Star Wars : Episode III Revenge of the Sith (2005) August 3, 2006
Posted by derek in : Reviews, Horror/Sci-Fi/Fantasy , trackback 
I’m not sure I would go as far as saying Revenge of the Sith is the best of the recent Star Wars trilogy. It is difficult to say, in some respects it was better than Episode I and II but these strengths at times turn into weaknesses. Basically after seeing this I was quite disappointed. As I really expected it was very depressing and I left the cinema with an empty feeling. So why did I put myself through it, well I feel I’ve been on a 28 year journey to complete the saga and like most people wanted to see how Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader.
That was this film’s job really to set up the original Trilogy, we know what happens though the hero turns bad, in order to really hook you into that it has to be done well, it has to surprise the audience (assuming they know) and it has to be convincing. I think that the problem really with the Star Wars prequels, ultimately it isn’t surprising enough and the journey to the Dark Side isn’t convincing. Anakin comes across as a petulant youth really with few brains who turns against his friends based on an obscure myth from a thought culture he knows nothing about which he embraces really for no compelling reason. In the end it is fairly poorly done though the scene where they lower the Vader mask on him is worth seeing.
As for the rest when the film is just a sci-fi fantasy adventure it is quite entertaining with great special effects and exciting sequences. Unfortunately I suppose this could never be like the original Star Wars films in that we really pull for the characters but it certainly looks spectacular. Acting wise Hayden Christensen is certainly better here than in the last film but Natalie Portman does little, their scenes together lack the cringeworthy dialogue of Attack of the Clones but come across as flat. There seems to be no real passion, maybe we’re meant to notice this ? I’ve never been a big Ewan McGregor fan and he is merely OK. Ian McDiarmid really steals the movie as the eventual Emperor.
Watching the orginal films last Xmas I remarked at how incompetent the Empire seemed to be. Here it is the Jedi that are incompetent, they make so many mistakes in this movie. I suppose that is the nature of the drama but possibly Anakin’s conversion to the dark side might be more convincing if the whole thing didn’t seem so rushed. Even though there were hints in the previous two films and both have to work as stand alone stories these could have been more explicit in terms of the Emperor slowly gathering power. Basically here we have the Jedi in control then half an hour later everyone is a traitor and most of them are getting massacred.
A bit more build up to that in the previous films might have been better though Star Wars films are entertaining rollercoaster rides of exciting action sequences not really about long exposition of emotional journeys. The compromise is here, first really keep the angst to the last film and still pepper it with space battles etc, a diffficult balance to achieve. It makes for a fairly interesting completion of the saga but nothing more.
(2 1/2 stars out of 5)
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