A Cinematic Tour De Force for Lucas and Company and...

Rating: 9/10 (20 May 2005)

A Fitting End to the Star Wars Saga on the Silver Screen.
Well, I knew Revenge of the Sith would be a good movie. It wouldn't be as good as the other films in the Original Trilogy, but it would at least be better than the other two Prequel films.
And boy, how right I was.
Revenge of the Sith depicts the fall of nearly everyone and everything that the Prequel Trilogy, up until now, had established and attempted to get us to root for. The Old Republic crumbles in the wake of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine's, also known as the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, meteoritic rise from war-time leader to emperor of the galaxy. The Jedi Order is decimated to its very core, and not even its young Padawans survive. Jedi Masters Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda are beaten, broken, and dispirited, and ultimately, exiled. Padme dies from a broken heart and delivers Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa into a tumultuous new world. And lastly, but certainly not least, Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker turns to the Dark Side of the Force so that the only thing he truly loves will not die.
It is epic Greek-style tragedy in the form of cinema's greatest space opera, and it works on so many levels, that I will simply not bore you with the details.
Revenge of the Sith finally gives the audience the humor we've been waiting for, but it's almost disheartening, knowing the dark turns the film is about to take. It depicts two men, Anakin and Obi-Wan, who genuinely care and love one another, and how horribly awry their relationship goes.
Many of the missteps and mistakes of the first two films in the Prequel Trilogy are corrected and rectified, besides the humor. The dialog is stronger, the performances and chemistry between the characters are smoother, and the whole tone just feels...like Star Wars. And that's something we've all been waiting for for six years.
Ewan McGregor shines as Obi-Wan Kenobi, and it seems that he finally feels comfortable in that role and its grand surroundings. Hayden Christensen gives a talented, tortured performance as the Chosen One gone wrong, and proves that he is a skilled actor. Natalie Portman is wonderful and luminous as the woman Anakin loves and yearns to save. Yet, the two performers that stole the show were Ian McDiarmid as the malign Palpatine/Darth Sidious, and the entirely-CGI Yoda, voiced once more with dramatic gusto by Frank Oz. As tormenting as the final lightsaber-filled showdown between Anakin and Obi-Wan was, the battle between Yoda and Palpatine is that much more sadder and dramatic. Yoda knows that he is losing a fight he cannot hope to win, and is humbled before McDiamid's Palpatine, as the once venerated Jedi Master must crawl to safety and exile through a rat-sized maze of tunnels and wires.
And that duel on the volcano world of Mustafar? It is no heavily choreographed kung fu fight like Obi-Wan and Darth Maul's battle in The Phantom Menace. This is a knockdown, drag-out brawl between two Force practitioners fed up with everything they've upheld and loved. It is violent, dramatic, and ultimately futile for both parties, as Obi-Wan tells his hacked-to-pieces former Padawan that he is sorry that he failed him. Anakin, then set aflame and charred to a gruesome crispiness by the rivers of lava below him, responds only with a declaration of hate for everything and everybody.
We see Anakin, now Darth Vader, re-born as the cyborgized, black armored giant of the Original Trilogy, told by his new master, the Emperor, that he has caused the death of his beloved Padme. In James Earl Jones' legendary and mechanized voice, we hear the last vestige of Anakin Skywalker in the form of a tormented cry of "No!" There are many things to love about Revenge of the Sith, and there are many things to be sad about. It's the end of so much for Star Wars fans, and the series goes out on such a high note, we wonder why it has to end at all.
But, at the end of the day, when the final credits role, you must take heart that despite the Sith's revenge and the rise of the Galactic Empire, that on two very different planets, and in the form of two infant siblings, there lies A New Hope.
Thanks to Mr. Lucas and all in involved in bringing back Star Wars to the big screen and maintaining a universe of stories and wonderful characters that have brought me, and so many, such great joy.