Episode Three Review

So, the circle is now complete. I have seen all six Star Wars films and I know the full story behind Anakin’s turning. Here is my attempt to review Revenge of the Sith:

I really enjoyed the film. I think most Star Wars fans will love it… and most casual fans will think it’s the best one of the prequels. Personally, I think I need to see it again… but as it stands, I think this is my third favorite film. I liked Empire and Jedi better. Oddly enough, Revenge of the Sith actually makes me appreciate Jedi more. How much MORE moving will the scene when Anakin Skywalker ‘wakes up’ from the dark side to save the son he never knew he had BE after watching Revenge of the Sith?

Ok. Special effects. Amazing. I really felt like the special effects of Attack of the Clones made the second half of the movie more like a cartoon. Such is the downfall of computer graphics. In Revenge of the Sith, there were times where it seemed like a cartoon, but not many. Visually, I loved the first space battle over Coruscant. Wished we could have seen more! I loved the city shots of Coruscant… especially at night. I loved the detail they showed of the Jedi Temple… and other places that we see.

Soundtrack: Awesome. There were so many musical touchstones to the first trilogy. Princess Leia’s theme when she was born. Yoda’s force theme. Emperor’s theme. Imperial march at the appropriate places. I think I even heard Luke’s Tatoonie theme mixed in somewhere. I want to see it again just to listen for musical touchstones!

Acting: Much improved. Hayden Christianson (Anakin) does a much better job in this movie. He doesn’t out-right annoy me at any time in this one… unlike in Attack of the Clones. Ewan McGregor was so good. His short monologue as Anakin is burning was the most moving part of the picture for me. He really helps the viewer feel the anguish that Obi-Wan must be feeling at that point. Natalie Portman. Even though I’ve really liked her in everything else I’ve seen her in, I honestly did not enjoy her acting in this third installment. (I’m not sure that it is completely her fault though.) I think the person who stole the show, however, is Ian McDiarmid (Darth Sidious/Emperor). He was tremendous. You really hated his character by the end of the movie. He really helped sell the reasons why Anakin fell.

Story: Overall… I thought this was well done. I have a few issues with the story which I will highlight in a moment. I really liked why Anakin turned. They really tied all three prequels together with that one: Anakin missed his mother, Anakin finally gets to see his mother… but she dies in his arms, Anakin swears that he will never fail a loved one again, Anakin dreams that Padme will die, Anakin goes to the dark side to save Padme. Ironically, it was because Anakin went to the dark side that Padme eventually died. If he would have rejected the Emperor… I don’t think Padme dies in childbirth.

I loved how Anakin and Obi-Wan interact in the beginning of the movie. They fought so well together. There was visible respect and love there. It made the final battle and surrounding events that much more emotional. Speaking of the opening scenes, I really felt like the humor, the adventure, the music, and the companionship of our heroes in these opening scenes came the closest of any prequel scenes to matching that same spirit of the classic trilogy. Very nice!

I thought it was very interesting how the end played out. When the Emperor told Anakin that in his anger, he was the one who killed Padme… a couple of things really made sense to me: First, I understood why Vader never found out about either of his kids… especially Luke at Tatooine. He had no reason to go looking. He had no reason to suspect anything out of place. Second, I understand that Vader is mostly driven by anger at himself. His access to the dark side in the Old Trilogy is not with hatred of other people… I think he gains access through a self hatred, because all along, He thinks that he is directly responsible for his wife’s (and child’s) death. This also makes you get a different feel for how Vader must feel when he finds out that Luke is his son in the classic trilogy.

I liked the reference to the netherworld… and why Obi-Wan has access to it in the Old Trilogy. I liked seeing the construction start of the first Death Star. I liked all the political scenes… and how the Republic was finally turned into the Empire. I really thought Order 66 was nicely handled. It really explained why so many Jedi were slaughtered without a chance to fight back. (By the way, I found those to be some of the more emotional scenes.) Though I didn’t like the ‘why’ of Padme’s death… I did think they handled her death scene well. Her last words to Obi-Wan: There is still good in him… echoes what Luke said in Jedi.

Actually, there were many parallels to the Old Trilogy. For instance: The Anakin/Dooku fight very much mirrored the Luke/Vader fight in Jedi. I loved the scenes in Tantive IV… which is one of the last ships you see in Revenge and the first ship you see in New Hope. Seeing in Vader’s mask… and understanding what exactly his ‘mechanical’ eyes would see makes the line “Let me look on you with my own eyes…” in Return of the Jedi much more meaningful. Seeing Obi-Wan pick up Anakin’s blade… then seeing Obi-Wan give that blade to Luke in New Hope takes on a whole new meaning now. I loved seeing Chewie… even for a short amount of time… I loved the scene when Yoda climbs up onto Chewie’s back. The very last shot of the movie is Owen looking into the twin suns of Tatoonie… just like Luke does in A New Hope. Obi-Wan doesn’t want to face Anakin at the end of three. Luke doesn’t want to face Vader at the end of six. Lucas does a great job of bringing everything together. Interesting: Anakin’s ‘turn’ scenes are very similar: In Revenge, Anakin turns bad when Mace is deflecting force lightning into Palpatine and the Emperor is pleading with Anakin for help. In Return of the Jedi, Anakin is redeemed when Palpatine is shooting force lightning into Luke and Luke is pleading with his father to help him.

Stuff I Didn’t Like About the Story: I thought Anakin’s turn was far too quick. He had just told Windu that Palpatine was the Sith Lord. Then he decides to go and see what’s up for himself. Mace decides that the Sith Lord must die, even though he’s unarmed… Anakin jumps in to defend... cutting off Windu’s arm. Then Palpatine does the very thing that Anakin didn’t want Mace to do… execute someone unarmed. Why did Anakin put up with that? Then he says: What have I done? As if he’s under an enormous amount of guilt. Then all of a sudden, he bows at the feet of Palpatine. It was very much a 'bi-polar' type of scene. I know the big Star Wars freaks would argue that his love for Padme overcame his sense of justice… but I felt like it happened far too quickly.

I would have actually preferred it if Anakin wouldn’t have been the one to inform Windu about Palpatine. Maybe have Anakin think about the proposition of joining Palpatine to save Padme… then have a Jedi Council investigation going on that leads Windu to Palpatine… and just as he’s about to kill him… in comes Anakin to help defend Palpative. That would have been a little more believable for me.

I did not like Padme’s death. She was the Queen of Naboo at age 14. She was a Senator by at least age 24. In the first two movies, we see her as a strong-willed and determined woman. I don’t like the idea of her being physically healthy… but having lost the will to live because of Anakin’s turn. That’s crap. Most women are highly motivated by the possibility of children. You can’t tell me that she would have just given up on her kid(s) like that. I would have preferred a different death for her… like Sidious killing her and telling Anakin that Obi-Wan did it… or something like that. Or, better yet, in order to gel with what Leia says about remembering her mom… have her live through the movie and leave the viewer assume that she dies soon after.

This next thing is nit-picking… but the pace of the film was tremendously fast. Dooku died too quickly. Grevious died too quickly. Windu died too quickly. There was very little time to digest everything. It went from one battle to another battle… slowing the story down might have helped me digest Anakin’s turn a little better. It just happened so quickly! I was talking with someone about this... can't remember who now... maybe my brother? I don't know... anyway... we think they could have eliminated The Phantom Menance altogether... and started with Attack of the Clones and made Revenge of the Sith into two movies. I think that would have been great! We could have seen a little more of suited up Vader in action too!

Little things that I have questions about: Why did Vader and the Emperor never find Obi-Wan and Yoda? You would have thought that Vader’s main objective would have been to find Obi-Wan and kill him. Same thing with the Emperor and Yoda... Why did it take 18 years to build the first death star and only three and a half years to build most of the second one? Why did Uncle Owen NOT like Obi-Wan? Why did Obi-Wan change his name to Ben? Why was Leia’s last name changed and Luke’s last name NOT changed? Was Anakin created by Sidious or Plaguies converging midi-clorins on Shmi Skywalker? Was the prophecy some made-up lie by the Sith that was fed to the Jedi to mis-lead them but ended up back-firing on the Sith? How does Leia remember images of her mother… she was three minutes old when her mother died? Why does Luke have no memory of his mother… when he was the first born? Who was Jedi Master Syfer Dyas? If he really was a Jedi, why did he order the clones? How did Yoda get to Dagobah… and why did he choose Dagobah? Did Obi-Wan and baby Luke drop Yoda off at Dagobah? (Thinking about the line in Empire when Luke says... this place seems familiar...)

All in all… I really liked the movie. I went back and watched A New Hope last night after I saw Revenge of the Sith. I noticed that two things changed for me: 1) Episodes 4, 5, 6 seem more sad to me now. Obi-Wan’s storyline is more sad… Luke losing his aunt and uncle is more sad… even the final lightsaber duel is more sobering now that you know what happened the last time these two guys fought. 2) Han Solo doesn’t seem as cool to me anymore. He just seems like a side character that happens to get in the middle of telling the Skywalker story. Other than falling in love with Leia, he’s pretty much a non-issue in the whole story. Works out good… since Harrison Ford has pretty much ignored these movies and the Star Wars fan base for many, many years now. Star Wars is the reason why he’s even a name, if you ask me.

Anyway, I’m kind of sad that it’s all over. I’m sure Lucas will still have a few tricks up his sleeve to keep the fan-base occupied… but it will be weird knowing that there probably won’t be any more movies to look forward to and banter about. It was a great run! What a great story with classic themes mixed in: Good vs. Evil, love, family, and most importantly: redemption! I will always love these movies!

I hope you enjoyed my book!