Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge Of The Sith

What did I think of the latest Star Wars film?

A worthy conclusion or first-rate flop?

READ ON!

This movie differed from most Star Wars movies in the fact that it was very dark. That darkness dwells from the fact that by the end of the movie, the villains will win. That isn’t supposed to happen in any movie of any kind. But it was still an enjoyable ride, nonetheless.

I must confess that I am a huge fan of final installments, whether it be final movies in trilogies, final episodes of TV seasons, or even final books. I love them. The reason why I am so fond of them is that it is really neat to see all the events that have unfolded in the past movies, episodes, or books, and to see them wrap up those events in a nice way. I think this movie did that in spades. It really wrapped things up nicely, and set up things for the movies that follow this one.

This movie was written by Star Wars creator George Lucas, so he knew where he wanted these “prequel” films to go. I think he actually wrote the first two movies with this one in mind, as that is an ideal way to write the series.

This movie also contained many subtle references to other movies and other Star Wars novels and graphic novels due to the fact that this movie takes places as the Clone Wars are building to a strong close. One such carry-over from these works is the character of General Grievous. General Grievous was first introduced in the Star Wars animated series, Clone Wars, and was a large presence on that series. I thought it was very interesting to see him carried over into this film and to see that character (who was primarily a computer-generated character) interacted with all the live-action characters. He also provided nice foreshadowing to Anakin, as he was a cyborg creature and not a droid as some would assume.

One thing that Star Wars has always been known for is its visual effects. If you recall, ILM really started technology in Star Wars that really changed how you watch movies. This film was no different. I truly loved the visual FX in these movies. I loved seeing all the ship battles and all the various other battles explode onscreen. The visual effects definitely added to everything, especially the mood and environment of the different planets in the movie.

Another visual effects thing that you can’t help mentioning in any Star Wars movie is the lightsaber duels. I think that is one of the highlights of the recent Star Wars movies is the lightsaber duels and this movie is no exception. The movie was jam-packed full of them too and all were exciting to watch onscreen. I think the reason that there were so many lightsaber duels were the fact that was to be quite possibly the last live-action Star Wars movie to be released in theaters and Lucas wanted to have one last hurrah of lightsaber duels.

I think that one reason this movie is my favorite Star Wars movie is because I literally had been waiting at least 10 years to see it. What I mean by that is most of the more memorable moments of this film are moments that longtime Star Wars fans (such as myself) have been waiting almost 15 years to see onscreen.

One of these moments was the lightsaber duel between Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi. That lightsaber duel was one that longtime Star Wars fans like myself had seen coming three movies ago. I think this lightsaber duel works onscreen was not because it was a pure action-packed swordfight (and it was that) but because the emotion that had been building and had finally exploded into this one lightsaber duel that was awesome to watch.

Another of these moments was Order 66. In popular Star Wars lore, it has been known as the Jedi Purge. Some people have actually complained that this sequence of events was cheated the way they happened in the film. The most notable is Anakin’s involvement in the Purge, the fact that he didn’t kill experienced Jedi, but only killed Younglings. To that, I say we do not know that he JUST killed Younglings, they were just the only Jedi we saw him kill in the movie. I am almost positive that Anakin killed much much more than that.

Like I said earlier, this film is notably darker than any of the other Star Wars films, and think this is especially noted by the title of the movie, “Revenge of the Sith.” I think from that title, it can be easily inferred that this was going to be a darker movie. Also what could be inferred from this title is that this would be the movie where the dark side of the Force really takes hold upon everything. It takes hold upon Anakin, the government, the galaxy - - everything.

One thing that I think is the running theme between all Star Wars movies is the Fall and Redemption of Anakin Skywalker. This movie really showed Anakin’s final fall from grace, and that was a running them throughout this movie. It really centered around Anakin’s actions and reactions to everything that was going on. You really felt Anakin’s emotions and feelings get twisted by the subtle genius that was Palpatine, as in the beginning he was the great hero of the Republic (“The Hero Without Fear” as he called in the novelization of the movie) to the dastardly villain, Darth Vader. I think that Hayden Christensen played this character change wonderfully on screen. You really felt the growing darkness within Anakin, and that was a combination of the great writing and great acting by Mr. Christensen.

Another thing that I would like to bring up about the character of Anakin Skywalker is his growing goodness. Although this movie did see him eventually fall to the dark side, I think we can safely say (due to the fact that we saw the following films already prior to seeing this movie) that there is still good inside of Anakin Skywalker. I think, for the most part, he tried to let that good rule out. In an early scene in the film, Count Dooku notes that he sensed great fear in Skywalker, and that he possessed anger and hate but that he didn’t use them. So I think Dooku sensed that overriding good in Anakin, but it also should be noted that Anakin did have a propensity for the dark side. Later in the film, Palpatine tells Anakin that his anger gives him focus and makes him stronger, inferring that he is stronger with the dark side than he is without it.

Like I said, this movie was all about the darkness. You cannot have a movie about the darkness without talking about the darkness himself, Palpatine. I loved Palpatine. You really never got to see much of his mater-manipulative side. I think these movies, and this movie, in particular, really did a great job of fleshing out his character and his relationship that he had with Anakin. I thought Ian McDiarmid played this beautifully and stole every scene he was in. He tried to manipulate, not only Anakin, but everyone around him, as well. He tried to manipulate the Jedi and the Senate to continuing to push the war, even after Count Dooku and General Grievous had been killed.

Another thing that Palpatine tried to undermine was Anakin’s relationship with Obi-Wan Kenobi. I think Palpatine thought that if he could sever that, he could win Anakin over to the dark side. But I love how Palpatine subtly manipulates Anakin with everything. He tries to manipulate Anakin’s relationship with Obi-Wan, his duties as a Jedi, his inability to save Padmé, and even his views on everything. That’s what it was all about - - Palpatine’s manipulation of everything. He is the villain in these movies, as he is orchestrates everything according to his design. We see a little more of these subtle manipulations in the final film of the series, Return of the Jedi, as he manipulates everything so that the final Death Star will be completed to destroy the Alliance, thus ensuring the Empire will live forever.

I think the relationship that really seems to drive this movie (and specifically this block of movies) is the relationship between Obi-Wan and Anakin. Their relationship has evolved so much it was awesome to watch. What is interesting is that there is so much of their relationship that we don’t know about. Throughout the second film, Obi-Wan was merely a friend and a mentor to Anakin, and Anakin was just an apprentice to Obi-Wan. But in this movie, you really it is now more of a brother relationship. I would like to see how this relationship came to this point. I do think we may get to see that relationship evolve with this new Clone Wars movie and animated series. We did get to see some of that relationship but not enough for the movie for Anakin’s turn to have the full import that it did in this movie. I honestly think that Palpatine definitely saw that relationship and how strong it was and that was why he tried so hard to deteriorate it when he turned Anakin over.

A character that is wonderful to watch onscreen, in my opinion, is the character of Padmé. She really was a central character to these movies and especially in this one. This was another character that I felt you was not going to make I through this movie. But before she died, she was able to make a mark. I also believe that she was the emotional anchor to Anakin. Once Padmé was dead, he had just lost the will to life, and all he had left was the dark side and his own twisted ways. I think the same thing can be said for Padmé as well. I think Anakin was her emotional anchor, and once it was confirmed to her that Anakin had completely turned to the dark side, she had lost the will to live. I definitely think these movies portrayed and fleshed out her character well, as it was a character we really knew nothing about. I can boldly say that she is one of the strongest female characters in science fiction today.

Another character I would like to speak about is the character of Obi-Wan Kenobi, who is probably the most consistent of the Star Wars movie. He may not be the most evolved character, but is the most consistent. I think these movies have really seen the true character growth of Obi-Wan. In the fourth film, A New Hope, we are introduced to Obi-Wan, but don’t know much about him. In these films, however, we really got to know the character and see his character journey throughout these movies. I loved seeing Obi-Wan in this movie, as it seems like seeing an old friend. Obi-Wan, in this movie, looks the most like his future-movie counterpart, Alec Guinness. I really thought that Ewan McGregor really shined in these movies as he transitioned greatly the Obi-Wan of these movies to the Obi-Wan that we know of from the later films.

Obi-Wan Kenobi does seem to be the only character that keeps it together, for the most part, throughout this movie. You did know that of all the Jedi in this movie, he and Yoda would be the sole survivors of all the dark things that were about to happen in this movie. But I do think that you really felt for Obi-Wan when he realized he would have to kill the man he had esteemed to be his brother - - Anakin Skywalker. There is also a pity due to Anakin’s turn that you see in his character as well. After he leaves Anakin for dead, he takes Anakin’s lightsaber. Now in the long sense of the story, we know that Anakin’s son, Luke, would inherit the lightsaber. But then it begs the question - - why did Obi-Wan take it in the first place? It is my thought that Obi-Wan took it out of shame for himself. It was to be a reminder to himself how badly he failed. But when Obi-Wan learned of the twins’ birth near the end of the movie, he saw it as a ray of hope for himself, as he could possibly make up for his failure with Anakin by watching over Luke from infancy from afar.

Other actors that seemed to translated their onscreen characters with the classic characters, and needed to do this, were Hayden Christensen and Ian McDiarmid in their respective characters. There are some scenes with Hayden Christensen as Anakin where he distinctly lowers his voice a bit to a dark tone that sounds very much like James Earl Jones from the previous movies. Ian McDiarmid did this as well. When he is telling Anakin about his plan to purge all the Jedi, you hear him use the same voice inflections that Palpatine uses in Return of the Jedi.

Another welcome voice to this movie was the voice of James Earl Jones as Darth Vader. He is the iconic voice behind the mask in the original Star Wars trilogy, providing us with all the chilling dialogue and subtleties that we all know from Darth Vader. I had known about this 5 years prior when he had already recorded the dialogue for Star Wars. But going into the film, I had totally forgotten how awesome haring that voice was. Hearing him say things like “Padmé” was chilling and so awesome.

On that same note, seeing the Darth Vader suit again was just classic. It definitely marked the end of an era for the Star Wars movies, as the appearance of Darth Vader seemed to bring everything full circle, and brought home to me what these prequel did for me. It really fleshed out the character of Anakin Skywalker, and made him more sympathetic than he had previously been. Because most peoples’ (and most critics) perception of Darth Vader is that he is the villain of the story, but in all actuality, Darth Vader was merely a pawn, but the actual villain was in fact Palpatine. He manipulated everything and he got what he wanted by the end of this movie - - Vader as his apprentice and absolute control over the galaxy.

Another thing about Darth Vader’s character that is notable in this movie is his scene with Padmé just before he tries to choke her. In that scene, he tells Padmé that he has become powerful than the Emperor, and that he could overthrow him, so that he and Padmé could rule the galaxy together. That is very interesting because it is almost the same conversation that Vader has with Luke in The Empire Strikes Back, but it is different in a way. I believe that in his current state he probably could’ve overthrown the Emperor and taken control of the galaxy himself, but in his post-Mustafar state, his power was somewhat reduced with the “suit” and he was not as powerful as he once was. That is why Vader considers turning Luke to the dark side in the original trilogy - - to overthrow the Emperor. But on the same note, Palpatine wanted to turn Luke to the dark side to replace Vader, as he was not as powerful as he was he was originally turned.

Another dark turn that this movie seems to take is its change in government. The government in this movie, has almost been a character of its own, with the changes it makes during these first three movies. In the first movie, the government is simply a democracy, and then in the second movie, it evolves to a military-state and by the end of this movie, it has completely changed to a dictatorship. It has been interesting to see that government evolve and also the key players in that government move said government along it path, namely Palpatine. The government’s state, as it is at the end of the movie, still lends to more evolution in the next movie. Near the end of this movie when Palpatine calls for a special session in the Senate, Obi-Wan notes that Palpatine cannot possibly run the entire government without the Senate. While we know in the next film, Palpatine completely dissolves the Senate and allows the Regional Governors of the Empire to direct the affairs of the people the way the Senate used to.

One thing I would’ve liked to have seen was the birth of the Rebel Alliance, along with the birth of the Empire. In fact, there are deleted scenes in this movie that lend credence to those origins. It is in fact Padmé that founds the Alliance, although it is not called that in its conception. The novelization of the movie actually touches on this in great detail. It is quite an interesting read to see both forces that we see in the original trilogy conceived in this film. So it definitely lends credence to those later movies.

Something else that contributed greatly to this film and all films in the Star Wars series is the music. I personally am a fan of all Star Wars music, which is composed by the legendary John Williams. Mr. Williams has composed such things as Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, and Superman, and I love his music in those movies. His music knows how to touch the right emotion and still get you excited about the movie in general. I think the music contributed much to the heart of this film. I think without the music that you would normally come to expect from a Star Wars movie, it’s nothing. There is a reason why the Star Wars audiobooks always contain that music.

In conclusion, I can honestly I really enjoyed this movie. It is a movie I can watch again and again. It has everything that a great science fiction movie should have - - great action, awesome drama and real heart. I think the characters and their various connections to each other make this movie. I think throughout the course of these movies, you had grown to care for these characters so much that when Anakin became Darth Vader, it was truly a crushing blow.

I think I can honestly say though this one of my top-favorite science fiction films that I have seen, and is one of my favorite Star Wars films.

RATING: 9/10

This entry was posted on 15. April 2008 at 19:24 and is filed under Movie Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

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