Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith

The Star Wars prequel trilogy was doing reasonably well...although there was some major criticism aimed at both the writing and performances. With that said, and I think I mentioned this a few times, I liked the first two films in the set (The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones).

Casting was fairly easy. Ewan McGregor, Hayden Christensen, and Natalie Portman reprised their roles as Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, and Padme Amidala. Sir Christopher Lee also reprised his role as Count Dooku.

Revenge of the Sith was the most well-liked film in the prequel trilogy and it received largely positive reviews, with extensive praise levelled at the visual effects.

The Plot

As the clone wars rage throughout the galaxy, Chancellor Palpatine is kidnapped and Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker work to rescue him. In the course of the rescue, Anakin manages to kill Count Dooku and, after a rather rough landing, Palpatine sends Anakin to be his representative on the Jedi council. This goes about as well as you can imagine with the other masters.

Things continue to escalate as Anakin begins to have nightmares about his wife, Padme's death. Of course, this does a real number on his mental state and the history of the republic now hangs by a thread.

What I Liked

Okay, so a common complaint about the previous two films that I had was that some of the dialogue was really corny. Thankfully, the corny dialogue was toned down significantly; it's still there but it's not as bad as it was before.

The costume and special effects people really should give themselves a pat on the back because their work looks really good!

Hayden Christensen's performance - hey, whoa! At least hear me out before you start grabbing pitchforks and torches! Put those down...right, thank you. Now, as I was saying, Hayden Christensen's performance as Anakin is much better here than in the previous film. Apart from one or two lines here and there, he plays the role seriously and his silent performances - where he's just using facial expressions and body language - are great.

There, now was that so hard? Let's see. what else did I like? The lightsaber choreography is absolutely phenomenal. It's been great in the previous two films, but the coordinators really outdid themselves here.

Was there Anything I didn't Like?

Well...okay, this is probably going to go very badly, but here goes. Ian McDiarmid is great as Sheev Palpatine - that goes without saying BUT I can't help thinking he overdid it, just a bit. Palpatine is meant to be this cunning, conniving politician with connections all over the galaxy, I would've liked to see him be a bit more...subtle with his transformation. Instead, we get an obvious villain from the start. Now, I know that's what's supposed to happen; he becomes the Emperor and things get worse from there but wouldn't it have been a great twist ending?

Nobody knows who the Sith Lord is until the very, very end of the film. The Jedi knights go to him to give a report after a senate meeting and THEN we get the big reveal. That would have had a stronger impact, I think. Still, it's hard to deny that McDiarmid was having an absolute blast.

The ending...oh boy, the ending. Let's start off slowly, Anakin has fallen to the dark side, Padme goes to Mustafar to talk sense into him and he goes nuts when he sees his former master. We have the epic showdown between him and Obi-Wan which ends with the now meme-worthy high ground monologue from Ewan McGregor. That's all great, and I love that bit.

Now, we come to Padme giving birth to Luke and Leia. The medical droid says she's essentially just lost the will to live...what? So, basically: she dies of a broken heart. WHAT?! Okay, first off; that's the most fairytale stereotypical nonsense I've heard in a while. Secondly, you lose the will to live because your HUSBAND turned evil and killed children? You've got kids Padme, kids!

I Have to Close NOW!

I don't really have much more to say about this one. Revenge of the Sith is definitely the darkest of the three prequels and it's a personal favorite of mine. With that said, there are some serious flaws and I only highlighted the two biggest ones (in my opinion, anyway), with the film's execution.

With all that in mind, I can't take anymore; I have to close this review before I lose my mind...although, that could've already happened - you never know.