective tissue of Steve Rogers bringing them together. Along the way, Sam wrestles with the legacy of Captain America as the shield, which Steve left to him, is given to another man who takes up the mantle.

As I said, WandaVision features a lot of bold depatures while The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is in many ways a return to form. We’ve got fun quips, great interpersonal stuff, killer action (I appreciate the fact that this show has reminded me how incredible Bucky’s fighting is in The Winter Soldier and Civil War,) and a third act that doesn’t quite live up to everything that preceded it. The show seems to have a hard time deciding exactly who it wants the Flag Smashers to be, the humor gets just a little forced at times, and the series sometimes gets close to taking a strong stance and then backs away from the edge. I think, on the whole, WandaVision is probably more solid.

But that doesn’t mean there isn’t a hell of a lot to love about The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. As with WandaVision, it’s a great opportunity to dig more into two characters who’ve always had plenty of potential but were always positioned behind the main heroes in the movies. Sam and Bucky are two characters defined by their relationship to Steve, and it’s really interesting to see what they’re like in a situation where Steve is no longer there, when they’re still relating to one another primarily as his friends, arguing over his legacy and what he would want, each failing to recognize how the other is struggling now that he’s gone. The show offers up plenty of their enjoyable bickering, but it also goes deep into both of them as characters, and the two come out on the other side in a very different place than they began.

And even if the show doesn’t always go as far as I’d like in its messaging, I appreciate the fact that it grapples directly with Sam’s uncertainty about taking up the shield as a Black man. Watching the show, it occurred to me that I don’t think any of the major characters of color in the MCU movies have actually been alluded to as people of color outside of the projects written by BIPOC. Yes, in The Winter Soldier, Sam recommends the Trouble Man soundtrack for Steve’s list, but this is the first time we’ve heard him say the words, “As a Black man…”, the first time he’s sighed and rolled his eyes when he hears kids referring to him as “the Black Falcon,” the first time it’s openly acknowledged that the public doesn’t look at him the same way as they looked at Steve or Tony – or John Walker, the “new Captain America,” for that matter. I appreciate that Sam is a much fuller character here and that his race is allowed to be a part of that.

Both Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan kill it in their roles as Sam and Bucky. They play off of each other so well, both comedically and dramatically, and both are great in exploring the individual focus given to their characters. I love seeing how fluidly Sam slips into a leadership role even as he’s still struggling with the Captain America question, with Mackie bringing warmth, humor, and steadiness to the role, and Stan does a fine job showing a Bucky who’s trying to find a way forward on his own after all the trauma he’d endured. (I unfortunately do need to point out that, as much as I love Stan and as wonderful as he’s been throughout the franchise, he’s also an able-bodied actor playing a character with a disability.) In addition to returning actors Daniel Brühl as Baron Zemo and Emily VanCamp as Sharon Carter, the show also features Erin Kellyman from Solo, Adepero Oduye (who I loved in Pariah,) the always-great Carl Lumbly, and a few surprise MCU appearances.

Warnings

Comic-book violence, thematic elements, language, drinking, and an able-bodied actor playing a character with a disability.