A Thrilling Capstone Overcomes CGI and Dialog for True Tragedy

Rating: 8/10 (5 June 2005)

"Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith" is a thrilling capstone and revelation that more than a dozen hours over 28 years has built up a universe, a mythology and a galactic force whose fulcrum shockingly turns on a tear coursing down Anakin Skywalker's face.
But, even after three viewings, it is moving and stunning that to discover that the prequels and sequels are merely exposition for that tear. I, too, cried, several times.
Yes the eye is also filled with a far more elaborate production designed landscape and cityscapes than any previous "Star Wars" movie could produce, what with all the advances in computer generated images, though with far less insight on life far, far away than was our first look at this society many years ago.
The opening battles seem a replay we've seen before, even with a few new eye and ear catching characters, such as the stooped, coughing flesh-and-metal General Grievous, a foreshadowing of the future bad guy to come. But then we have the first hint that the physical battles are secondary to the central conflict - the battle for Anakin's soul.
We are suddenly forced to recall his disturbing, seemingly uncharacteristic act from "Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones," when the reckless, petulant teen wreaked Old Testament-like vengeance on the sand people for his mother's death that he had helplessly foreseen (and it is important throughout to recall revealed information from Episodes I and II that we may have understandably dozed through for its boring, seeming insignificance then, including that a Sith was more than just another colorful enemy).
We had excused this violence due to his grief, his youth, and perhaps because it uneasily recalled incidents in our human, and particularly American, history. But Christensen's Anakin has filled out into a striding, strikingly handsome young man in the prime of life, saving his mentor Obi-wan Kenobi time and again, who surely can now be in control of his expanded powers.
Until Ian McDiarmid's chillingly curdling Chancellor starts openly manipulating Anakin's emotions and slowly begins to tie together the whole series for us and reveals that he, through at least three guises, has been pulling the story strands together all along and will continue to do so.
As we try to keep track of the various political machinations of the Chancellor and the Jedi Council, our hearts go out to Anakin as he struggles to be faithful to everyone he has trusted, even as each asks him to keep conflicting secrets from the others, ironically by insisting that he "trust your feelings." But each has a different version of the truth.
It is heartbreaking that he does try to reach out more than once for Jedi guidance, but Yoda's ascetic spirituality can't ease his excruciating torment. Despite stiflingly wooden dialog in bedroom, banter or battle (such that no other actor's abilities are to be judged by the recitations here) we are drawn into a totally unexpected anguish -- Anakin's tragic flaw is his love for Padme.
Yes, it is compounded by his arrogance, his anger, his pride, his hubris, his impatience, but we've seen those character flaws develop from being told by the Jedi he's The Chosen One, what with the extraordinary level of those mysterious midi-chlorians coursing through his body. So he freely--slowly, painfully, reluctantly-- makes the choice that will change the fate of an entire universe.
His next actions are shocking -- earning the PG-13 rating just for the idea of what he's done, not that we see him do it, emphasized by surrounding him in an Albert Speer-ish mise en scene. The final, extended confrontation with Kenobi on a volcanic planet is viscerally gripping, the absolute best light saber battle ever, even as it follows skirmishes between other familiar characters that are also exciting (and it is fun to see the Wookie home world).
The political ruminations about liberty morphing into totalitarianism, recalling Hitler's election and a singular super-power on this planet, while looking ahead to how Princess Leia will fulfill her mother's goals for The Rebel Alliance, are dark secondary themes.
But the transformation to Darth Vader that we know will be coming, has to come, that is inevitable and necessary to come because we already know the conclusion of his life is far more terrifying than we ever expected, especially as it is edited back and forth between what will bring us directly to "Episode IV: A New Hope."
We never would have thought that what he did, he did for love. Back in 1977, George Lucas tried to tell interviewers that Anakin's arc was what the whole series was about, but we thought that Vader escaping in a pod was simply a "to be continued" gimmick and didn't get it.
None of us did. Until now.