Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005) Director: George Lucas
“You were the chosen one!
It was said that you would destroy the Sith, not join them!”
★★☆☆☆
The third and final installment in the the Star Wars “prequel” trilogy, Revenge of the Sith is another painful, mostly forgettable CGI-infused mess of a movie. In watching this film, you can almost hear the gasp of relief expressed by all parties involved at Lucasfilm, as if desperately yearning to wrap-up this series and forget it ever happened. Today, despite some fashionably contrarian re-appraisals, fans have largely agreed that Revenge of the Sith is not the backstory they had imagined for Darth Vader. Though, of the three prequel films, Revenge of the Sith has been met with somewhat greater critical praise in certain circles (perhaps deservedly so after watching the snide, degrading Disney Star Wars sequel movies like The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker).
The story for Revenge of the Sith takes place three years after the start of the Clone Wars. A civil war is underway between the Separatist faction of Count Dooku and the defenders of the Old Republic. Obi-Wan and Anakin have been sent on a special mission to rescue Emperor Palpatine who has been captured by a new villain, a mechanical criminal named General Grievous who serves under Count Dooku. The Jedi believe they are walking into a trap (and they are correct). They rescue Palpatine and are immediately ambushed by Count Dooku. Obi-Wan is injured in the fight and left unconscious as a walkway crashes down on him, but Anakin defeats Count Dooku in a lightsaber battle. In a flurry of anger, and spurred on by Palpatine, Anakin decapitates Count Dooku while General Grievous escapes, and the Jedi crash-land Dooku’s ship back on Coruscant where Padme covertly reveals to Anakin that she is pregnant (their marriage is still a secret). However, Anakin begins having nightmares that Padme will die in childbirth. He urgently searches for a way to prevent her death at any cost. Meanwhile, Palpatine appoints Anakin as his personal representative to the Jedi Council, while also privately sowing distrust of the Jedi Council. In response, the Jedi Council grows skeptical of the relationship between Anakin and Palpatine, and the Council denies Anakin a seat on the council as a Jedi Master, a fateful decision which draws the resentment and ire of Anakin. Aware of his brewing resentments, Senator Palpatine takes Anakin under his wing and informs him of a dark Sith power which can actually avert death, a power which was apparently discovered by Darth Plagueis “The Wise.” Palpatine reveals to Anakin that he is, in fact, a Sith Lord named “Darth Sidious.” Conflicted, Anakin tells the Jedi Council the truth about Palpatine, while Obi-Wan travels to the planet Utapau to defeat General Grievous (in a ridiculous entirely-CGI fight scene that only ends with Obi-Wan shooting Grievous in the heart causing him to suddenly incinerate). Yoda travels to Kashyyyk, the wookiee planet, to battle an invasion of Separatists. Mace Windu and three other Jedi confront Palpatine to arrest him, but Palpatine kills all three of them, and he is then overcome by Mace Windu who returns Palpatine’s force lightning with a lightsaber, thus hideously disfiguring his face (which explains his frightening appearance as the Emperor in Return of the Jedi). At the last moment, Anakin intervenes and cuts off the hand of Mace Windu and the emperor sends Mace Windu flying off a ledge to his death. Anakin feels deeply tormented about what has happened but he knows he needs Palpatine to save Padme. At this moment, Anakin is dubbed Darth Vader, the new apprentice to Darth Sidious. Palpatine then issues “Order 66” which instructs all clone soldiers to betray the Jedi. This eliminates the old Jedi order. Darth Vader then travels to the Jedi Temple and mercilessly murders everyone, including the younglings in training. He then travels to the fiery planet of Mustafar to kill the last remaining Separatist leaders (the Neimoidian Trade Federation leaders who have now been double-crossed by Darth Sidious). Palpatine, then, speaks before the senate floor and claims there has been an attempted coup by the Jedi which has left his face horribly disfigured –he then declares himself emperor of the galaxy. The only two surviving Jedi are apparently Yoda and Obi-Wan. They return to Coruscant and witness the carnage at the Jedi Temple. Obi-Wan then travels to Mustafar to confront Anakin. He is joined by Padme who is distraught at what Anakin has become (Anakin then force-chokes her) and this leads to a ridiculously extensive CGI-ridden lightsaber battle between Obi-Wan and Anakin, and in the end Obi-Wan ultimately defeats Anakin after gaining the “higher ground” and cutting off Anakin’s legs. His hideously mangled body is horridly burned and left to die. Meanwhile, Yoda confronts the new Emperor Palpatine on Coruscant in another cartoonishly ridiculous lightsaber battle. The fight leads them into the Senate until Yoda falls nearly to his death. He tragically flees Coruscant believing he has failed. Yoda and Obi-Wan regroup with Padme who is forced into an emergency delivery of twin babies –their names are Luke and Leia. Padme then dies in childbirth (didn’t Leia once say she had memories of her mother as a young child?) Palpatine then recovers the mutilated body of Darth Vader on Mustafar and covers him in mechanical limbs and a black suit with a breathing apparatus. As he takes his first breath through his mechanical suit, Darth Vader asks about Padme, and the Emperor tells him that, in his anger, it was actually Anakin/Darth Vader who killed Padme (cue the laughter-inducing scene of Vader screaming “NOOO!”). At the end, Yoda and Obi-Wan are forced into self-imposed exile –Obi-Wan watches over Luke on Tatooine while Luke is placed in the care of his step-uncle and aunt, Owen and Beru Lars. Leia is given to Bail Organa on Alderaan. The film closes with a funeral for Padme on Naboo, while Vader and the Emperor begin to oversee the early construction of a new super-weapon: the Death Star.
Lucas apparently wrote and re-wrote this script several times, eventually settling on a particular focus: the downfall of Anakin. He originally had several side plots, including the backstory of a young Han Solo story on Kashyyyk. Several of the plot loopholes in the film series (such as how or why Kamino disappeared from the records of the Jedi library from Attack of the Clones) are left unexplained and were given permission from George Lucas to be explained elsewhere by novelists. Originally, Lucas intended for the Emperor to explain to Anakin that he simply created Anakin from midi-chlorians and is thus Anakin’s father (in a parallel to The Empire Strikes Back). Another planned scene would have involved the ghost of Qui-Gon communicating with Yoda –perhaps this is why Yoda explains to Obi-Wan that his old master has been communing through the force at the end of the film.
Revenge of the Sith film is another amusing romp through the sterile, green screen-filled worlds of the Star Wars prequels. The overarching plot focuses on Anakin, a detestable and whiny brat, as he descends into the greatest of moral depths before he is “seduced by the dark side of the force.” Again, Hayden Christiansen’s acting and dialogue is wooden and uninspiring. Padme is another unfortunate character in this film (her character arc has is stagnant, a step down from the once confident warrior-queen of Naboo as in The Phantom Menace. Now, she is little more than a petty and forgettable waif –more or less a background character in the film). The dialogue between Anakin and Padme is simply atrociously bad –their romance continues to be wholly unbelievable.
The bulk of the film’s action occurs altogether at the end as the plot seems to have been quickly slapped together in a desperate attempt to connect the story to the original trilogy. It is filled with terrible cliches, confusing and irrational plot loopholes, awful dialogue, an unbelievable and sudden descent of Anakin into a purely evil figure (we see him absurdly kneeling before the Satanic-looking Emperor), and even the heroes seem distant and contrived, especially Mace Windu and Yoda. The Jedi Council comes across as villainous and distasteful in this film, and they appear to be a failed, impotent band of warriors whose powers could neither foresee nor prevent the rise of evil. Why must Anakin his his love for Padme? Are the Jedi forbidden from love? Whereas Qui-Gon Jinn is often interpreted as the true villain of The Phantom Menace, it is the Jedi Council’s incompetence that seems to drive the plot forward in Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. Also, why is the film called “revenge” of the sith? Whose revenge? Why are they exacting vengeance? Sadly, Revenge of the Sith leaves much to be desired and only raises a panoply of new questions.
Credits:
- Directed by: George Lucas
- Written by: George Lucas
- Produced by: Rick McCallum
- Starring:
- Ewan McGregor…..Obi-Wan Kenobi
- Natalie Portman…..Padmé Amidala
- Hayden Christensen…..Anakin Skywalker
- Ian McDiarmid…..Senator Palpatine (Darth Sidious)
- Samuel L. Jackson…..Mace Windu
- Christopher Lee…..Count Dooku (Darth Tyranus)
- Anthony Daniels…..Threepio (C-3PO)
- Kenny Baker…..Artoo (R2-D2)
- Frank Oz…..Yoda
- Ahmed Best…..Jar Jar Binks
- Cinematography: David Tattersall
- Edited by: Roger Barton, Ben Burtt
- Music by: John Williams
- Production Company: Lucasfilm Ltd.
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