Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

Rating: ***1/2

Since the Star Wars prequel trilogy was announced in the early 1990s, fans have been waiting anticipation to see some of the things that George Lucas had only hinted at through his novelizations of the Original Trilogy, and in interviews. Unfortunately for many of those same fans, they had to sit through The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones in order to get here. Revenge of the Sith fulfills the promise of the prequel trilogy, by giving us a story that ties up most of the loose ends from the first prequels, and adequately links the two trilogy’s together. Even the haters are going to have a hard time admitting that this isn’t the movie they’ve been waiting for.

I’ll spare the overly complicated plot summery, and just say that the film hits all the major plot points. The end of the Clone Wars and the rise of the Galactic Empire, Anakin’s surprisingly subtle surrender to the Dark Side, the penultimate duel between Anakin and his former mentor Obi-Wan Kenobi, the birth of Luke and Leia, how they came to be separated, and the fate of their mother Padme.

One the delightful twists to Revenge of the Sith is the way passes on the usual allegory on mythology in order to tell a more contemporary parable, drawing from history and dare I say, the nightly news. “You’re either with me or you’re my enemy”, Anakin tells Obi-Wan after the Anakin led slaughter of the Jedis. “Only a Sith Lord deals in absolutes”, is Obi-Wan’s reply. Message received, the universe is to full of complexities to believe in the dichotomy of an either/or proposition. Then there’s the formation of the Empire, formed out of the ashes of the Clone Wars in order to maintain the highest level of security for the Republic. “This is how liberty ends, with thunderous applause”, Padme observes as the new Emperor Palpatine stands before the soon to be obsolete Senate.

Two problems have been a plague to the prequel trilogy: the acting and the writing, and thankfully both are taken up several notches for this concluding chapter. The script is much tighter pacing wise, leading one to the opinion that more the likely most everything that was important to say in this trilogy was saved for this chapter.

While Sith sports some wonderful actors like Ewan McGregor, Samuel L. Jackson and Jimmy Smits, the movie is owned by Ian McDiarmond as Palpatine. McDiarmond gets to sport that same silky smooth evil that made his character so great in Return of the Jedi. His turning of Anakin his borderline subliminal, and considering the way his plan comes together, its easy to understand the characters over confidence in Jedi. The film’s only new major character General Grevious is a welcome addition to franchise’s tradition of memorable secondary characters, his menacing humpbacked walk and persistent smoker’s cough make for a interesting addition into the Star Wars pantheon of creatures.

There are only a few outright demerits to the film. One is that horribly stilted dialogue that has been a plague to the prequels seems not as noticeable in this one, mostly because I think all the actors, even Natalie Portman and Hayden Christianson, pulled out their A-game for this one. When the dialogue does sound silly, the emotion of the moment keeps your head in the movie. Another minor gripe is Yoda’s journey to the Wookie homeworld and team-up with Chewbacca, who joins Jabba the Hutt, Boba Fett, and a deleted appearance by Geedo in the Phantom Menace, on the list Original Trilogy character cameos that don’t really add much to the overall story, but regardless they are fun to see for fandom at large.

Although the movie’s denouement makes for a satisfying and emotional conclusion, it was regardless a bit rushed and it felt like a number of semi-important scenes were left out for brevity’s sake. In these things however I reserve my final judgment, for this is the DVD era, and everything left on the cutting room floor always finds it way to a bonus disc. One should be warned also, for those who are easily squeamish or under the age of ten, Revenge of the Sith sports some surprisingly gruesome violence, just so you know.

Revenge of the Sith will even the most cynical Star Warrior both appeased and satisfied, but its enough to make one wonder: for the first two movies, was Lucas just rusty behind the camera, or was Sith always going to be the exception to the Prequel trilogy by nature? Regardless, Revenge of the Sith proves that faith can be restored after all. This is the movie they’ve been waiting for.