Here it is. My review of Revenge of the Sith! Just so you have some context, my name is Paul Myers and I am the founder of The Unofficial Clone Wars Site.





Revenge of the Sith review: Paul Myers

Revenge of the Sith is a great movie! I loved it. It is a thoroughly enjoyable experience.

All of the actors performed well. Ian Mcdiarmid was the best, as the manipulative Chancellor Palpatine. However, Haden Christianson, Natalie Portman, and Ewan Mcgregor gave stellar performances as well. All of the characters were believable. The movie is very emotional. I cried at some points, and laughed at others. The comedy relief wasn't over the top. It was just the right balance of seriousness and comedy, just like in the Original Trilogy. The dialogue was a bit weak at times. I often found myself wondering if George Lucas wrote more than one draft of the dialogue. But dialogue in Star Wars has never been oscar-worthy or very poetic. The original three movies didn't have terrific dialogue either. The thing that separates this film from the first two prequels, in my mind, is that I truly cared about the characters. I felt a deep empathy with them. When Anakin turned to the darkside I felt sorry for him. It cut through me like a knife when Obi-Wan discovered that his former apprentice had murdered younglings. And when Padme told Anakin that he was breaking her heart, I felt like my heart was breaking too. That's the difference. I don't know why it was, but for some reason I didn't care about the characters in Menace or Clones, but in this movie I did. I constantly found myself on the edge of my seat; desperately wanting to see what happened next, even thought I already knew what would happen.

The settings in Revenge are incredible. Form the cityscape of Coruscant, to the sinkhole of Utapau, to the giant forest of Kashyyyk, to the strange jungle of Felucia, to the volcanic world Mustafar, every single location is realized beautifully and believable. I never once found myself thinking that the settings looked fake. That was one of the things I was most afraid of. I was afraid that the artificially created worlds would look like something out of a video game. They didn't. The locations were visually spectacular and served the story very well.

The plot was great, but I not without room for improvement. The first act starts with Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi attempting to rescue Supreme Chancellor Palpatine from General Grievous. It works very well. It has the right balance of action and emotion. The right balance of R2-D2 antics, and Obi-Wan and Anakin action. It introduces the story and the characters and sets the stage for what happens later. Once the recue is over, though, and we move into the second act, things get bogged down a bit. It is still enjoyable, especially with the entertaining manipulations of Palpatine. However, for those who were bored to death by the politics in Clones, the middle of the movie might be a little too slow for them. On the other hand, everything that happens in the middle of the film is necessary to set up the end. All of it has a purpose, and all of it is entertaining, despite being a bit slow. The third act jumps back into nonstop action, and never looks back. On lightsaber duel after another after another keeps us glued to our seats. But these our not just well choreographed saber fights that only martial artist will want to watch. These duels, especially the final duel between Obi-Wan and Anakin are filled with an emotional intensity brought on by the earlier events in the movie. The end, especially Padme's realization that her husband truly has turned to the darkside is very sad. I cried. I'll admit it. Even the birth of the twins, Luke and Leia isn't enough to elevate the deep, deep sadness of the end of the movie.

Thematically, I'm not sure what to think. When I first heard that Anakin turns to the darkside because he wants to save Padme, I thought I wouldn't like it. I thought that it would be too unbelievable and just wouldn't work. But it does work. Anakin turns because he becomes obsessed with power. He becomes caught up in a blind quest for immortality so that he can save Padme. The problem is that he can't cope with loss. He has a sort of selfish, egocentric desire to keep those he loves alive because he needs them. It seems that he doesn't want to keep Padme alive because he cares about her, but because he needs her and can't live without her. Selfishness is an easy path to darkness and Palpatine easily exploits this. The other thematic element is the creation of the Empire. There is one line Padme says, "So this is how liberty dies... with thunderous applause." The formation of the Empire is not the result of some bloody coup. No. It is a slow transformation that Palpatine manipulates the people, and the Senate, into consenting to. Palpatine was a master politician. He was able to manipulate the corrupt senators to the point where they would do anything he said. At one point he actually says as much. "I am the Senate." Palpatine says at one point, and he was telling the truth. Now I don't like people drawing comparisons between this and America or President Bush. However, we do need to be careful. This movie shows how easily democracy can die. We must always be watchful to make sure that nothing similar happens in real life.

Finally, I would like to applaud this movie as a fitting end to the Clone Wars. It had lots of epic battles. The battles of Coruscant, Kashyyyk, and Utapau, among others were very well done. The final end to the Clone Wars, when Anakin kills the Separatist council and gives the order to deactivate the droids, show what the war was really about. Palpatine could have end the war any time. He started it and he could have ended it. The war wasn't about a clash of ideologies. It wasn't about land grabbing. It wasn't like any ordinary war. The war was fabricated by Palpatine for a single purpose: To give him power. The war destroyed the Jedi Order, made Anakin susceptible to the dark side, and gave the Republic a strong military, all the while consolidating Palpatine's power so that he could ultimately rule the galaxy. That's why the Clone Wars are so sad. Millions of people fought and died for the cause of one side or the other, never realizing that one person bent on ruling the galaxy was manipulating both sides. All of those people fought and died for nothing.

Overall, this was a great movie. It does have it's shortcomings and I'm not expecting it to win best picture at next year's Oscars, but it is thoroughly enjoyable and and deeply moving. I would recommend it to anyone.

Rating: 9/10





Now I'm off to watch Episode IV: A New Hope on DVD, because I just have to know what happens next...