THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
Originally, no one was sure what to expect from George Lucas when he was ready to conclude his prequel trilogy to Star Wars with Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. The skepticism originates from how the first two were far from great. However, the doubt disappeared when it gave everything fans wanted.
PLOT
The film takes place at the end of the Clone Wars, showing Jedi Master Obi Wan Kenobi and apprentice Anakin Skywalker above Planet Coruscant, saving Supreme Chancellor Sheev Palpatine from Separatist Commander, General Grievous. They infiltrate his flagship and defeat Sith Lord Count Dooku in the process to save the chancellor. Grievous retreats when his ship gets torn in half, but the Jedi are able to land it on Coruscant without dying. When Anakin reunites with his secretly wedded wife Padmé Amidala, he originally is excited to discover she is pregnant, but grows worry when he has visions of her dying in childbirth. This sparks his new goal to prevent this from happening. Palpatine then decides to appoint him as a personal representative. Although the Jedi Council agree to this, they refuse to appoint Skywalker as Jedi Master, due to not trusting the Chancellor, instructing him to spy on him. The inner disappointment diminishes his faith in the Council. With the remaining Separatist leaders relocating to Planet Mustafar, Kenobi goes to Utapau to defeat Grievous, whereas Master Yoda goes to Kashyyyk to aid the Wookiees against a Separatist invasion. Anakin discovers Palpatine to be the Sith Lord behind the war after sharing knowledge of the dark side and claiming to help him save his life. Rather than killing or apprehending him, he retails his discovery to Master Mace Windu (Samuel L Jackson). He stays behind as ordered by the latter to allow him subdue their threat. But eventually, he succumbs to the dark side and helps Darth Sidious defeat the Jedi. Now pledged as a Sith, he is given the alias ‘Darth Vader’. After this, Darth Vader leads a battalion of clone troopers to wipe out the remaining Jedi in Coruscant, whereas the Emperor orders the other clones throughout the galaxy to kill all Jedi. The only Jedi known to evade death are Kenobi and Yoda. In the meantime, Darth Vader assassinates the Separatist leaders on Mustafar while Palpatine rebrands the Galactic Republic into the Galactic Empire, denouncing all Jedi as traitors. When Kenobi & Yoda return to Coruscant and discover what has happened, they agree that Anakin and Palpatine must be stopped to restore order. Kenobi alerts Padmé, aware of her secretive marriage, that her husband has turned to the dark side. This shocks her because Anakin originally told her that the Jedi are traitors. Unsure of what to believe, she goes to Mustafar to learn the truth of the man she loves, while Kenobj stows away. There, she begs Anakin to abandon the Emperor to raise their child, but he refuses as he becomes mad with his newfound power, believing to be the most powerful. When he sees Kenobi aboard, he believes his wife to conspire against him. Out of anger, he uses the force to choke her to unconsciousness. Blaming his actions on his former master, they duel that shockingly ends with Kenobi severing his legs and left arm, leaving him to burn at the bank of a lava flow and taking his lightsaber. On Coruscant, Yoda does duel against the Emperor, but it reaches a stalemate when he realizes he cannot beat him. He chooses to flee alongside Senator Bail Organa and regroups with Kenobi and Padmé at Polis Massa. There, Padmé gives birth to her twins, Luke and Leia, but she quickly dies after doing so. Palpatine does return to Mustafar and brings the surviving Vader back to Coruscant, treating to his wounds, replacing his severed limbs with prosthetics and covering him in a black armored suit. Once he is fully armored, he becomes devastated to hear from his new master that his wife is dead. On Polis Massa, Bail and the two Jedi agree to separate the babies for their own safety. As Padmé has a funeral on Naboo, both Sith supervise construction of the Death Star. The film ends with Bail adopting Leia to his home world of Alderaan, whereas Kenobi exiles himself to Tattooine and takes Luke to be adopted by his step family, Uncle Owen (Joel Edgerton) and Aunt Beru Lars (Bonnie Piesse).
THOUGHTS
The best way to discuss this film is through Pros and Cons.
PROS: This was the first Star Wars film I got to see in theaters and it goes without saying that I enjoyed every second of it. Lucas stepped it all up with another breathtaking score by John Williams that plays through incredible visualized action sequences thanks to David Tattersall’s cinematography. With every second that passes by, it feels impossible to look away because you’re dying to see it all unfold. You just know you won’t forget it when you see back to back duels for the climax after countless shootouts that occurred throughout. The main reason this movie deserves such respect and appreciation is because while being much careful in exploring it’s creative lore, it is equally tragic yet hopeful to witness. It just becomes immaculate to witness one downfall, while also planting the seeds of something greater rising. And through it, we are able to see how bad things can get when you become lost/confused with your own beliefs. You get to feel all of this through such a stellar cast of iconic characters. Hayden Christensen gains his deserving respect for providing an incredible performance of the complex Anakin Skywalker. We're so used to the good guys winning, which makes it more shocking to see them lose. At first, you admire him for being a heroic Jedi, but second thoughts quickly come about when he makes cruel decisions that make him incapable of being redeemed all to save the love of his life. His motives are clear, but his mind is not because he confuses himself on what is right and wrong. You want to root for him to succeed, yet you can't condone what he does. When he weeped over his actions on Mustafar, he knew it was too late for him to turn back, hence embracing the dark side from then on. It only becomes more excruciating to see it all escalate due to how it can never be undone. So when he puts on the infamous armor and you hear the familiar mechanical breathing, including James Earl Jones' iconic voice, it was terrifying to see yet you couldn't look away because this is what we waited for. You still feel bad for him when he weeps for his wife because the moment of failure to protect loved ones is an international feeling. And he stays with the emperor because he has nothing left. Enter Ian McDiarmid who also gives his best performance of the franchise’s central villain. This antagonist leaves his biggest mark for breaking free from deception and continue to be a master manipulator because he already knows he has already won. The fact that he shares killing his master Darth Plageuis proves how he was born relentless, which amplifies him as the most intimidating figure to be seen onscreen. Because of his use of summoning force electricity, you wouldn’t think he needed a lightsaber, but when he uses it, that only boosts the intimidation. While Sidious is the mastermind, Dooku was not the only accomplice he had. From the voice alone, Matthew Wood leaves a good impression on making General Grievous just as vicious as originally depicted through both Clone Wars series. He was bitter, yet was determined to be the best military strategist the galaxy could ask for and you must always fear determined antagonists because that only makes them more dangerous. It is proven so with his cybernetic body that allowed him to carry four different lightsabers at once. Since the said weapons he had were from Jedi he slayed only proves how formidable he was. Resuming to the protagonists, Frank Oz’s Yoda still leaves a good impression for still being capable of spreading wisdom despite being emotionally crippled. The ‘Order 66’ sequence is difficult to witness as he feels his brethren throughout the galaxy become overpowered and he can’t save them. It is even sadder to get through when you grow attachments to the various Jedi via rewatch after watching The Clone Wars series (08-14,20). You truly look up to him because despite such a loss, he is still focused to overcome as much obstacles as he can. It was smart of him to separate the twins because that way, it would be much difficult for Vader or the Emperor to track them down via sensing with the force. There is not much to be said about Bail Organa as he does not drive the story as much as the other characters around him, but Jimmy Smits still makes him a memorable figure because he accurately portrayed him as a man who was preserved with maintaining peace and doing whatever in his eyes was the right thing. From that alone, you already where Leia got her bravery from. Despite not exactly being involved in the action like before, Natalie Portman still leaves her mark behind by still portraying Padmé as the most compassionate person in the room. Her love for Anakin is so blind that she refused to believe he would become a corrupted soul. She chose to pursue him on Mustafar because that was how strong her love also was. Her perspective is dead on relatable because it shows exactly how love drives us to do things we never thought we’d do. She was determined to still see the good in him just when they first met. It becomes tragic to see her die because she would’ve been proud to see what great heroes her children would grow to become. It’s even a bummer when Windu dies because he was so close to ending the war had he not taken his time. I have to say the same when C-3PO (Anthony Daniels) gets his memories wiped because it’s not like he was gonna tell everyone that Anakin became Vader. Last but not least, Ewan McGregor gives his best performance of Obi Wan Kenobi who goes through such an emotional ringer. He ends up embodying the best of the Jedi because he is the most modest and noble of the bunch we’ve seen. As Anakin becomes the villain, he becomes the central hero in the process. Despite wishing to avoid conflict with the man he identified as a brother, he knew that something had to be done to overcome evil. All the warmth he had disappeared due to his own heartbreak when defeating his own protege. As it pained him to do the absolute necessary, he personally redeems himself by watching over Luke. The ending is without question satisfying because seeing him begin to watch over him reminds me how goodness will always necessarily wait for the day it can rise again, as long as you maintain hope for it do so. Chronologically speaking, it’s glad to see that it did.
CONS: Even though my love for this movie is never gonna change, it does not excuse a few issues I had with the story whenever I re watch it. Like for instance, why didn’t the MagnaGuard droids shoot down Anakin & Kenobi in the elevator? They had them dead to rights and didn’t need to spare them. I’m telling you, these stupid droids are as annoying as Jar Jar because they’re plain stupid. And why the hell were the clones shooting at Grievous’s ship? They have to know damn well that Palpatine and two Jedi were on that ship. Damaging the ship is one thing, but destroying it is a whole other ball game. And why the hell did they spare Bail? Yes the Jedi were a top priority, but he literally tipped Kenobi of what was going on, so they should’ve shot him when they had the chance. Also, it was even more stupid for Anakin to kiss Padmé when people like Bail were nearby. I know he misses her, but that is like asking to be caught, especially if he is living with her in the same capital planet where the Jedi Council live that is Coruscant. It’s hard for me to believe Kenobi when he says Anakin has never let him down because he is so disobedient and is blind about it half of the time. And how exactly did he hide without the droids not noticing? They seemed to be dead on watching him when he landed on Utapau, so I’m lost on what distracted them long enough to not see him leave. He does do the right thing to tell Padmé what happened to Anakin, but why doesn’t he show her the video of his actions? He doesn’t have to show her the death of the younglings, but at least his conversations with the Emperor. Am I the only one surprised that Anakin’s prosthetic hand wasn’t strong enough to kill Kenobi when strangling him? And if it ain’t, he should’ve disarmed him in between the physical strangulation. Palpatine is smart for the most part, but he was pretty dumb over celebrating when Yoda threw back the pods. And again, why did anyone think it was a good idea for Luke to go to Tattooine? That is Anakin’s homeworld and as I’ve said before, he is bound to get nostalgic of the past and would want to revisit if he wanted to. He honestly would’ve been safer elsewhere. And again, I know Anakin has to become Vader, but that could’ve been avoided if Windu didn’t waste time and immediately kill Palpatine when he had the jump on him. In conclusion, Revenge of the Sith is worthwhile for answering the desired questions and becoming fantastic to watch in the process. If you got through the first two of this trilogy, I promise you when I say this does not disappoint.
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