*SPOILER WARNING*
*Directed by George Lucas
*Starring Ewan McGregor, Hayden Christensen, Natalie Portman, Ian McDiarmid, Samuel L Jackson, Frank Oz, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, Jimmy Smits, Peter Mayhew, Matthew Wood
The Plot: With the fear of losing his wife Padmé, Anakin Skywalker pledges himself to the Dark Side of the Force under the leadership of the Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Sidious (aka Chancellor/ Emperor Palpetine), which leads into major consequences with the fall of the Galactic Republic forming into the Galactic Empire. There are also consequences resulting in the death of many Jedi with surviving Jedi Obi Wan and Yoda dealing with the aftermath and attempting to put an end to this conflict with Obi Wan also dealing with personal matters of his dear friend Anakin turning evil.
When it comes to the final film in the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, I find that the responses are pretty divisive believe it or not. I've heard responses saying that this movie improved upon the last two and is the best of the trilogy. Then, there's responses that the trilogy got progressively worse with Episode III being the worst of the bunch. In fact, I've heard as far as that it's hated because of so much positivity surrounding this film entirely. Well, allow me to jump on that positivity train because I think this movie is the best of the prequel trilogy and I will even go as far as to say it's good. Controversial, I know, but I'm being honest.
I do have a soft spot for this movie, too, and maybe for all the prequels considering I did enjoy these 3 movies in my youth and my introduction to Star Wars, technically, was through these 3 movies. I never was raised on the Original Trilogy as a child, but seeing promotions and then bits and pieces of Phantom Menace on TV made me aware of Star Wars. However, I saw Attack of the Clones in full at a friend's house and my interest for the franchise started to pique. It's a very strange introduction. I had no idea what was going on, but it was all I had back then. Yet, I think if it weren't for the release of Revenge of the Sith I wouldn't have gone back and watched the previous five movies in order of release before seeing Episode III.
I remember being really excited to see this movie and that it would cap off the entire Star Wars saga as we knew it at the time. I wasn't allowed to see it in theater's back then, but I eventually owned the film on DVD and it was finally the first PG-13 movie I ever got to experience. Might be ridiculous to some people that it was my first, but I'm sure there would've been some overwhelming moments to handle at a young age because this is one of the darkest films in the franchise. There is some intense imagery to handle at a young age, but I'm genuinely surprised to see how much this film holds up for me as an adult compared to revisiting Episodes I and II.
I think this is a fairly underrated Star Wars movie and even though I say that I do still have some issues with it that I'll get into. But there are some pretty interesting criticisms I heard about this movie that really never bothered me in my viewing experiences of this movie including my most recent one in preparation for this review. One of the reasons why it's definitely an improvement over Episodes I and II is that both the directing and writing is pretty decent. The movie is also very entertaining as far as action and spectacle goes and when there's no action there's still a pretty compelling story to be invested in with some pretty emotional resonance when there's build up to the second act.
To see what Anakin goes through in order to achieve what he wants, which eventually leads into a dark turn, felt very believable to me. You truly see his frustration with earning trust from the Jedi Council on top of how Palpetine is trying to reason with him, get at his inner emotions, and persuade him psychologically. One of the scenes that sticks out to me is the opera house scene with Palpetine telling Anakin the story of Darth Plagueis the Wise.
Whenever others say ALL the dialogue was bad in this specific movie just REALLY need to revisit this scene. It opens up more about the lore and Palpetine's backstory for that matter, but the way the dialogue is written and the way the scene is orchestrated I found to be really damn clever. It was a brilliant tool for Palpetine to persuade Anakin and the scene also developed great character motivation for Anakin because of how he takes in this legend.
I also feel that in my recent viewing that an aspect that grew on me was how Anakin's turn was built up and how all these clashing things with saving Padmé, Palpetine's manipulation, and wanting more out of the Council lead to a very convincing turn. The pacing of the film never felt so quick to the point where I couldn't lock into the emotion of this character and really understand where these motivations came from and what it would eventually lead to.
Let's also dive into some of the action and spectacle as I mentioned earlier, which compared to Episodes I and II combined the movie visually looks pretty stunning. The opening sequence with the Battle over Corscant has beautifully choreographed CG and then more really fun lightsaber action with Anakin and Obi Wan rescuing the Chancellor. There was also a great white-knuckled fight between General Grevious and Obi Wan and maybe it starts out a little weak when the two duke it out with sabers, but when the chase hits followed by hand to hand combat, the tension works greatly.
Also, as far as direction goes the Order 66 scene had me welling up because while John Williams score enraptured me in the emotion of the scene, just the idea of what was happening in these scenarios and how the scene was handled added a lot. John Williams's score by the way is once again magnificent and completely earth shattering. One of my favorite musical queues was the track used for Anakin and Obi Wan's final battle, which was so electrifying and epic. Speaking of the Obi Wan and Anakin final battle, which also intercuts with the Yoda and Palpetine battle was nothing short of brilliant. Excellent stunt work and choreography and the physical performances involved I thought added emotion to the battles as well. Those scenes along with Order 66 are highlights of the saga for me and two of my favorite scenes in the entire franchise.
The sound design is always perfect and even the editing really gave the film a nice flow as well and added so much to the drama of these scenes. My favorite uses of editing was utilized in the scene with Anakin looking out into the Coruscant city from the Jedi Council tower with Padmé simultaneously looking out from her penthouse. It's like you can really get into the emotion of these characters and what they're really feeling in these moments about each other just by their looks alone. Also, the use of editing for Padmé birthing Luke and Leia intercut with the birth of Vader. There was great irony there with how Padmé's death occurred during Vader's birth and, again, it was clever on Lucas's behalf to arrange the scenes in this fashion.
More positives I have to give about this movie was that the performances were a lot better with Ewan McGregor of course being a natural as Obi Wan. Frank Oz, Anthony Daniels, and Kenny Baker all being perfect as always. Also awesome to see Peter Mayhew reprise his role as Chewbacca in what maybe was a fan service-y scene with the battle on the Wookiee planet Kasyyk. Maybe it was, but I enjoyed it personally. Ian McDiarmid is also terrific reprising his crazy villainous role as Palpetine. Hayden Christensen does a lot better with some of the dialogue he's given and even does a great job with handling a lot of his facial expressions and some of his physical performance. Natalie Portman also gives a better performance with improved dialogue while also adding a great amount of emotion to her role.
Despite the positivity I have for this film there were definitely flaws I couldn't overlook that I admit could've been handled a lot better. I do think Revenge of the Sith is a good movie, but it's not a great movie. I think like the previous two prequels it does have some of that cheesy direction, acting and writing I couldn't help overlook. It gets a little exposition-y like the previous two and the more intense scenes like Palpetine's duel with Mace Windu with Anakin intervening can come off as somewhat laughable. There's not enough grit to intense, pivotal scenes like that and not to mention there is some of that noticeable green screen in parts even though the backgrounds as well as the rest of the CGI doesn't look nearly as bad as the effects in Episodes I and II.
I did complement Hayden Christensen for doing a good job, but there are parts when some of his acting with the cheesy dialogue did take me out of it. I could've went without some of the Shakespeare-like dialogue like the balcony scene with Padmé and Anakin. It's where he says he's love in with her and she asks him, "So love has blinded you?" That takes me out of it a bit, but I do appreciate bold, creative decisions like that where Lucas wanted to really give the impression that this pivotal chapter in the saga is like a Shakespeare tragedy. The story and the intentions of these characters to get the story in certain directions were solid aspects of this movie, but I'll admit some of the execution and writing could've been handled better in some scenes.
Overall, I really enjoy watching Revenge of the Sith and maybe it's not as good as other Star Wars films or even other Canon shows in the franchise, but for the most part the way the story was told worked for me. I can't ignore some of the flaws in the film's creative decisions, the writing and directing, but it was a solid enough effort to tell the tragedy of the saga's story by improving some of the film's orchestration compared to its predecessors in The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones.
Verdict: B+
I'm in the minority for liking this film and that's perfectly okay because the magic of cinema is the subjectivity involved and the art that resonates with us as viewers. Revenge of the Sith isn't a flawless movie, but surprised me and moved me in a lot of ways. I do enjoy watching it at least once a year when marathoning the saga. So glad I was able to share my feelings about this movie with you guys!
Stay tuned for the next review in my Star Wars series of reviews where I'll be looking back at last year's Rogue One: A Star Wars Story before branching into the Original Trilogy we know and love. Be on the lookout for that very soon.
For more updates be sure to also follow me in the social media links below as well as a link to my Star Wars Reviews page:
STAR WARS REVIEWS
*Directed by George Lucas
*Starring Ewan McGregor, Hayden Christensen, Natalie Portman, Ian McDiarmid, Samuel L Jackson, Frank Oz, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, Jimmy Smits, Peter Mayhew, Matthew Wood
The Plot: With the fear of losing his wife Padmé, Anakin Skywalker pledges himself to the Dark Side of the Force under the leadership of the Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Sidious (aka Chancellor/ Emperor Palpetine), which leads into major consequences with the fall of the Galactic Republic forming into the Galactic Empire. There are also consequences resulting in the death of many Jedi with surviving Jedi Obi Wan and Yoda dealing with the aftermath and attempting to put an end to this conflict with Obi Wan also dealing with personal matters of his dear friend Anakin turning evil.
When it comes to the final film in the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, I find that the responses are pretty divisive believe it or not. I've heard responses saying that this movie improved upon the last two and is the best of the trilogy. Then, there's responses that the trilogy got progressively worse with Episode III being the worst of the bunch. In fact, I've heard as far as that it's hated because of so much positivity surrounding this film entirely. Well, allow me to jump on that positivity train because I think this movie is the best of the prequel trilogy and I will even go as far as to say it's good. Controversial, I know, but I'm being honest.
I do have a soft spot for this movie, too, and maybe for all the prequels considering I did enjoy these 3 movies in my youth and my introduction to Star Wars, technically, was through these 3 movies. I never was raised on the Original Trilogy as a child, but seeing promotions and then bits and pieces of Phantom Menace on TV made me aware of Star Wars. However, I saw Attack of the Clones in full at a friend's house and my interest for the franchise started to pique. It's a very strange introduction. I had no idea what was going on, but it was all I had back then. Yet, I think if it weren't for the release of Revenge of the Sith I wouldn't have gone back and watched the previous five movies in order of release before seeing Episode III.
I remember being really excited to see this movie and that it would cap off the entire Star Wars saga as we knew it at the time. I wasn't allowed to see it in theater's back then, but I eventually owned the film on DVD and it was finally the first PG-13 movie I ever got to experience. Might be ridiculous to some people that it was my first, but I'm sure there would've been some overwhelming moments to handle at a young age because this is one of the darkest films in the franchise. There is some intense imagery to handle at a young age, but I'm genuinely surprised to see how much this film holds up for me as an adult compared to revisiting Episodes I and II.
I think this is a fairly underrated Star Wars movie and even though I say that I do still have some issues with it that I'll get into. But there are some pretty interesting criticisms I heard about this movie that really never bothered me in my viewing experiences of this movie including my most recent one in preparation for this review. One of the reasons why it's definitely an improvement over Episodes I and II is that both the directing and writing is pretty decent. The movie is also very entertaining as far as action and spectacle goes and when there's no action there's still a pretty compelling story to be invested in with some pretty emotional resonance when there's build up to the second act.
To see what Anakin goes through in order to achieve what he wants, which eventually leads into a dark turn, felt very believable to me. You truly see his frustration with earning trust from the Jedi Council on top of how Palpetine is trying to reason with him, get at his inner emotions, and persuade him psychologically. One of the scenes that sticks out to me is the opera house scene with Palpetine telling Anakin the story of Darth Plagueis the Wise.
Whenever others say ALL the dialogue was bad in this specific movie just REALLY need to revisit this scene. It opens up more about the lore and Palpetine's backstory for that matter, but the way the dialogue is written and the way the scene is orchestrated I found to be really damn clever. It was a brilliant tool for Palpetine to persuade Anakin and the scene also developed great character motivation for Anakin because of how he takes in this legend.
I also feel that in my recent viewing that an aspect that grew on me was how Anakin's turn was built up and how all these clashing things with saving Padmé, Palpetine's manipulation, and wanting more out of the Council lead to a very convincing turn. The pacing of the film never felt so quick to the point where I couldn't lock into the emotion of this character and really understand where these motivations came from and what it would eventually lead to.
Let's also dive into some of the action and spectacle as I mentioned earlier, which compared to Episodes I and II combined the movie visually looks pretty stunning. The opening sequence with the Battle over Corscant has beautifully choreographed CG and then more really fun lightsaber action with Anakin and Obi Wan rescuing the Chancellor. There was also a great white-knuckled fight between General Grevious and Obi Wan and maybe it starts out a little weak when the two duke it out with sabers, but when the chase hits followed by hand to hand combat, the tension works greatly.
Also, as far as direction goes the Order 66 scene had me welling up because while John Williams score enraptured me in the emotion of the scene, just the idea of what was happening in these scenarios and how the scene was handled added a lot. John Williams's score by the way is once again magnificent and completely earth shattering. One of my favorite musical queues was the track used for Anakin and Obi Wan's final battle, which was so electrifying and epic. Speaking of the Obi Wan and Anakin final battle, which also intercuts with the Yoda and Palpetine battle was nothing short of brilliant. Excellent stunt work and choreography and the physical performances involved I thought added emotion to the battles as well. Those scenes along with Order 66 are highlights of the saga for me and two of my favorite scenes in the entire franchise.
The sound design is always perfect and even the editing really gave the film a nice flow as well and added so much to the drama of these scenes. My favorite uses of editing was utilized in the scene with Anakin looking out into the Coruscant city from the Jedi Council tower with Padmé simultaneously looking out from her penthouse. It's like you can really get into the emotion of these characters and what they're really feeling in these moments about each other just by their looks alone. Also, the use of editing for Padmé birthing Luke and Leia intercut with the birth of Vader. There was great irony there with how Padmé's death occurred during Vader's birth and, again, it was clever on Lucas's behalf to arrange the scenes in this fashion.
More positives I have to give about this movie was that the performances were a lot better with Ewan McGregor of course being a natural as Obi Wan. Frank Oz, Anthony Daniels, and Kenny Baker all being perfect as always. Also awesome to see Peter Mayhew reprise his role as Chewbacca in what maybe was a fan service-y scene with the battle on the Wookiee planet Kasyyk. Maybe it was, but I enjoyed it personally. Ian McDiarmid is also terrific reprising his crazy villainous role as Palpetine. Hayden Christensen does a lot better with some of the dialogue he's given and even does a great job with handling a lot of his facial expressions and some of his physical performance. Natalie Portman also gives a better performance with improved dialogue while also adding a great amount of emotion to her role.
Despite the positivity I have for this film there were definitely flaws I couldn't overlook that I admit could've been handled a lot better. I do think Revenge of the Sith is a good movie, but it's not a great movie. I think like the previous two prequels it does have some of that cheesy direction, acting and writing I couldn't help overlook. It gets a little exposition-y like the previous two and the more intense scenes like Palpetine's duel with Mace Windu with Anakin intervening can come off as somewhat laughable. There's not enough grit to intense, pivotal scenes like that and not to mention there is some of that noticeable green screen in parts even though the backgrounds as well as the rest of the CGI doesn't look nearly as bad as the effects in Episodes I and II.
I did complement Hayden Christensen for doing a good job, but there are parts when some of his acting with the cheesy dialogue did take me out of it. I could've went without some of the Shakespeare-like dialogue like the balcony scene with Padmé and Anakin. It's where he says he's love in with her and she asks him, "So love has blinded you?" That takes me out of it a bit, but I do appreciate bold, creative decisions like that where Lucas wanted to really give the impression that this pivotal chapter in the saga is like a Shakespeare tragedy. The story and the intentions of these characters to get the story in certain directions were solid aspects of this movie, but I'll admit some of the execution and writing could've been handled better in some scenes.
Overall, I really enjoy watching Revenge of the Sith and maybe it's not as good as other Star Wars films or even other Canon shows in the franchise, but for the most part the way the story was told worked for me. I can't ignore some of the flaws in the film's creative decisions, the writing and directing, but it was a solid enough effort to tell the tragedy of the saga's story by improving some of the film's orchestration compared to its predecessors in The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones.
Verdict: B+
I'm in the minority for liking this film and that's perfectly okay because the magic of cinema is the subjectivity involved and the art that resonates with us as viewers. Revenge of the Sith isn't a flawless movie, but surprised me and moved me in a lot of ways. I do enjoy watching it at least once a year when marathoning the saga. So glad I was able to share my feelings about this movie with you guys!
Stay tuned for the next review in my Star Wars series of reviews where I'll be looking back at last year's Rogue One: A Star Wars Story before branching into the Original Trilogy we know and love. Be on the lookout for that very soon.
For more updates be sure to also follow me in the social media links below as well as a link to my Star Wars Reviews page:
STAR WARS REVIEWS
Twitter and Instagram: @alexjcorey
Thank you all so much for reading! As always, see some movies and all that good stuff. Take care and May the Force be with you. Always. :-)
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