This is to reflect on the great (and personal favorite) film known as Star Wars Episode III; Revenge of the Sith. I wanted to write it on Saturday which was May 19 but of course the Internet decided to malfunction at my house It seems like not that long ago that I (along with my homies) went to see ROTS the day it came out. We had been planning for a while, and fully expected our expectations to be surpassed. We were not disappointed.

As we sat there and watched the movie unfold with the space battle scene above Coruscant, I got the shivers. I knew of course that Anakin would wind up as Darth Vader, but I greatly anticipated how he got there. As a Martial Artist myself, I paid special attention to the first lightsaber battle in the movie between Kenobi, Skywalker, and Dooku. I was not only watching their stances and strikes, but also studying the choreography. I was seeing if the blocked strikes were too obvious. As far I was concerned, it was flawless. I felt a surge of adrenaline as Anakin took on Dooku by himself, and seemed to have no problem handling him given the results of the last time they fought. And when I heard Palpatine use his Sidious voice to say "Do it" I knew the movie was going to be far greater than I ever anticipated.

Now, I'm not usually given to romance, but the raw love that was expressed between Anakin and Padme on the grounds of the Senatorial Building really got to me. Yeah boy I thought. That is your WIFE. My addiction to Anakin went up a million notches at that point. Later on when Obi-Wan was giving him the assignment to be "off the record" I was perplexed on my feelings of what Anakin should do. Then when Anakin went to visit Palpatine at that light show thing (which was cool all by itself) I couldn't figure out where Anakin's Jedi Senses had disappeared too. Wasn't it obvious that Palpatine was stringing him along? How come he couldn't figure out that Palpatine's guesses were simply too accurate? I could only watch. . .

Obi-Wan's pursuit of Grievous was awesome. He casually stroked his beard as he contemplated the coming battle, and then he jumps down and nonchalantly (with his tight Coruscanti accent) says "Hello there." Even better is when he steps back into his battle stance. . . and then negligently smashes them with that heavy thing (I still don't know what it was) But wait. . . Grievous came at him with that spin attack and I think Obi-Wan isn't dead or maimed in the OT! What the heck? No worries. Kenobi handles him just fine. But then minutes later Obi-Wan lost his lightsaber and I thought Oh crap! This'll be interesting. And then Kenobi jumped across onto that wheel thing Grievous was driving and was wrestling with him as it was careening down the pathway. Moments later they are both knocked off the machinge and Obi-Wan picks up the Electrostaff, and in two quick movements knocks the blaster out of Grievous' hand and knocks Grievous to the ground. I was amazed. Grievous was going to die this easily? SIKE!!! Next thing I know, Obi-Wan is flying through the air and narrowly avoiding being smashed by Grievous' mechanical foot. And then Kenobi does something that I really viewed as stupid. . . He kicked Grievous' leg and I thought You idiot. Did you really think that would work? After the next part I was scared that Kenboi died because when Grievous throws him to the edge it looks like he goes tumbling off. No worries again. He summons the blaster, lights up Grievous' insides, climbs to his feet and delivers his most condescending line. "So uncivilized." Love it!

Let's see. . . Oh yeah. When Mace took the three Masters to assault Sidious I was thinking that it was gonna be a heck of a battle! So you can imagine my surprise when Sidious owned three Masters in all of twenty seconds! I was goggle eyed, and tongue tied. But wait here's more! Mace (one of my favorite Jedi Masters of all time) is taking on Palpatine! And I'm glad to see that he is more than holding his own. I was wondering what he was thinking by knocking the window out, but hey he's Jedi Master. He can do what he wants I guess. I was positively glowing when he disarmed Sidious and had him at point blank range with his lightsaber after deflecting the lightning. Anakin was there raging about the Jedi Code and I honestly thought that he was good at that point. Then his hand went to his lightsaber and I was SURE that he was going to fight Mace. That would've been so freakin' awesome! Instead he cuts off his hand, and then Mace takes an unhealthy dose of Sith Lighting to his upper body. Major pain there.

As far as the Temple scene goes; I though it was pretty cool. I wished they had shown more shots of Anakin mowing down the Padawans and stuff but it was still awesome. The part that made my heart stop beating for a few seconds, and still to this day can readily bring tears to my eyes is the scene with they youngings. George Lucas had a perfect plan. The innocent kid says, "Master Skywalker. There are too many of them! What are we going to do?" And instead of seeing himself through the eyes of the children (as a true Master) his only response is to ignite his blade. . .

As much as I love Padme, I can't understand how she was so blind to Anakin's dark side nature. Why couldn't she believe Obi-Wan? She might have lived! Man that makes me so emotional. Of course this is all in retrospect but still. She was supposed to be the one that trusted Obi-Wan, and she knew, she knew Obi-Wan would not say those things unless it was true and he had no choice but to believe it and admit it. I was proud of Obi-Wan however for going about the mission he detested with his usual efficiency.

And then Anakin had to go and crush my heart into a million gazillion pieces. His wife had just come running up to him and embraced him, and even offered for both of them to leave and she would forget what he has done if he'll only go with her. He raves on and on about himself and when he see Obi-Wan he. . . he. . . he chokes her with the Force. That was probably the only point in the movie where I actually wanted him to die and I wished Obi-Wan the best of luck.

Anakin does an awesome flip into the fight scene between him and his former master and I am stunned. The moves are pretty flawless, and the speed is incredible. I had some misgivings about the part where they took turns knocking each other onto the ground; it seemed too preplanned. Anyways, they got their blades back and where going at it again. I think I was holding my breath. . . After Obi-Wan summoned that cable to him and landed on that platform droid thing and the pipe that they were fighting on sank into the lava, I was disappointed that they let Anakin die so easily. (As you can tell, this movie distracted me from everything I knew about the OT) Never fear. Anakin (now Vader actually) comes sprinting out and they are at it again. After a few minutes of fancy bladework, Obi-Wan flips up onto the bank of dirt (or whatever it was; some kinda soot I suppose). Anakin tells him that once again he underestimates his power, and then Anakin jumps. . . and in two quick strikes Obi-Wan relieves Anakin of his other forearm and both his legs. Wow.

Padme gave birth and then died. I was still numb from Anakin choking her, so I wasn't able to feel to much there. And then Vader gets his fearsome suit, and Palpatine tells him that in his anger he killed Padme. My first reaction (up until I watched it a couple more times) was one of pure hatred towards Sidious. He LIED to him! I guess I shouldn't have been surprised but I was. The twins are separated, and Vader and his Master watch the skeleton of the Death Star take place.

A truly fantastic movie