Right OK! So for the second post of the year I thought I would revisit one of my older ones which was actually fairly extensive as it was but I'd like to update it all the same. So the post in question is Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the sith, which is often considered the best of the much maligned prequels (or in the most cynical of fans eyes, the least worst of the three!).
Anyways with all that being said let's give this one another relook and as ever yep there will be quite a few SPOILERS AHEAD!!! Also this post will be a BIG one!
STORY
So 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 (voiced by Matthew Wood). 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 then beheads him at the behest of Palpatine. The three of them
then escape and crash land the cruiser 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 ambiguously reveals to him he knows something of the power of the dark side and how it can be used to even create life.
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 Palpatine renames him as Darth Vader. Palpatine then sends Anakin to kill
everyone else at the jedi temple and also orders the clone army to turn
against the Jedi and kill them off. Anakin 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....
THOUGHTS
Revenge of the Sith is easily the best out of the three prequels and it is a good 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 a bit more 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 screenplay this time around is also an improvement although there are still cringeworthy lines but there are also some excellent moments too 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 as well as some fun moments such as where Yoda takes on Palpatine and the opening sequence toowhere Obi-wan and Anakin save Palpatine.
Revenge of the Sith is easily the best out of the three prequels and it is a good 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 a bit more 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 screenplay this time around is also an improvement although there are still cringeworthy lines but there are also some excellent moments too 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 as well as some fun moments such as where Yoda takes on Palpatine and the opening sequence toowhere Obi-wan and Anakin save Palpatine.
PERFORMANCES
As for the performances they are not too bad here and an improvement over the previous two films.
However to kick off with the performances, Hayden Christensen (and there will be a fair few paragraphs ahead on him!) it has to be said is still pretty lame as Anakin and although he does passable job at showing Anakin's torment, he still struggles with dealing with the more dramatic moments and he still sounds like a droning robot most of the time! 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. Then there is the cringing scene where after the opening sequence Anakin returns back home to Padme and admires her and they share an awful exchange where Anakin says "You look so beautiful" and Padme bashfully says "Only because I'm so in love" and Anakin says "No, its because I'm so in love with you!" and Padme says back "Then love has blinded you!". Ugghhh!
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!). And another cruddy moment in his performance comes when Palpatine tells Anakin that he has managed to grant him a place on the Jedi council and Anakin robotically says "I'm overwhelmed, sir!". Yeah you sure sound it...not!
And let's not forget that ridiculous inclusion of the moment after Anakin is transformed into Darth Vader that Palpatine gives him the bad news that Padme has died causing Vader to become enraged and distraught. And Vader then arches his arms out in dispair and let's out a big "NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" which is often considered one of the worst moments in the whole trilogy and it certainly is one of the worst moments in the film. In fact even though the voice of Darth Vader was possibly voiced by James Earl Jones (and it does sound quite like him) the actor himself did not confirm that he did the voice and he wasn't even credited in the film so it makes you wonder if he did do the voice at all or maybe Lucas did some technical jiggery pokery to use Jones's voice from previous audio samples. Who knows?! It actually remains one of the more mysterious things about the film.
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.
And then there is what is actually Christensen's best piece of acting in the whole film which comes in the scene when he arrives back to Padme who tells him that she is pregnant and Anakin takes a moment for the news to sink in as he subtly shows his delight and anxiety all at once. Its easily the best moment of Christensen's performance in the whole trilogy as it is pretty subtle and he delivers his lines in a quiet and effective way, which is a stark contrast to the rest of his delivery. But anyway in the scene Anakin quietly says to Padme "That's...that's wonderful" and as Padme starts to worry about what they will do he says to her "Let's not worry about that. This is our moment, the happiest moment of my life" and its nicely played by both actors.
However despite the dour stuff, Christensen still does manage to 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!". And this is the last paragraph on Christensen (honest!).
As for the performances they are not too bad here and an improvement over the previous two films.
However to kick off with the performances, Hayden Christensen (and there will be a fair few paragraphs ahead on him!) it has to be said is still pretty lame as Anakin and although he does passable job at showing Anakin's torment, he still struggles with dealing with the more dramatic moments and he still sounds like a droning robot most of the time! 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. Then there is the cringing scene where after the opening sequence Anakin returns back home to Padme and admires her and they share an awful exchange where Anakin says "You look so beautiful" and Padme bashfully says "Only because I'm so in love" and Anakin says "No, its because I'm so in love with you!" and Padme says back "Then love has blinded you!". Ugghhh!
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!). And another cruddy moment in his performance comes when Palpatine tells Anakin that he has managed to grant him a place on the Jedi council and Anakin robotically says "I'm overwhelmed, sir!". Yeah you sure sound it...not!
And let's not forget that ridiculous inclusion of the moment after Anakin is transformed into Darth Vader that Palpatine gives him the bad news that Padme has died causing Vader to become enraged and distraught. And Vader then arches his arms out in dispair and let's out a big "NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" which is often considered one of the worst moments in the whole trilogy and it certainly is one of the worst moments in the film. In fact even though the voice of Darth Vader was possibly voiced by James Earl Jones (and it does sound quite like him) the actor himself did not confirm that he did the voice and he wasn't even credited in the film so it makes you wonder if he did do the voice at all or maybe Lucas did some technical jiggery pokery to use Jones's voice from previous audio samples. Who knows?! It actually remains one of the more mysterious things about the film.
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.
And then there is what is actually Christensen's best piece of acting in the whole film which comes in the scene when he arrives back to Padme who tells him that she is pregnant and Anakin takes a moment for the news to sink in as he subtly shows his delight and anxiety all at once. Its easily the best moment of Christensen's performance in the whole trilogy as it is pretty subtle and he delivers his lines in a quiet and effective way, which is a stark contrast to the rest of his delivery. But anyway in the scene Anakin quietly says to Padme "That's...that's wonderful" and as Padme starts to worry about what they will do he says to her "Let's not worry about that. This is our moment, the happiest moment of my life" and its nicely played by both actors.
However despite the dour stuff, Christensen still does manage to 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!". And this is the last paragraph on Christensen (honest!).
Ewan
McGergor however fairs better 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!". And as Obi-wan sadly watches Anakin struggle to climb up the mound he says to him "You were my brother, Anakin. I loved you".
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!". And as Obi-wan sadly watches Anakin struggle to climb up the mound he says to him "You were my brother, Anakin. I loved you".
Ian
McDiarmid however 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 the opera house scene 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!!".
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 the opera house scene 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" which echoes Luke's words from Return of the Jedi.
As
for the supporting cast, Samuel L. Jackson reprises his small role as
Mace Windu well again even though he too is given some pretty lame lines to deliver and he does a decent 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. But he does follow it up with a pretty cheesy line when Mace says to Palpatine "The oppression of the Sith must NEVER return!" just before aiming to strike down Palpatine only to be cut short (at the hand literally!) by Anakin.
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 for good as he loses a couple of limbs and his head (in fact I'm pretty sure Lucas must have some sort of limb removing fetish!). 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. Oz as Yoda get's some moments too such as when Anakin has a private meeting with Yoda over his dreams and Anakin asks "What must I do, Master Yoda?" and Yoda says to him "Train yourself to let go off everything you fear to lose". 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! And in his fight scene with Palpatine, Palpy taunts Yoda by saying "At last the Jedi are no more!" and Yoda says "No if anything to say about, I have!" and he zaps Palpatine with his force powers, which blasts Palpatine across the room!
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 for good as he loses a couple of limbs and his head (in fact I'm pretty sure Lucas must have some sort of limb removing fetish!). 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. Oz as Yoda get's some moments too such as when Anakin has a private meeting with Yoda over his dreams and Anakin asks "What must I do, Master Yoda?" and Yoda says to him "Train yourself to let go off everything you fear to lose". 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! And in his fight scene with Palpatine, Palpy taunts Yoda by saying "At last the Jedi are no more!" and Yoda says "No if anything to say about, I have!" and he zaps Palpatine with his force powers, which blasts Palpatine across the room!
DIRECTOR AND MUSIC
Direction wise George Lucas does a better job here with the film and even though the pacing is still a little sluggish it is a definite improvement on the previous episodes I and II and to Lucas's credit 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 despite any of its shortcomings this is still a fine effort from Lucas overall.
As for the music well John Williams provides another fine score here aswell and he adds in some pretty good dramatic tracks that keep in with the films' darker tone. Its still not necessarily however one of Williams's very best but even his lesser scores are better than some of the composers best efforts out there in Hollywood today (no offence to them of course!).
Direction wise George Lucas does a better job here with the film and even though the pacing is still a little sluggish it is a definite improvement on the previous episodes I and II and to Lucas's credit 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 despite any of its shortcomings this is still a fine effort from Lucas overall.
As for the music well John Williams provides another fine score here aswell and he adds in some pretty good dramatic tracks that keep in with the films' darker tone. Its still not necessarily however one of Williams's very best but even his lesser scores are better than some of the composers best efforts out there in Hollywood today (no offence to them of course!).
FLAWS
As for flaws.....well yep 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 without a hint of mercy! And after that the only scene that shows Anakin's torment comes in 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 true nature sooner, as Palpatine kept dropping enough hints about his knowledge of the dark side. And its almost like Palpatine finally says to him "Look! I AM the Sith lord! Do I have to spell it out for you?!". In fact the Youtube comedy channel "How it should have ended" parodied this scene really well by having Palpatine finally say "Well its about time, I've been dropping hints like crazy!".
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!" which is reference to Obi-wan's similar line in Episode IV.
Then there is the film's opening sequence which 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. It still has some good moments but it starts to outstay its welcome as the sequence goes on before it finally ends. And you could also say that the pacing of the film is still a bit sluggish and inconsistent at times just like it was in the first two prequels.
And lastly this brings me onto a flaw which leads to a lack of continuity in Episodes IV-VI in the scene (SPOILER COMING UP!!) where we see that Obi-wan is in fact present when Padme gives birth to Luke and Leia and yeah OK within reason that is fine. But....the problem comes in Empire Strikes Back when Luke decides to fly off to Bespin to help Han and Leia and in that scene after Luke flies away Obi-wan says "That boy is our last hope!" and Yoda says "No, there is another!". And basically what this means is of course Leia is the other hope but Obi-wan was present at Leia's birth so its rather strangely convenient that he wouldn't have twigged that she too might have the power of the force. Yet we of course do know that its Obi-wan that informed Luke of Leia being his sister in Return of the Jedi. So basically its a poor bit of continuity to have had Obi-wan present at the birth of Luke and Leia in the first place if Obi-wan can't later fathom that Leia might be one with the force too.
Right well that's enough on the flaws!
SUM UP
So in summing up Revenge of the Sith is an entertaining and fairly solid end to the Star Wars prequels and does it deserve to be lumped in as a crap movie next to Episodes I and II??? Nope it doesn't as it really is an underrated film and to this day it still doesn't really get that much credit, which is a shame as it shows overall what the prequels could have been. And yep there is still some cruddy acting in there, particularly from Hayden Christensen and there is also still an over reliance on CGI characters that include a far from menacing villain in General Grievous and I've already highlighted its other problems. But if you are willing to forgive all that then Revenge of the Sith is still a good film and worth a second visit.
Anyways so that's it for now and I will be back some other time soon with a new post.
Till then its ciao for now!
As for flaws.....well yep 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 without a hint of mercy! And after that the only scene that shows Anakin's torment comes in 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 true nature sooner, as Palpatine kept dropping enough hints about his knowledge of the dark side. And its almost like Palpatine finally says to him "Look! I AM the Sith lord! Do I have to spell it out for you?!". In fact the Youtube comedy channel "How it should have ended" parodied this scene really well by having Palpatine finally say "Well its about time, I've been dropping hints like crazy!".
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!" which is reference to Obi-wan's similar line in Episode IV.
Then there is the film's opening sequence which 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. It still has some good moments but it starts to outstay its welcome as the sequence goes on before it finally ends. And you could also say that the pacing of the film is still a bit sluggish and inconsistent at times just like it was in the first two prequels.
And lastly this brings me onto a flaw which leads to a lack of continuity in Episodes IV-VI in the scene (SPOILER COMING UP!!) where we see that Obi-wan is in fact present when Padme gives birth to Luke and Leia and yeah OK within reason that is fine. But....the problem comes in Empire Strikes Back when Luke decides to fly off to Bespin to help Han and Leia and in that scene after Luke flies away Obi-wan says "That boy is our last hope!" and Yoda says "No, there is another!". And basically what this means is of course Leia is the other hope but Obi-wan was present at Leia's birth so its rather strangely convenient that he wouldn't have twigged that she too might have the power of the force. Yet we of course do know that its Obi-wan that informed Luke of Leia being his sister in Return of the Jedi. So basically its a poor bit of continuity to have had Obi-wan present at the birth of Luke and Leia in the first place if Obi-wan can't later fathom that Leia might be one with the force too.
Right well that's enough on the flaws!
SUM UP
So in summing up Revenge of the Sith is an entertaining and fairly solid end to the Star Wars prequels and does it deserve to be lumped in as a crap movie next to Episodes I and II??? Nope it doesn't as it really is an underrated film and to this day it still doesn't really get that much credit, which is a shame as it shows overall what the prequels could have been. And yep there is still some cruddy acting in there, particularly from Hayden Christensen and there is also still an over reliance on CGI characters that include a far from menacing villain in General Grievous and I've already highlighted its other problems. But if you are willing to forgive all that then Revenge of the Sith is still a good film and worth a second visit.
Anyways so that's it for now and I will be back some other time soon with a new post.
Till then its ciao for now!
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