Ten Simple Reasons Why "Attack of the Sith" is the "Sith"

Rating: 8/10 (11 August 2017)

(and sorry for the lame pun)
WAR! Now, that's how you start a movie: right to the point and catchy. Compare this to the opening of "Phantom Menace" that sounded like the intro of some Yale student thesis. Here, there's no 'trade' this, no 'taxation' that, no Republic or Congress or other political considerations, we're not in Munich, Hitler invaded Poland already. So, war is in everyone's minds and the opening mission with Obi-Wan and Anakin (rescuing Senator Palpatine) shows that there's no time to waste anymore. I don't know if Lucas listened to fans' angry comments but they probably had a good feeling with that opening, and the rest wouldn't cause any further disappointment. So, if nothing is more valuable than a first impression, "Sith" is a winner.
BYE-BYE JAR-JAR: Although he didn't annoy me as much as everyone complained about but it seems that the film makes a point in not having anything to do with the first opuses, and certainly not the most infamous of all connections. He caused enough trouble already by giving full power to Palpatine, while there are some contrivances and clichés one can't go through, we've had enough of all "missa" and "youssa" polluting our ears.
THEY'RE ALL HERE, ONE LAST TIME: Of course, they were all here from the start with the exception of Christensen who jumped on the wagon midway, but when we meet them again, we've got the feeling to see old friends who learned to know each other. It's almost like in "Return of the Jedi" without that touch of self-awareness that made it a little bit more light-hearted, Han Solo smiled a lot, there were too many gags and the Ewoks didn't help. In "Sith", we know the final showdown is coming and the characters are approaching the end of their journey, and not a happy one of course. So, it's like tragedy on march, they're helpless while driven by the best intentions.
ANAKIN SKYLWALKER: He's given more substance in the film and while the gradual transition to his evil counterpart isn't a masterpiece of subtlety, Christensen displays a wider range of emotions and stops being this whiny kid from the second film, inhabiting the final gasp of his human life with a poignancy I didn't expect. Not to mention, he looks better with that haircut. Well, he got another Razzie nomination anyway but that was more than debatable.
EXECUTE ORDER 66: How to wipe out all the Jedi in a bad-ass move that pays tribute to my favorite film of all time, "The Godfather". Now, while not in the same vein than the "Baptism Massacre", Lucas' nice nod to his mentor and buddy Francis provides perhaps the second most famous example of cinematic purges ever. And the effect is even more powerful since the bad guys win. That's the start of a tragedy ending with Anakin finally renouncing Satan.
IT ESCALATES QUICKLY: Overall, the whole last hour of the film plays like a tragic escalation and a heart-pounding climax with a mountain of lava as the unforgettable operatic arena, perhaps one of the greatest climactic fights of the saga, the one was that trilogy begging for, having characters act and stop having bad feelings about things.
THE PREQUEL REDEMPTION: The climax redeems the previous films' flaws through the final chain of events starting with Anakin finally surrendering to the realm of the Dark Side, under the tempting offer of Emperor Palpatine while all the other Jedi dismissed him. When the fight ends with Anakin severely burnt, Padme giving birth and slowly dying and Obi-Wan leaving, there's something really emotional that rewards our patience. When Padme calls Luke and Leia by their name, it hits a sensitive chord, that moment is the closest to the greatness of the first trilogy.
A NEW HOPE: Exactly! The film ends right before the first of a few years. And after the final images showing each characters' arc, including Darth Vader's transformation, you just can't wait for the "next" trilogy, but everything already happened, Lucas made the stunt to build something up to events we already know, which makes the ending even more powerful, like a cliffhanger for something that wouldn't virtually happen since it already did.
LUCAS' REDEMPTION: The trilogy doesn't play in the same league than the others, I even said that "Jedi" was better than the three prequels put together, but now, I have reservation for "Sith" which I consider even slightly more enjoyable than "Jedi", emotionally at least, because it's hard to think that a three-movie epic set-up ended up being defeated by creatures like the Ewoks,l. But by making something as powerful as "Sith", Lucas proved that this trilogy was still his baby, and he achieved his dream by adding new ramifications to an already dense universe, you just can't get far enough in a galaxy, far, far away.
ULTIMATE MYTH: I guess there was something disappointing in the fact that people thought they'd never see their beloved Leia and Luke, which encouraged Lucas to write the next opus "The Force Awakens", maybe it says a lot about "Star Wars", it probably comes to a point that it doesn't even belong to Lucas but to human posterity, it's a cinematic mythology that can only demand to be enriched with new and new adventures, just like these suspending dots the opening texts end with...