When the 2005 sequel “Star Wars 3: Revenge of the Sith” first premiered, I was mid-way through Middle school, and at the point had discovered a love for franchises outside of "Star Wars" ... with Harry Potter and Star Trek being my two biggest at the time. While I certainly liked “Star Wars 3: Revenge of the Sith”, it just didn't feel as special as when I experienced the other films during my childhood years. Regardless, this film played the long time, and eventually won me over as one of my favorite instalments in the whole series. I wouldn't call this movie "perfect", but it earns it's place among the best of the saga ... and it only seems to get better every time I see it. It just felt like the creators were more passionate about this project, and the effort definitely shows, even if they didn’t hit a bull’s-eye every step of the way.
Here’s the set up ... war is waging all across the galaxy, but thanks to several successful missions involving our two Jedi hero’s Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker, victory seems to be on the horizon. However, when Anakin learns that his wife Padme is pregnant, he begins to fear for her life, and the life of his unborn child, which leads him down a dark and twisted path. The evil Darth Sidious, under the guise of Emperor Palatine takes full advantage of Anakin’s situation, and twists his mind, leading him to become the evil Darth Vader. Soon, our hero’s find themselves losing everything, all their closest allies betray them, the Jedi get wiped out in the massacre of Order 66, and the fate of the galaxy looks bleak, save for one last gimps of hope that comes in the form of two infant children. Not a bad set up, all things considered. It’s a much darker story, it feels like an epic event in the timeline, there’s lots of action, the pacing is great, and as a prequel, it segues into the original trilogy fairly well.
Just like “Return of the Jedi”, the movie begins with a half-hour long bonus adventure, involving our hero’s sneaking aboard an enemy ship and performing a rescue mission. Christopher Lee makes a quick appearance as the villain Count Dooku, who engages our hero’s in one last light saber duel, which is honestly a better action sequence then their climactic engagement at the end of "Attack of the Clones". The scene also does a decent job setting-up some things that will come into play later, and seeing our two hero's working side by side as best friends is a great contrast to what happens at the end of the film. It shows how diverse Anakin’s relation with Obi-Wan gets between the opening and closing acts of the film, and I love the shift in tone, going from lighthearted fun, too dark and brooding. The transition between these two tones is very natural, and there are plenty of moments when I find myself getting really invested in the situation at hand.
One of my favorite things about this movie is how it makes up for its predecessors problem of explaining everything. This time things play out gradually, and there’s even a strong touch of atmosphere that brings the films universe to life. Take the Opera house scene as a prime example, it’s a pivotal moment in which Anakin learns of the Sith’s ability to keep people from dying. However, instead of having the villain give one big exposition dump, he talks to our hero about this by means of reciting a legend from old, and nothing adds more substance to a films mystical universe then its own mythos. Another great scene is when Anakin makes his fatal choice to join the dark-side, as there’s no dialog in this moment at all, it’s just the raw expressions on his face while he stares out a window, and as we watch the gears turning in his head, and there’s a haunting score adding to the atmosphere of the moment. While I could praise the overall presentation of this movie all day, their are still some reservations lurking in the details.
First of all, while the conversations aren’t exactly boring in the film, the dialogue itself can get downright atrocious. The romantic banter between Anakin and Padme is complete garbage, and it didn’t need to be. There was actually a perfect opportunity here for them to bond over something, and that’s their unborn, still to be determined child. Take the balcony scene for example, it’s just a lot of forced romantic dialog with Anakin describing how attractive Padme is, but picture this ... they could have shared a really touching conversation about what their child’s name could be. That would have made the ending so much more effective, and it’s such a missed opportunity.
That leads me into my biggest problem of the whole movie, and once again it's Anakin Skywalker himself. As I stated in my previous review, I wasn't fully won over by this guy, and turning evil seemed more like a natural thing for him, when despite knowing the narrative of the franchise, I still wish it could have felt like a shock . Worse is how quickly he turns evil, and with pore motivations. There's certainly a set-up, but I always felt something was missing in transition. I don't want to dwell on it too long, because the ladder half of the movie is strong enough to keep me distracted from thinking about the details, and the performances are all good enough to play to my emotions.
There aren’t too many new characters, but the cast is definitely improving on their craft. Ewan McGregor delivers his sharpest performance yet as Obi-Wan Kenobi, despite some silly puns. Yoda is awesome through and though, and every time he’s on screen is an exhilarating glee moment. Samuel L. Jackson regrettably has little to do in the role of Mace Windu, and his performance comes off as kind of tiered. Natalie Portman returns as Padme, and to her credit, she delivers her best performance in the role here. In the past two movies, her delivery was a little too stiff, but now she’s putting a lot more heart and soul into the delivery.
Following after his introduction in the animated "Star Wars: Clone Wars" micro series, the cybernetic villain General Grievous makes his transition into film form ... with mixed results. While an enjoyable foe, I always felt he lacked the same threatening level of excitement he conveyed in this original animation form. However, the real star who owns the show is Ian McDiarmid as Emperor Palpatine. Despite some really silly moments, he still retains the same menace of his role from the original, and gives him a lot of variety. Sometimes he’s quiet and manipulative, while other times he’s over the top and creepy. It’s everything you’d want from a classy villain, and Ian McDiarmid just savors every juicy moment of it. I also like how we’re only hinted at the Emperors back story, without going into specific details. This way we can have some clue of his origins, without spoiling his mysterious overtone.
There’s a lot more fan service in this film, but it’s kept subtle, and for the most part is kind of cool. Giving Chewbacca a little cameo was a nice touch. Padme is seen with the bread bun hair due that Princess Leia originally made popular. We get a quick glimpse of the Death Star under construction, and I really like that we briefly see a Peter Cushing lookalike as Governor Tarkin. There’s even a moment at a landing dock in which you can just barely see the Millennium Falcon. Of course, the highlight comes at the end when we see Darth Vader all suited up. Sure it was stupid to hear him shout “NO”, but it was cool just to see him in another Star Wars movie, and voiced again by James Earl Jones. Now there are some small continuity errors that don’t match with the original trilogy. Most notably is Padme dying after she gave birth, when in “Return of the Jedi” Princess Leia described seeing her real mother at a young age, but I really don’t care to nitpick at things like that.
John Williams also hits it out of the park again with the new musical score, which really livens up the action. His track titled “A Hero Falls” is especially good, and highlights Anakin’s story with a score that’s haunting, epic and somber all at once. The Order 66 segment was handled and shot very well ... and was greatly expanded on in other "Star Wars" material. The action scenes are exhilarating, and this time I feel that they complement the story, but they also lack the subtlety of the original films. A lot of that has to do with all the visual effects, which are very impressive, but they're also a little over blown and distracting at times. Still, these effects have mostly aged well, and it's always been impressive when viewed from a technical perspective. The opening tracking shot through the space battle is a thing of beauty in it's own right.
This movie also has the biggest collection of lightsaber duels in the whole series, which is great, but I will admit, there was a novelty to having one lightsaber duel per-film, as it felt more like an event to look forward to. Regardless, the action on display is riveting, and most of it holds-up. The climax is a genuinely thrilling finale, as it cuts back and forth between two huge lightsaber duels. Seeing Yoda battle the Emperor was a dream come true, because these were the old masters that always seemed at the top of their craft, and it was awesome to see them finally clash.
I realize my opinion in this review has been all over the place, but in the end ... this is still one of my personal favorite "Star Wars" movies, faults and all. In hindsight, it's kind of the last big event film of the series. There would naturally be other movies, some of which were plenty successful at the box office, and others that I quiet enjoy ... but this was the last movie to come to us from George Locus himself, and that to me makes it a special event that no future film in the franchise can replicate.
Thanks for reading my review of the 2005 instalment “Star Wars 3: Revenge of the Sith” ... and continue to enjoy the movies you Love!
To Be Continued ...
To Be Continued ...
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