Star Wars Episode III Revenge of the Sith: "So uncivilised!"

Soooooo its time for my last post on the Star Wars prequels and this one of course will cover Episode III: The Revenge of the Sith, which concludes the story leading up to the events of Episode IV.  And without further ado let's give this one a look.....

Well the story begins several years later after the events of Episode II and Anakin (Hayden Christensen) and Obi-wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) go on a mission to rescue the supreme chancellor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) who is being held by a separatist commander named General Grievous.  The two jedi knights infiltrate Grievous's flagship where they confront Count Dooku (Christopher Lee) and during their fight, Dooku knocks out Obi-wan, however Anakin this time around get's the better of Dooku, and as an act of revenge cuts off both his arms, and is then urged by Palpatine to kill him, which Anakin reclutantly does.  The three of them then escape and crash land the cruise on the planet Coruscant.  Later on Anakin rejoins with his wife, Padme (Natalie Portman) who is now pregnant, however Anakin is soon haunted by nightmares of Padme dying in childbirth.  Anakin is then placed on the jedi council as Palpatine's representative, however the council refuse to rank him as a jedi master, which is privilege usually given to jedi council members and instead they want Anakin to spy on the chancellors dealings.  Anakin now feeling frustrated and being excluded by the council, begins to lose faith in the jedi and becomes closer to Palpatine, who shares with him that the dark side of the force has the power to save people from death. 

In the meantime Obi-wan leads a clone army on the planet Utapau and chases after General Grievous, whom he eventually kills.  And Palpatine finally reveals himself to be the sith lord, which angers Anakin and informs Mace Windu (Samuel L Jackson) of the chancellor's treachery.  Windu then confronts Palpatine with some of his fellow Jedi knights and they fight, with Palpatine killing the others, Windu then subdues Palpatine, who tries to use his force lightning powers to kill Windu, who deflects them back on Palpatine who's face begins to deform and become more aged.  Anakin arrives and pleads with Windu to spare Palpatine, who refuses to listen and as he is about to kill Palpatine, Anakin uses his lightsabre to cut off Windu's hand, allowing Palpatine to kill Windu using the full fury of his force lightning powers.  Anakin then pledges his loyalty to Palpatine and become his apprentice, and is then dubbed as Darth Vader.  Palpatine then sends Vader to kill everyone else at the jedi temple and also orders the clone army to turn against the Jedi and kill them off.  Vader afterwards then travels to the volcanic planet, Mustafar where he kills the separatists leaders and stays there to await further orders from Palpatine.

In the meantime Palpatine addresses the senate and tells them that he will reform the republic into the Galactic empire.  Meanwhile Yoda (voiced by Frank Oz) and Obi-wan regroup back at the jedi temple to find everyone dead, including the jedi younglings, and on scanning the security footage, Obi-wan to his horror discovers that Anakin was behind the killings.  Obi-wan then decides to persue Anakin and Yoda goes after Palpatine.  Obi-wan then confronts Padme over Anakin's actions, who refuses to listen to him and she decides to go to Mustafar herself via a shuttle (in which Obi-wan hides as a stowaway).  When Padme arrives on Mustafar and reunites with Anakin, she is horrified to discover that Obi-wan was right as Anakin rants about his powers, Padme pleads with Anakin to come back with her, but when he sees Obi-wan emerge from her ship, Anakin feeling betrayed uses his force powers to choke Padme into an unconscious state.  Obi-wan then confronts Anakin and they engage in a fierce lightsabre duel, which leads into its dramatic and intense climax....

Revenge of the Sith is easily the best out of the three prequels and it is a fine end to an otherwise mixed trilogy, but here it sees the characters and story resolutions come together quite well leading into the events for Episode IV.  The film also has a much darker feel and tone to it than the previous two films and there is thankfully a real weight leant to Anakin's plight and how he is torn between his loyalties to the jedi and to Palpatine, while he fears for Padme's life.  George Lucas's writing is also significantly better than before and the dialogue has improved much from the previous films as well, as there are some excellent moments in the script particularly the scene where Palpatine tells an old story to Anakin about a former Sith lord.  The film also still has its fun moments and some good action scenes especially Anakin and Obi-wan's intense lightsabre duel and also when Anakin and Obi-wan save Palpatine from Count Dooku at the start of the fim as well.

As for the performances they are mostly quite good here and an improvement over the previous two films.  Hayden Christensen however is still a bit too wooden in his performance as Anakin and although he does reasonable job at showing Anakin's torment, he still struggles with dealing with the more dramatic moments and he sounds almost a bit too robotic at times even!  Christensen also has some naff moments to deal with such as the scene where he cuts off Mace Windu's hand and let's Palpatine finish him off, after which Anakin drops his lightsabre in shock and exclaims "What have I done???!" which is delivered rather lamely by Christensen.  Also toward the end Christensen struggles to properly show Anakin's rage and feelings of betrayal, such as in the scene when Obi-wan arrives on Mustafar and Anakin after he force chokes Padme yells "You turned her against me!  You will not take her from me!".  Hayden also sounds a bit robotic in the next bit where Anakin says to Obi-wan "Don't lecture me, Obi-wan.  I see through the lies of the Jedi.  I do not fear the dark side as you do.  I have brought peace, freedom, justice and security to my new empire!".  Which of course what he really means is I've killed at the guys on this planet and its nice and quiet now! ;-)  Hayden however still has one or two good moments such as in the scene where he learns that Palpatine is the sith lord and Anakin ignites his lightsabre and points it angrily at Palpatine who asks him if he is going to kill him and Anakin says angrily "I would certainly like to!".  Another good moment is after Anakin has killed the separatists on Mustafar, he looks coldly out at the volcanic lava around him, and he gives an evil glower and we see a tear roll down his cheek, and this is where Anakin has chosen the path of evil but he still to an extent feels ambivalent about it and the tears reflect his turmoil.  

Christensen however does have the odd amusing moment as well where he shows a bit of levity earlier in the film, such as the scene General Grievous says to him "I expected someone a little older!" and Anakin says "General Grievous.... you're shorter than I expected!".  And the scene where Anakin and Obi-wan are in a lift trying to make their way up to the command deck of Grievous's ship and they have trouble getting the lift to work.  And after Anakin cuts a hole in the roof of the lift and jumps up and the lift goes up and down at the behest of R2-D2 (Kenny Baker again), leaving Anakin dangling over the edge of one of the floors, he drops back into the lift once it comes back up for him, and he says to Obi-wan "No loose wire jokes!" and Obi-wan says "I didn't say anything!". 

Ewan McGergor is good once again in his role as Obi-wan and he has grown nicely into the part by Episode III with the beard still on show!  McGregor has some good moments in the film and for once some good lines too, such as in the scene where Obi-wan congratulates Anakin for his efforts in rescuing Palpatine at the start of the film.  And when Obi-wan with Anakin arrives to save Palpatine from Count Dooku, Palpatine says "Careful he's a sith lord!" and Obi-wan turns to Palpatine and says "Chancellor, Sith Lords are our speciality!".  And Anakin says "Alright but you owe me one, and for not saving your skin for the tenth time" and Obi-wan says "Ninth time!  That business on Cato Neimodia doesn't count!".  Another good moment McGregor has is where Obi-wan kills General Grievous with the villain's own blaster, and in doing so McGregor makes a fun reference to Alec Guinness's line in Episode IV when Obi-wan said the lightsabre is from a more "civilised time" and he throws away the blaster afterwards saying "so uncivilised!".  McGregor also has a really good intense fight scene with Christensen as Obi-wan and Anakin battle each other on Mustafar in the film's climax.  And in the scene as Anakin warns him "If you are not with me, then you are my enemy!" Obi-wan realises that Anakin has truly become evil and realises he can't reason with him anymore and says "Only a sith deals in absolutes.  I will do what I must!".  And after Obi-wan defeats Anakin in their duel he looks down sadly and says "You were the chosen one!  It was said that you would destroy the Sith, not join them.  You were to bring balance to the force, not leave it in darkness!". 

Ian McDiarmid for me steals the show in the film as the villainous Palpatine/Darth Sidious and he is given a significantly larger role here than before as he plays a key part in the demise of the era of the jedi and also the creation of the Galactic empire.  McDiarmid pretty much get's the film's best dialogue and scenes and his moments with Christensen are among the best in the film.  McDiarmid has several highlights in the film such as where Palpatine shares with Anakin the story of a former Sith lord, Darth Plaugeus "the wise" and how "He had such knowledge of the dark and so much power that he could even save those he cared about from dying.  But his apprentice killed him in his sleep.  Its ironic that he could save others from death, but not himself".  This hints of course that Palpatine was the apprentice in question and at this point he is manipulating Anakin already into believing this.  And Anakin asks "Is it possible to learn this power?" and Palpatine turns to him and says "Not from a jedi!".  Also there is the scene where Mace Windu and the other jedi knights confront Palpatine and as Mace tries to arrest him, Palpy takes out his lightsabre and says "Its treason then!" and they engage in a fierce duel.  And when Anakin intervenes and cuts of Mace's hand, Palpatine zaps Mace with the full power of his force ligthning and he shouts "I have the POWER!!! UNLIMITED POWER!!!!".  And McDiarmid also has good fun later in the scene where Yoda confronts him and as Palpatine zaps Yoda with a blast of Sith lightning he walks toward a stunned Yoda saying "I have waited a long time for this moment, my little green friend!  At last the jedi are no more!" and the two of them engage in a lightsabre duel and a force bitchslap fest! ;-)  And McDiarmid's intro scene as Palpatine is also really good where after Anakin has cut off Dooku's arms, Palpatine tells Anakin "Good kill him.  Kill him now!" and Anakin hesitates "I shouldn't!" but then Palpatine suddenly breaks character and delivers his next line as a Sith "Do it!!".   

Natalie Portman is also quite good as Padme and her performance is certainly an improvement than in the previous films and here Padme really is thrown into real danger as her hubby is toremented by the dark side of the force.  Portman also some has some good lines such as the scene where Emperor Palpatine announces that Galactic republic will now be reformed into the Galactic Empire and Padme looks to a fellow politician, Bail Organna and says "So this is how liberty ends... with thunderous applause".  Portman also has another good scene where Padme arrives on Mustafar to rejoin Anakin only to find to her horror that he has turned to the dark side.  And Padme steps back horrified saying "I don't believe what I'm hearing!  Obi-wan was right... you've changed!  You've turned to the dark side!  Anakin you're breaking my heart!  You're going down a path I can't follow!".  And in her final scene (PLOT SPOILER!!) where Padme with her dying breaths gives birth to her twins, she says just before she dies to Obi-wan "There is still good in him".  

As for the supporting cast, Samuel L. Jackson reprises his small role as Mace Windu very well again, and he does a nice job of showing Mace's mistrust of Palpatine and even of Anakin, given Anakin's close connection with Palpatine.  And when Anakin confides to Mace about Palpatine being the Sith lord, in surprise he says "Then our worst fears are realised!  You must stay here, Anakin, I sense much confusion in you.  There is much doubt that clouds your judgement".  And later as Mace confronts Palpatine and subdues him, he stands over him with his purple lightsabre ignited he says "You are under arrest, my lord!" just shortly before he get's zapped.  Christopher Lee is also good again in his brief reprise of the villainous Count Dooku who takes on Obi-wan and Anakin again only this time he comes up short, fatally!  Lee also has a good line when he fights Anakin, who says to him "my powers have double since the last time we might, count!" and Dooku says "Good!  Twice the pride, double the fall!".  And lastly Frank Oz does another good job in his voice acting for Yoda, the aging Jedi master, who manages to survive the backlash of the clone army and later confronts Palpatine.  And Yoda get's a really funny moment in the film where he arrives to confront Darth Sidious, who has two guards in red outfits (same as the ones in Return of the Jedi) standing either side of the doors, when Yoda enter he uses his force powers to knock them out!  

Direction wise George Lucas does a fine job here with Sith and its a much better effort this time round and overall the pacing of the story is better and he keeps the tone of the film pretty intense and brooding throughout.  Given the film is also rated a 12 certificate in the UK it is easily the most violent and dark film out of three prequels and the most graphic scene in the film (PLOT SPOILER AGAIN!!!) is where Anakin who after being defeated by Obi-wan in their duel, lies near the bottom of a hill near the firey hot lava, which catches fire and severely burns his body.  Music wise John Williams provides another fine score here aswell and he adds in some pretty good dramatic passages that reflects the tone of the film well.  

As for flaws.....well Sith isn't quite perfect as for starters it has to be said that Anakin's reasoning for turning to the dark side isn't that convincing as he simply does it in order to save Padme's life, but at the same time he is willing to go against everything he stands for in the process!  And Anakin's quick turnaround into a vicious murderer doesn't seem to fit that well as he appears to be just quickly give into Palpatine's way of thinking, and before we know he's up at the Jedi temple slaying young kids!  The only thing that shows his torment is the scene where we see him shed a tear on Mustafar after he has killed the separatists, which is a good moment in the film, but at the same time you just think there is an overall lack of conviction in the whole reasoning for Anakin's transition to the dark side.  I also thought that Anakin wasn't very bright in not seeing through Palpatine's real nature sooner, as Palpatine kept dropping enough hints about the dark side.  And its almost like Palpatine finally says to him "Look!  I'm the sith lord, do I have to spell it out for you?!".  Another silly aspect of the film is General Grievous, the lizard alien who wears heavy robotic armour and its bizarre of Lucas to decide that Grievous should be an asthmatic villain (a bit like another one who wears a dark leather suit and wears a mask that we might know!).  Grievous doesn't make for a very threatening or convincing villain either in the film and when Obi-wan finally guns him down, he deserves a cheer, which is followed up by Obi-wan's line "so uncivilised!".  The film's opening sequence is also a bit overlong when Anakin and Obi-wan go to rescue Palpatine from General Grievous and Count Dooku as it seems to take forever for them to get onto Grievous's flagship, rescue Palpatine and eventually escape.

Despite those niggles Revenge of the sith is a very entertaining and largely satisfying end to the prequels which sees the story come up to speed and cues nicely into Episode IV, which I've already covered anyway.  

So that's it for my look at the prequels, hope you enjoyed them and I will see you for the next post (whenever that is!).

Peace!