The Sith Has Hit The Fan

Rating: 8/10 (20 May 2005)

Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith Back in good old '83, Lucas replaced the word 'Revenge' with 'Return' for Episode VI's title. Clearly a Jedi cannot take revenge- a Jedi's way is not hate or aggression. In reference to this change, Episode III's title returns to that word 'revenge'- and thus marks itself out as the polar opposite of the original trilogy's finale. It is an intensely dark affair, dealing with Anakin's fall from the grace of the Jedi council through Chancellor Palpantine's manipulation, and to his final transformation to Darth Vader. Lucas referred to the film as 'Titanic in space', and he is right; essentially a Shakespearian tragedy in nature, the climax is a predetermined catastrophe which the film cannot escape.
Being a big Star Wars fan, I queued up in the company of more cynical friends with a mixture of excitement and dread. In a sense, I knew that this film was damage limitation; the previous prequels were unmitigated failures in almost every way. The action had been thick and fast, but so artificial that none of the battles had made the impact on me like the original trilogy's had. The films had lacked a villain, and generally lacked a plot. Worse still, there were no memorable characters; no Han Solo, no Leia. No truly memorable relationships. Essentially I had found, to my dismay, that Episodes 1 and 2 were little more than high tech screensavers filled with vacuous characters and appalling CGI. What I loved in the original trilogy was the humanity beneath it all- without that, there is no sense of excitement in the fights, no passion in the romances, no humour in the jokes, no sense of satisfaction in the ultimate victory.
Unfortunately, Lucas could not do the impossible and reinvigorate his lackluster prequel trilogy with this final installment. However, he has still crafted a surprisingly satisfying, loyal, fitting finale. The implementation of Order 66 when the Jedi are mercilessly killed off by their own armies, and even the younglings are left as corpses on the floor, is jaw droppingly dramatic and mercilessly nihilistic. The murder of Mace Windu is undeniably gripping, and fraught with tension as we see Anakin make a mistake he will reverse as Darth Vader at the climax of Return Of The Jedi. And the finale, as Anakin is left to burn alive, minus two legs and an arm, is the moment fans have been waiting to see for decades (particularly since Hayden took the role..). The final shot is perhaps the most satisfying moment; Obi Wan delivers Luke to his new parents, and Owen strikes the exact same pose Luke does as a young man in New Hope as he looks at the sun setting over Tatooine. Lucas therefore manages to finish off the film on an extraordinarily optimistic tone, that is sure to make hardcore fans like myself shiver with satisfaction as we see the two trilogies linked seamlessly. We even see a young Grand Moff Tarkin overlooking the foundations of the Death Star.
While there is plenty to like here, I must stress that unforgivable problems still exist. Lucas's sterile direction and rather dire script allow for little emotional intensity or characterization, General Grievous coughing is about as human as it gets, and the breakdown of Anakin's relationship with the pregnant princess is hardly Romeo & Juliet. There are vague attempts at pandering to the fan audience which come off as rather desperate, such as the references to Chewbacca and the utterly unremarkable Yoda lightsaber battle. Perhaps worst offender of all is the pacing; Lucas is terrified of letting his backless characters carry a scene for longer than a minute. Even the much hyped final fight is ruined by constant cutting back and forth. Personally my nemesis in cinema at the moment is CGI. So overused is CGI in this film, that with some regularity there is literally nothing real on screen apart from a crooning actor. It's quite simply over-compensation. The final lightsaber battle was undermined so badly by the CGI lava bubbling all around that it resembled Finding Nemo. It's a testament to this that the final battle of Empire, which is relatively untouched by CGI, was so much more thrilling- despite its sometimes clunky choreography.
Even if the film-making is as cynical as much of the film itself, I'm thankful the prequels have come to an end on this, a refreshingly adult, nihilistic and tragic film that carries the full gravitas of the Star Wars saga on its shoulders, and just about manages to support it.