A Thousand Stars: Episode III, Part 23
Mar. 28th, 2024 09:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
matrilNow comes the showdown between Palpatine and Mace Windu's team. The Jedi aren't taking any chances. Look at the intimidating threat they present. (If things look a little off, just know that I'm trying something new for hosting the pictures. It might take a while before I can work out the wrinkles.)
And all against one man, sitting calmly in a chair?
Ah, but a major theme of these films is that appearances are deceiving. As the Chancellor sits with the cityscape behind him, as if the entire capital-planet is at his command, we come to realize that he holds more power than all of these Jedi combined.
In a startling, rapid-fire sequence of shots, he dispatches all but one of the Jedi. We get a glimpse of an attack, a quick flash of the fallen fighter's death cry, and then relentlessly on to the next one. It's cleverly edited so that Palpatine's face is prominent, even though obviously Ian McDiarmid wouldn't have done most of his own fighting stunts. And that face is, at last, free of the benevolent Chancellor mask. He lets his hate flow openly.
...and so does Mace.
It's troubling that there's hardly any difference between the two men's hate-filled grimaces. Mace isn't exactly maintaining the sort of serenity a Jedi is supposed to possess. He's the taken the existence of the Sith as a personal insult, an unthinkable wrong that he must undo at all costs. Even to the point of bending/breaking the Code. This does not bode well for Anakin's perception of the Jedi Order.
Next, a point of no return...
And all against one man, sitting calmly in a chair?
Ah, but a major theme of these films is that appearances are deceiving. As the Chancellor sits with the cityscape behind him, as if the entire capital-planet is at his command, we come to realize that he holds more power than all of these Jedi combined.
In a startling, rapid-fire sequence of shots, he dispatches all but one of the Jedi. We get a glimpse of an attack, a quick flash of the fallen fighter's death cry, and then relentlessly on to the next one. It's cleverly edited so that Palpatine's face is prominent, even though obviously Ian McDiarmid wouldn't have done most of his own fighting stunts. And that face is, at last, free of the benevolent Chancellor mask. He lets his hate flow openly.
...and so does Mace.
It's troubling that there's hardly any difference between the two men's hate-filled grimaces. Mace isn't exactly maintaining the sort of serenity a Jedi is supposed to possess. He's the taken the existence of the Sith as a personal insult, an unthinkable wrong that he must undo at all costs. Even to the point of bending/breaking the Code. This does not bode well for Anakin's perception of the Jedi Order.
Next, a point of no return...
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Date: 2024-03-29 01:19 am (UTC)Anyway, your analysis remains interesting. I might mention that when I first saw the Revenge of the Sith trailers I'd imagined Palpatine's face would somehow be degenerating shot-by-shot during this duel as he drew on the Dark Side, and after he'd simply taken care of Mace his new apprentice would show up to find him looking like the Emperor... what actually happened does seem more interesting. I suppose that shot of Mace's expression you make a point of has long been a bit unsettling to me, but this is the first time I've seen a nicely articulated expression of why that might be so.