Written by: George Lucas
Starring: Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Hayden Christensen, Ian McDiarmid, Samuel L. Jackson
Rating: [2/5]
Following one of the most unfathomably popular film trilogies of all times focused on a galaxy far far away, this prequel trilogy sought to tell the story of arguably the most iconic villain in film history. Two terrible previous films come together to piece everything together for what we receive in Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. Undoubtedly the best of this trio of films, but still struggles through a terrible screenplay and acting.
Secretly married to Padmé (Natalie Portman), Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) learns she’s pregnant, which complicates things in his hope of becoming a Jedi master. With this new reality before him, Anakin begins to grow closer to Chancellor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid), who continues to amass power in the Senate bordering on absolute.
Hours of buildup in the previous two films have led us to what this feature seeks to present and in a way it feels like the final merciful kill to put everyone out of their misery in what this feature provides to us all. It finally seeks to show exactly how Anakin goes from this gleeful young man into a genocidal monster and unsurprisingly, this feature does not handle the shift particularly well. On one hand, the focus on his love for Padmé becomes the central issue in what dictates his decision-making. However, when it goes from a conflicted Anakin to him literally slaughtering children in the space of a few scenes, it demonstrates this feature did not adequately build up what would make him the gargantuan monster we all know and love.
Along with Anakin’s arc, this feature also finalizes the political story George Lucas wanted to share about the way democracy can slip into fascism in slowly discreet ways until it inevitably hits everyone right in the face. This ultimately remains the crown jewel of this entire trilogy and how these supposedly smart politicians cede power in the name of fear to someone ready to take it all for their own whims. These moments allow Ian McDiarmid to have his dastardly fun in fully embracing his presence as the Emperor.
However, as with all of these prequels, it contains so much bloat and nonsense that the good elements of it cannot be fully enjoyed. For example, everything with Padmé as we reach the end of this trilogy astounds in how Lucas figured this would all end for her. Someone displaying such bravery as a young girl and fighting skills in Attack of the Clones, in this feature, gets relegated to a pregnant woman, who just cries when she sees what Anakin has turned into. Truly a dumbfounding turn of events for this character that ultimately does a disservice to her development as a character and thus makes her solely represent what influences the teetering Jedi knight, Anakin.
In these highly emotional moments, this film wants us to feel the weight of what occurs but, once again, these actors get saddled with such clunky dialogue as Lucas wants to convey his overall message. It appears in certain instances, these actors need to trip over themselves in order to get at what their characters need to say but they cannot convincingly deliver in a serious manner. Certainly makes you think how many takes it took them to get certain scenes. While these actors definitely gave it their all, particularly the best of the trilogy in Ewan McGregor and Natalie Portman, even they could not elevate the material they receive. It leaves no hope for someone like Hayden Christensen as once again he had no chance of survival. The dialogue got so bad that on this rewatch, I started getting irritated at Yoda and his line delivery because of the lines the little green alien needed to say.
Without a doubt, the best of the prequel trilogy, which does not serve as the best compliment. Revenge of the Sith tries to neatly piece everything together to establish the world prior to the original trilogy and it clunkily gets there. All of the better elements of this feature lay at the conceptual level as the storyboard comes together for George Lucas to demonstrate how the Republic shifts to the Empire and Anakin assumes his place as Darth Vader. However, his writing shows its ugly side once again making for some horrifically cringey scenes and moments taking away from whatever these actors tried to do with him.
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