Star Wars (Prequel)
Episode I: The Phantom Menace
Episode II: Attack Of The Clones
Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith -
Overview
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Negatives
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Brief Review
George Lucas' Star Wars adventure comes to a close with the final tale of Anakin Skywalker. His transition from Jedi to Sith is heartbreaking and equally engrossing to watch. Senator Palpatine steals the show with some brilliant acting and his chilling performance is excellent to watch. The acting all round is a step up from Clones and the storyline of the Sith's rise to power is the best out of the whole Prequel Trilogy. A fitting tribute to the original trilogy.
Full Review
After two mediocre Star Wars films in the new Prequel Trilogy, Revenge Of The Sith is a fantastic film full of action, excitement, drama and heartbreak. This is the tale that fans and critics alike have been waiting for, the demise of the Jedi and the rise of the Sith, and in particular, Anakin Skywalker. His freefall from Jedi to Sith is both heartbreaking and exciting to watch, especially his transformation to Darth Vader.
The story kicks off with a bang with Anakin and Obi-Wan chasing a new villain, General Grievous, along with Count Dooku who have captured Chancellor Palpatine. I won't reveal any more details but suffice to say, the plot thickens and the excitement levels rise. There are plenty of lightsaber battles here as well, whereas in Menace and Clones these were few and far between, here they're in abundance and the film benefits well from it.
The best by far is that between Obi-Wan and Anakin on Mustafar where their surroundings literally come crumbling down in the fiery depths belows. What makes this scene so powerful is the beautiful irony in the scene when analysed deeper. Obi-Wan signifies the good, Anakin the bad and the surroundings crumbling almost signifies the destruction that ensues around when the two forces collide. This powerful imagery helps give the film a deeper and more mature feel and even if it wasn't intentional, is still a nice touch.
The other lightsaber battles aren't anywhere near as powerful or lengthy as that one but each has a unique fighting style and flavour that keep the battles flowing well and keep the variety there. Mace Windu and Senator Palpatine for example, are more about brute strength compared to Count Dooku and Anakin where the action is a lot more fast paced and acrobatic. This pacing is spot on with decent action sequences dotted throughout the story to keep tension and excitement high.
The script is well delivered by almost every actor and as mentioned before, the acting is top notch here with Obi-Wan again delivering a superb performance. His speech to Anakin at the end of the film is moving and his best performance by far. Chancellor Palpatine aka. the Emperor is also bang on the mark and steals the show with some amazing acting. His steady and believable transition from Chancellor to revealing he is the Sith Lord is believable and most importantly flows well with the story, heightening the realism throughout.
The rest of the actors are good and Anakin really steps up to the mark here as the conflicted and confused young Jedi, delivering a decent performance compared to Clones. His scenes with Padme are also improved although some lines still feel a bit forced but overall the feel of these scenes is less tense than in Clones.
The real downers with this film are, yet again, the unrealistic lightsaber battles with Yoda as he flips and spins around more agilely than the much younger Jedi Knights and on top of that, a few continuity errors that can't go unmissed when tying up the Star Wars universe.
If Padme mentioned to Anakin that they were living in secret, why is it so strange to see them on a balcony together embracing and talking while thousands of hover cars fly past presumably oblivious to this?
In the original Star Wars trilogy, Leia mentioned she can't remember much about her mother but knew she was a beautiful woman. If she knew that, how did she remember it if Padme died after childbirth?
There are others but I won't go into details. Obviously, it was never going to be an easy task to tie up all the loose ends but some are so obvious that fans will no doubt pick up on them and feel a bit cheated. Suffice to say, it doesn't ruin the film in any way and is an enjoyable watch overall. The inclusion of Darth Vader at the end is a nice touch but only as a way of explaining exactly how Anakin turned from man to machine.
General Grievous is another concern here and although he's a decent villain, giving him four lightsabers is not only an eye-rolling moment but also taking it too far-especially since he's a four armed robot. Giving a robot four lightsabers is just ridiculous and I think Lucas should have stopped at two. This is just a minor gripe but I might not be alone in thinking this.
Overall, Revenge Of The Sith is the best of the Prequel Trilogy and does a pretty good job of explaining how Anakin turned from Jedi to Sith in a believable way. The pacing is excellent here and lightsaber fights are aplenty in this action-driven film. This film is where Lucas really hits his stride and its just a shame that Menace and Clones didn't have the same passion and direction as this one. Overall then, its only taken two films to get to a decent send-off for Star Wars but it was worth the wait for this decent inclusion to the Star Wars universe.