(May 2005, U.S.)
In May 2005, I was so excited to see REVENGE OF THE SITH, that I could hardly retain any other thought in my head. This was, after all (at the time), supposed to be the last STAR WARS movie ever. Set now three years after the start of the Clone Wars in ATTACK OF THE CONES, this was also to be a darker STAR WARS movie, with a PG-13 rating for the first time in the history of the saga. Anakin Skywalker was older now and steering closer and closer to what we all knew would turn out to be his ultimate fate of becoming Darth Vader. We also knew that his wife Padmé Amidala (I guess she never changed her last name to Skywalker after she got married - LOL!) was to be pregnant with twins whom we would come to know as Luke and Leia. Yes, we knew of all things to come, but we still couldn't wait to see the process in which it would all come down and the ultimate destiny the galaxy would face.
At the start of the movie, civil war is now in its darkest and most serious state. Anakin and young Obi-Wan Kenobi are on a perilous mission to rescue the kidnapped Chancellor Palpatine from the clutches of General Grievous, who by the way, is perhaps one of the worst creature creations George Lucas has ever come up with, in my opinion. Forgetting for just a moment the horribly wooden dialogue that comes out of that stupid droid throughout the movie, his constant coughing and wheezing is enough to make Jar Jar Binks more than tolerable (he's hardly in this movie, thank goodness!). Following Anakin's beheading of Count Dooku, and Grievous's escape, the mission is nonetheless successful and our two heroes return to Coruscant, where grown-up "Annie" learns that he's going to be a daddy.
Anankin and Palpatine are growing closer and more trusting of each other, as Anakin slowly becomes disenchanted and distrustful of the entire Jedi order. The Dark Side of the Force and an overall plot to destroy the Jedi are sensed throughout the Republic and Jedi Council, particularly by Mace Windu and our beloved Yoda, though none of them can completely sense the role that Anakin will play in all of it. The dark times of good against evil finally come into place when the Emperor, having finally seduced Anakin under his wing and the Dark Side of the Force, issues what he calls Order #66, an implanted command that will turn the clone stormtroopers against the Jedi order with instructions to hunt down and kill them all. Anakin travels to the volcanic planet of Mustafar and eliminates the Separatist Council. Meanwhile, Palpatine, now the Emperor, addresses the Galactic Senate declaring the treasonous actions of the Jedi and that the Council will be restructured into the new Galactic Empire. It's at this moment that Natalie Portman, whom I still consider the worst part of the entire prequel trilogy (the girl can't act!), ironically states what I consider to be the best piece of dialogue in this film (and the entire trilogy, for that matter), but I'll tell you that at the end of this post.
Anakin's (now a pre-masked Darth Vader) turn to the Dark Side reaches its peak when he finally duels Obi-Wan with lightsabers, believing he and even Padmé to have betrayed him. Their duel is fast paced (too fast, if you ask me) and intense as it takes place throughout the mining facility and lava rivers of Mustafar. Upon achieving the higher ground, Obi-Wan takes position and manages to sever both of Vader's legs and his remaining arm, leaving him for dead, but not before declaring his sorrow over Anakin's turn to darkness and evil. Yoda, once again, shows us his skill with a lightsaber when he battles the Emperor and narrowly escapes with his life. Into exile he must go, and we know that will be the swamp planet of Degobah (though we don't get to see that in this film).
So now, Anakin dies, Darth Vader is reborn as the dark lord of the Sith, Padmé dies in childbirth (as Anakin envisioned in his dreams), and in the shadow of dark death, new life is born and their names are Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa. They'll be separated for their own safety, and Leia will be raised on the planet Alderaan, while Luke is raised by his Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen on Tatooine, until the day will come that they'll both meet on a space station that has just begun construction in space, the Death Star.
REVENGE OF THE SITH ends on a very dark note, but it does, nonetheless, bring everything that we've known about STAR WARS since 1977, full circle. It's surely the strongest of the three prequel films, though my criticism of its acting performances change very little from the first two films. Much of the dialogue is still very wooden, and like the first two, I still give the proper credit to actor Ian McDiarmid in the role he was built to play. Hayden Christensen, admittedly, is doing his very best to bring about a dark and tense attitude toward a character that's surely a big challenge to live up to, though there are moments where he's still behaving like a whining child. The entire film packs a far more serious and emotional punch than its predecessors and makes it very clear the global impact the actions of heroes and villains have, while remembering not to sacrifice any of the entertaining fun we've all come to expect from the STAR WARS universe. It was fun, and for ten years, we thought it was all over...we thought.
Favorite line or dialogue:
Padmé Amidala (listening to the reactions of the Galactic Senate): "So this is how liberty dies...with thunderous applause."
(I hope George W. Bush was listening to that when she said it! I hope Donald Trump is listening to it now!)
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