Movie Review: Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005)

In 2005, fans were raving with excitement over the release of Revenge of the Sith. This movie was everywhere; constant television spots, tons of food promotions, and burger king even released a series of hard/plush figures from the movie (I've still got three of mine). This was the film everyone had waited six years to see. Audiences were ecstatic to see how Lucas would depict Anakin Skywalker's (Hayden Christensen) turn to evil as he became Darth Vader. Instead of creating a character arch for Anakin, Lucas chose to put the majority of Skywalker's turn into one 140 minute movie. ROTS surprised me in more ways than I was expecting. This is a good Star Wars prequel movie, or should I say the only good Star Wars prequel movie. The previous two installments had not impressed me whatsoever, and so I was fairly ready to walk out of this movie with those same criticisms. While the wooden acting and forced romance is still intact, the boredom is not. ROTS is constantly entertaining. The visuals (no longer eye candy meant to wow hungry audiences) hold up far better than in Phantom Menace and AOTC. This movie takes place three years after AOTC and deals with Anakin Skywalker as he succumbs to the dark side under Chancellor Palpatine/Darth Sidious (Ian McDiarmid). Meanwhile, Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) and Yoda (Frank Oz) lead resistance campaigns across the galaxy. There is a lot to behold throughout this movie. Most notably several effective fan-service moments. Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew) makes an appearance after Yoda must defend the wookies against General Grievous (Matthew Wood). Then there is the final act where we meet a newborn Luke & Leia. The film concludes with Anakin becoming Darth Vader, which is easily the weakest of these throwback cameos. His role in the movie is brief, which is beneficial because performance-wise, Vader's role is fairly weak. As said above, there is still the romance between Anakin and Padme (Natalie Portman), but since Christensen delivers a much better performance, the love story does not feel as heavy-handed and forced. It is never the highlight of the film, but even with Portman's lackluster performance, we still get many good scenes with her and Anakin. The largest issue rectified in this final prequel movie, is the emotion. ROTS is a very dark film with a somber, if not depressing, tone that carries throughout a large portion of the movie. The previous prequel movies did not deliver a true emotional conflict. This one does and it is mega-successful. The implications in this script-Anakin's infamous encounter with the younglings- is one of the many emotionally stirring moments. That said, while the raw emotion succeeds, ROTS suffers when it comes to tone. In the first two acts, the film bounces back and forth between a lighthearted duel with Obi-Wan and Grevious, and Anakin succumbing to Lord Sidious's rule. The score and the scenery awkwardly juxtaposes and creates an odd rift between these two stories. While they come together at the conclusion, ROTS does definitely feel fragmented in places. Overall, Revenge of the Sith is the only good prequel movie. It is emotional, entertaining, and is visually enjoyable. Fans of Star Wars will appreciate this movie, as I did, but this is a far more darker and mature film than Star Wars has gone before. Three stars= B