Too Much to Say, Too Little Time

Rating: 8/10 (21 May 2005)

There is no doubt that Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith is the best film of the new trilogy. In fact, it far outweighs both Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones (Clones) in many ways. However, even groundbreaking CGI could not permit the third installment of the Star Wars saga to reach the heights of the original trilogy, due, in part to some fundamental changes in narrative.
The opening scene of Episode 3 begins with an unbelievably detailed and exciting dogfight. The special effects could actually give someone motions sickness as optical points of view from the pilots, Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) and Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor), take us through countless twists and turns. However exciting this might be, it falls flat in terms of building suspense and then delivering, for at no point in Episode 3 does George Lucas allow the audience any sort of tension.
Take for example Return of the Jedi. There is a great built up of tension as the audience watches the corralling of Imperial spacecraft waiting to fight off the rebel fleet's attack on the Deathstar. By jumping right into the middle of fight scenes, an Episode 3 staple, the engagement of the audience is isolated to payoff, transcending any notion of build up. Perhaps this has to do with the incredible amount of time, space and story Lucas had to make up to bring the plot up to speed with that of A New Hope. Regardless, this bereft delivery of action is less effective than in the past films.
Another example of this lack of tension is the first lightsabre battle between Count Dooku (Christopher Lee) - the Sith Lord who fought-off both Obi-Wan and Anakin in Clones. He is now worked-over by Anakin within seconds of the opening credits. Anakin says his powers have improved since their last meeting, but this fight was a joke. The ever-ominous Dokku that we saw in Clones turned out to be a total pushover.
And what about Anakin's step over to the Darkside? And if what I just said was a spoiler then you really need to catch up on your Star Wars. I mean, Anakin was forced to choose between Palpatine, the benevolent, dictatorial and power-thirsty leader of the feared Galactic Empire, and the Senate, who granted him a seat but not Master status.
Palpatine wants to show Anakin the balance of both good and evil, subtextually working in tandem with the movie itself as a means of balancing the entire saga. Had Anakin's love, Padame (Natlie Portman) been killed, I could see his decent into darkness. However the brevity of his decision-making, staged like a sales meeting, was not believable. Again we must settle with the fact that Lucas had to bridge time and space to the detriment of story.
Finally, there is Anakin's rise to power. It is surely an homage to Al Pacino's rise to power at the end of The Godfather, intercutting between mob hits as each nemesis is checked off the hit list. Anakin marks every Senate member of death as he ascends to power, leaving the craftiness of the masters to fend for themselves. Is the Darkside a critique of organized crime? More positive notes include the final duel between Yoda and Darth Sidious, by far the best lightsaber battles of any of the films. Intercutting between this fight and Anakin and Obi-Wan's final battle is one for the ages, lasting over 20 minutes. Truly amazing.
Essentially, you will not be disappointed with Episode 3, not in the least. Just prepare yourself for the fact that you will be thrown right into the action as George Lucas must fit a whole lot of story into a short frame of time.