The Darkest of the Saga. . .

Rating: 8/10 (21 June 2005)

For the past 30 years, Star Wars has graced our silver screens across the world and given us moments of joy, heartbreak, excitement, and yes, awkwardness unfortunately. Hailed as classics for all time, the Star Wars movies will be engraved in our memories until the day we die. Setting the bar quite high, the original trilogy stands as a gold-encased film memorabilia. And then Lucas announced that a prequel trilogy would be filmed. I thought, "Great, yes! More Star Wars!". Sadly, the episodes I and II were lacking that which whisked me so happily away from reality; a quality the original trilogy possessed in abundance. From then on, Star Wars became somewhat lowered in my regard. I wasn't even really looking forward to Revenge of the Sith. Despite its acclaiming reviews, my expectations of what I thought this film would be were still not swayed. But then I actually saw the movie. . .
The film opens three years later from where Attack of the Clones left off. Anakin has since been granted the rank of Jedi Knight, and his wife Padmé is with child (or children for that matter). Anakin's youthful arrogance has since formed into a passionate endeavor to become all that he can be and more. His power has grown considerably over three year's time and the Jedi Council is beginning to grow wary of him. His only true friend seems to be Obi-wan Kenobi, his old mentor and father figure.
Anakin's relationship with the Chancellor Palpatine is shed into more harsh light in this episode. You can visually witness the good mind of Anakin Skywalker being mutilated and twisted into something darker as Palpatine feeds him accusations against the Jedi and his friends. You will find your heart screaming out to Anakin to close his mind to the poisonous words of the soon-to-be emperor of the galaxy.
The dialogue can be somewhat cheesy in this film; very similar to the past two episodes, however the dark, emotional overtones of Anakin's fall from grace more than makes up for the script's few minor downfalls. An exceptionally powerful scene is towards the end of the film, on the volcanic planet of Mustafar. There, Anakin is confronted by the two people he loved most (or did); his wife Padmé, and best friend Obi-wan Kenobi. With a chillingly haunting haze in his eyes, you can see that Anakin Skywalker is no more as he uses his force grip on his wife and battles Obi-wan Kenobi, meaning to strike him down. The lightsaber sequence is by far the most powerful of any of the other duels in any of the other films. Not only because of the stunning effects, but from the knowledge that the young Skywalker boy has been betrayed and the good-hearted Obi-wan Kenobi must defend his life against his old padawan and friend.
This is not your ordinary Star Wars film, where you walk out of the theater with a smile and planning to see the movie again. No, no. You will exit the theater thoughtful and emotional, thinking of the old Darth Vader in a very different perspective. Though darker, this film IS enjoyable and beautiful. The story of a young slave boy on Tatooine transitioning into a cruel hard Sith Lord is complete and is told brilliantly.
A well told tale. I'm glad to say that I'm a Star Wars fan again. :)