Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith Review
We’ve made it to the end of the prequels which means we’re talking about Revenge of the Sith. This is an interesting one because there’s so many feelings that audiences have about this movie. Over the last several years there’s been this new appreciation for Revenge of the Sith with many claiming it as the best Star Wars movie we’ve ever gotten. There’s a lot of people that reject the prequels and don’t like this movie. Which side do I fall on? Let’s talk about it!
The Good
Right out of the gate, I think this is easily the best of the prequels. If you saw my reviews of Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones then you know that I wasn’t a big fan of those movies and find them to be deeply flawed despite having some good elements. Revenge of the Sith has it’s faults but I think it’s positive makeup for them and creates the best of the prequels. This feels like the prequel that George Lucas most wanted to tell and that’s sort of because it is. Lucas wasn’t to tell the back story of how Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader. He had to do the setup with Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones in order to get to Revenge of the Sith, the story that he most wanted to tell. You feel George Lucas’ passion in this movie more so then the other two prequels. You don’t feel like Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones are the stories that he wanted to tell, Revenge of the Sith feels like the story he wanted to tell. I’m just going to spoil it right now, I don’t think this is a top tier Star Wars movie. But I do think it’s easily the best of the prequels and there’s not really a debate in my mind. But at the same time, I can see why so many people adore this movie and have it as one of the best if not the best Star Wars movie.
The big thing that I think elevates this movie above Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones is that this film brings out the biggest emotions from you. There’s really nothing in those two films that are designed to make you feel emotional. But in this movie there’s several sequences that are some of the most gut wrenching moments in Star Wars. So much so that I’d say that this is probably the most emotional Star Wars movie. Whether you’re talking about the Order 66 sequence and you see the true downfall of the Jedi or the final fight between Anakin and Obi-Wan, it’s all handled so well and it truly makes you feel these big emotions. We’ll talk about this later but I don’t think Anakin’s turn to the dark side is handled the best. But the actual sequences of Anakin on the dark side, whether that’s him killing children or fighting Obi-Wan evoke these big emotions from you and once again prove that this is the actual story that George Lucas wanted to tell. I think these two sequences are two of Lucas’ best directed sequences.
Because this movie and the script have the most meat and substance to it, it means that the performances and the characters are much better. In particular with Hayden Christensen and I think this is EASILY the best usage of Anakin in the prequels. Hayden seems to have matured as an actor and because the script and the story is better, it means that he doesn’t have as many cringy lines. He’s not perfect in his performance but he’s able to play the dark side of Anakin and that transition pretty well. You also have to talk about Ewan McGregor who is giving a great performance as Obi-Wan. He’s probably the most consistent character and performance in this trilogy. He’s the star of a deeply flawed trilogy but nobody holds the trilogy against him. Many will argue that he’s the best part of the trilogy. Since he’s so conflicted and one of the characters dealing with so much pain here, it means that he’s having to portray this complex spectrum of emotions. Where he has to be the mentor and friend towards Anakin in the beginning. But as he learns about the truth and what Anakin is doing, you have to believe the heart break that he’s going through. The dialogue between McGregor and Christensen on Mustafar is really emotional stuff and both of them are delivering some of their best performances in this franchise.
Finally, the thing holding this movie together is once again John Williams’ score. I think this is why the movie works so well and why so many sequences evoke such big emotions is because the score swells the emotions so well. In every single big sequence the score plays and elevates the sequence. The two big examples being Order 66 and the final battle. It’s part of the reason why these sequences work so well, because Williams is a true legendary film composer and such simple music is able to evoke these big emotions. The sequences have cool fight choreography and are really important to Star Wars but the score elevates them. The sequences are more memorable because of it. That’s what works so well about Williams’ scores in the Star Wars films, they elevate every single sequence to make them iconic. As far as melodies go, I think “Battle of the Heroes” is one of the best in Star Wars. I’ll also say this, I think this is the last top tier score that John Williams did for Star Wars.
The Bad
The big thing here is that Anakin’s turn to the dark side happens so suddenly and needs to be done over a period of time. This is really the first movie that started to tease and hint at Anakin’s turn. I think with this idea it ended up being done over the entire trilogy. They should’ve hinted at it in The Phantom Menace and give us more and more in each film. By the time you get to Revenge of the Sith, all you really need to do is have Anakin’s turn. In the context of this movie and all of it happening in this movie it means that everything feels rushed. It feels like one scene where Anakin is good and siding with Obi-Wan and then the next he’s evil and killing Mace Windu. Even though the payoff and the final fight is very well done in terms of emotions, the process of getting to those big emotional sequences is a bit rough and should’ve been handled better. Once again, if this was all done over the course of the entire trilogy and not just the first half of this movie it probably would be better. Anakin’s turn to the dark side should’ve been handled so much better because it’s one of the most important aspects in the Star Wars universe and the fact that it’s not handled the best
is super disappointing.
Also, in the epilogue of the film there’s some dumb decisions that don’t fit tonally with the rest of the movie. The big one being when Anakin learns about Padme’s death and in the Darth Vader suit he yells “noooooooooooooooooooooooooo”. Seeing one of the great movie villains do something so stupid and childish it distracts you and you don’t want to see it happen. If I was George Lucas, I wouldn’t have done that sequence. I don’t know if the audience needed to see Anakin learn about Padme’s death. There’s something more tragic about us not knowing when or he finds out about it, despite her being his true love. Speaking of Padme, the other stupid decision in the epilogue is Padme’s death. This feels like something that George Lucas didn’t know what to do so he came up with the laziest possible reason and have it be “she died of a broken heart.” I mean, what? He couldn’t have found something more interesting or tragic as to why she died? I think if you had Anakin kill Padme will one Mustafar it adds this extra layer of heartbreak to what Anakin is doing. Maybe that would’ve been too dark for Star Wars to also kill his own wife. But anything would’ve been better and less goofy then Padme dying of a broken heart. In all of the prequels there’s weird and stupid decisions made by characters, and by far these are the two prime examples in Revenge of the Sith.
Finally, the third act 100% delivers on the emotional side of it. I think the choreography and the staging of the action can get pretty goofy and over the top. The choreography should’ve and could’ve been so simple of them just fighting through this palace on Mustafar. But instead of going for the emotions to stand out, Lucas tried to make it bigger. So they’re climbing all over these metal poles and trying not to get burnt by lava and then jumping all over these robots while fighting each other. He took what could’ve been this very exciting smaller scale and more personal fight into this fight that’s bigger than it should’ve been. I bet Lucas’ thinking was “well it’s the final film we need to go bigger than ever”, and I can get that logic in some regards. In some ways going bigger I think makes sense. For the context of Revenge of the Sith’s final fight it’s just Obi-Wan and Anakin fighting, it should be the most personal fight in Star Wars. The easy comparison is Captain America and Iron Man in Captain America: Civil War and that final fight is more personal and emotional and not this big epic duel between the two of them.
Final Thoughts: Revenge of the Sith is EASILY the best film of the prequels, it’s not even a competition in my mind. With that said, I still don’t think that Revenge of the Sith is top tier Star Wars. There’s still a lot of issues with this movie that drag this movie down for being great to mixed positive. That’s the thing about the Star Wars franchise, everything is a hot take and so no matter where I rank Revenge of the Sith it’s going to make people mad.
The Score: 8.1/10 (B-)
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