Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of The Sith (2005) - #224

Empire top 301: #224
IMDb top 250: -

Rating 6/10

Director: George Lucas

Writers: George Lucas

Starring: Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Hayden Christensen, Ian McDiarmid, Anthony Daniels, Christopher Lee, Samuel L. Jackson, James Earl Jones & Frank Oz

"Once more, the Sith will rule the galaxy! And... we shall have peace."

The Jedi Knights are spread out across the galaxy leading a massive clone army in the war against the Separatists. The Jedi Council dispatches Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi to eliminate the evil General Grievous, leader of the Separatist Army. Meanwhile, Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker, separated from Kenobi, his former master, grows close to Palpatine, the Chancellor of the Galactic Republic and, unknown to the Jedi, a Sith Lord. Their deepening friendship proves dangerous for the Jedi Order, the Republic, and Anakin himself who inevitably succumbs to the dark side of the Force and becomes Darth Vader, changing the fate of the galaxy forever.

Set three years after the dreadful Attack of The Clones, George Lucas continues to destroy the legacy of Star Wars. Before Episodes 1 - 3 where made I dreamed of Lucas making the prequels and episodes 7 - 9 and finishing his story. Now, having seen Episodes 1 - 3 I wish he hadn't of bothered. Episode 2 didn't make the top 500 and I'm not surprised because it really is the worst of the Star Wars films. Revenge of The Sith is a step up from the previous two but it's still pretty bad. 

Lucas continues to write possibly the worst dialogue ever, perhaps he should have hired Carrie Fisher as a script doctor. Chances are she'd have shredded the script completely and told him to start again! That would have been the best thing to do. Again, more focus is given to the special effects and costumes and again the film suffers for it. Did they film any of the picture on location or on an actual set? To me it just all looks CGI with only the actors and the odd chair here and there as real things! The first films still look amazing today as they where filmed on real sets, real locations and the characters where made using great puppets and make up! The space ships were filmed using miniatures, however they looked real and huge! It was clever filmmaking. The worlds and characters here just look silly and cartoonish. 

With this film Lucas had the opportunity to tell an amazing story about the birth of one of cinema's greatest villains, instead he chooses to show Vader as a sulking brat who wants to save his one true love but the Jedi won't let him...boo hoo! He writes the evil dark lord as a pre-hormonal teenager! Then he defies belief by having Padme pop her clogs immediately after giving birth to Luke and Leia - whom she manages to name - because as the ridiculous medical droid puts it "she has lost the will to live". WHAT?? The silly cow has just had two kids, but she can't be bothered to live anymore because her husband has gone over to the dark side! How on earth would sulky Anakin and weak Padme ever create two children as brave and awesome as Luke and Leia? Lucas should hang his head in shame! 

This silliness also ruins the scene in Return of The Jedi where Leia tells Luke she remembers images and feelings of her real mother and how sad she was, erm how is this possible when Padme died on the operating table immediately after giving birth to her! Did Lucas not see Return of The Jedi? Also, at what point does Anakin give Obi-Wan a lightsaber to give to his son when he is old enough to have it. Anakin didn't even tell Obi-Wan that Padme was pregnant with his child. This is just simple stuff that should have been addressed properly! 

As with the previous two movies there are some rather cool moments that save it from being a complete dud, like the final scene of Vader and the Emperor overlooking the creation of the Death Star from the battleship with a young Grand Moff Tarkin. The birth of Vader is really cool; that moment when the helmet goes on and the music fades, then that sound of Darth Vader's respirator....chills. Unfortunately, this is then ruined by that awful "NOOOOOOOOO" moment. Why Lucas, just why?

There's a really cool easter egg of the Millennium Falcon docking at a landing bay in Naboo. Yoda kicks ass and seeing him fight with a lightsaber is always great to watch. There is a great scene - which was criminally cut from the final film - of Yoda arriving on the Dagobah system. It's a great nod to the original trilogy and should have made the cut! (See below). 

Hayden Christensen continues were Jake Lloyd left off and delivers an equally annoying and awful performance, so at least there's consistency here! Natalie Portman, again is pretty shocking and at times I don't even think she is taking it seriously, it's like "she has lost the will to act". Ewan does as best he can with terrible lines like "It's over Anakin, I have the high ground"...that reminds me, didn't Darth Maul have the high ground in The Phantom Menace, but Obi-Wan managed to off him pretty easily. Samuel L. Jackson floats from bad to good to bad again throughout the movie and Ian McDiarmid manages to turn Palpatine into a pantomime villain. It's Razzie's all round as far as I'm concerned. R2-D2 provides the acting chops here. 

However, despite my slagging off of the movie it's much better than Episodes 1 & 2 and does provide some entertainment. I think my anger of the prequels stems from my love of the originals and how I believe these movies could have been so much better. If J.J Abrams wants to know how to make episodes 7 - 9 great he needs to watch the prequels and do the exact opposite of what he sees on screen. They're already on the right path by not letting Lucas write it!!