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Review

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith

Director

George Lucas

Year

2005

Rating

Reviewed by

Gon Curiel a.k.a. Groucho

Review date

Monday, May 30, 2005

Now that the prequel trilogy of Star Wars is thankfully over, I can happily say that in my heart it’s not and will never be a part of the original saga. Even seeing Darth Vader appear in this one didn’t match him in my mind with the Lord of the Sith from the previous trilogy. And that’s a good thing, because I would be very disappointed of his character otherwise. However, I can also say that the aftertaste of this new trilogy isn’t so bad after this last movie. Neither of the three was too good, but they were all enjoyable somehow, if you could leave out the bastardization of all the concepts that we knew and loved.

The story follows Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones as war unleashes, and the Jedi defend the Republic little suspecting that it’s all a scheme by Supreme Chancellor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) who is setting them up to gain power and eventually destroy them. His tool? Young Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen), confused and disappointed, and now even fearsome, who might just turn to the dark side, to which Palpatine belongs as Lord of the Sith.

This film offers a lot to talk about, both good and bad. For the good, well, it has a tragic storyline sprinkled with fun sequences. For the bad, it’s all pretty shallow and relies too damn heavily on visual effects. Yes, they’re impressive, but too much to bear or even make sense sometimes. The characters are one-note at best but somehow their pledges are believable, yet the performances, as usual with Lucas, don’t help at all: Natalie Portman, for instance, is so limited you can see the talent yelling inside, unable to be heard; Samuel L. Jackson, Jimmy Smits, Christopher Lee and others don’t do much better. McDiarmid is pretty good, as is Ewan McGregor (as Obi-Wan Kenobi), and surprisingly, I didn’t quite dislike Christensen’s performance like other critics did.

The first half is all visual effects baloney and dreadful dialogue exchange that made me wonder why some people were praising the film at all. Towards the end however, it all got interesting, perhaps on account of us knowing what would happen and the pieces falling into place so elegantly. Of course it’s full of inconsistencies with the original trilogy, but who cares; fact is, despite the bad performances, awful dialogue, and inconsistencies with the original trilogy, as well as some unforgivable treatment of a couple of characters, it’s a good cinematic experience, well-worth watching, and certainly worth praising for its masterful craft and execution. I hate it but I love it. Very good climax and conclusion, and an admirable extermination sequence that I’m dying to watch again.

A John Williams score, as well as many other typical elements of the saga are present… But again, to me, this is not a part of the saga.

“This is how liberty dies. With thunderous applause.”

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Other reviews of Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005): Morris

Review

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith

Director

George Lucas

Year

2005

Rating

Reviewed by

José Ruiloba a.k.a. Morris

Review date

Thursday, June 09, 2005

I know a lot of people who are die-hard fans of the Star Wars saga. I’m not one of them. I didn’t grow up with them (wasn’t born when the first opened) and didn’t come to see the first three movies until a couple of years ago. That’s not to say I didn’t love them, because I did. I love the mythology and everything about it. Then came the second round of movies; the first one left me cold and the second one was pretty good. But I was eager to see if Lucas could redeem himself with the third one, and, at least in my book, he just did.

Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) wants nothing more than to become a Jedi Master, but Yoda (voice of Frank Oz), Mace Windu (Samuel L. Jackson), Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) and the rest of the Jedi Council members are not willing to give him that title just yet. Anakin then retorts to Supreme Chancellor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid), the only one who seems willing to hear him because of his secret plan to make him his apprentice, and slowly starts turning to the dark side in order to protect his wife Padmé (Natalie Portman) from dying when giving birth to their offspring.

Lucas starts his movie lightly. Anakin and Obi-Wan are on a rescue mission and its all fun and games for them. It is just heartbreaking to realize, in the audience, that those moments are perhaps the last ones they’ll spend together as friends. Moments like this permeate the entire movie. This isn’t a cheerful episode in the saga, but rather a dark, poignant, sad one. And it is inevitable. We know what’s going to happen and we desperately want Anakin to stop doing the things he does. It is a battle of feelings.

I have to say I credit Lucas for putting in place the last piece of the puzzle in such a classy way. Every story thread is tied together, every subplot explained, every detail given a lot of attention. Sure, there is some forced stuff such as the explanation Lucas gives to why R2-D2 and C-3PO don’t remember anyone from the past during the next three episodes. But generally speaking, the movie is well done and well-put together. What impresses me most is that Anakin keeps searching for the meaning of what he has been told he represents: the balance of the Force. Thing is, it will take him a lot of years, and three more movies, to actually understand why. After watching this movie, the next three ones will become a slightly different experience, and I say that as a plus.

Now, the first hour is kind of the same we were used to. Some fights, some action sequences, a lot of very cheesy romantic scenes, a lot of meetings between the Jedi Council, etc. But then the second hour arrives and it’s a pretty wild ride from then on. With Anakin in full rebellious mode and the Emperor’s plan in full swing, the movie turns to Greek tragedy in steroids. There’s a sequence involving a lot of Jedi in different planets that especially struck me as brilliant. And the whole overruling of the galaxy is a joy to behold in terms of entertainment, but as sad and beguiling in terms of the heart.

Mind you, the moment Darth Vader’s mask makes its first appearance is nothing short of shocking. Hearing that breathing for the first time is so poignant it makes me shiver just by the thought of it. It is an emotional movie.

The dialogue still sucks though; very bad in a lot of scenes. And the acting hasn’t improved that much either. Natalie Portman finally shows some signs of humanity, but in scenes that don’t make her justice. She has the best line of the movie though (see below). Hayden Christensen is good, but that’s about it. A little stiff for my taste and he never seems to believe that there’s great imagery going on where blue screen is, so his line readings are especially painful sometimes because of this. Ewan McGregor leaves the strongest impression among humans, as does Ian McDiarmid. And Yoda is beautifully animated, every scene he is in a pleasure to behold.

The movie is way more political than it might meet the eye. It could even be taken as a satire or as a real-life reproduction. There are different sides, different ways of thinking and way too many complicated shenanigans going on. I am not much into politics, but I did enjoy how Lucas plays with them, if a bit too much.

“This is how liberty dies, with thunderous applause.”

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Other reviews of Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005): Groucho