The Only Decent Prequel

Rating: 7/10 (26 February 2016)

The good thing about Attack of the Clones, is that Lucas could only improve. That he did with his third installment, Revenge of the Sith. In this outing, war has broken out. Separatists, led by General Greivous, have split the Republic. Now with a standing army of clones, Emperor Palpatine has them dispensed to quell the uprisings. Secretly, though, Palpatine is the one behind the separatist movement - using them to give himself emergency powers. While the Jedi oversee the clone troops, the Emperor works against them. Enter Anakin Skywalker and Ben Kenobi who are trying to bring the war to an end. Skywalker kills Count Dooku, leaving Palpatine without an apprentice. He takes interest in Anakin as Ben Kenobi tries to locate General Greivous to bring the Separatist Movement to an end. That is when Palpatine seduces Anakin to the dark side, promising him a way to keep alive the ones he loves. After Kenobi finally brings an end to the separatist military leader, though, Palpatine does not relinquish power. Anakin discovers he is a Sith and brings Mace Windu in. However, tempted again by the Dark Side, Anakin ascends to Palpatine's apprentice. He must now rid the galaxy of Jedi. Kenobi somehow returns, then follows a pregnant Padme to the planet of Mustafar where Anakin is. Yoda confronts Palpatine, and loses. However, Kenobi defeats Anakin, rendering him to a life forever in a special life- support suit. Padme gives birth to twins that will be kept in hiding. Yoda exiles himself. This is a dark episode of Star Wars - as well as the most violent. It also has better dialog, especially when the Emperor is tempting Anakin. The plot is much more streamlined, and there is an even pace of the story. True, some of the exposition involves people sitting and talking, but there is more action interlaced with the plot. The acting, too, is not very deep. It keeps the audience from getting completely involved in the conflicts and temptations, but the performances are not as wooden and the previous installments. Overall, though, Revenge of the Sith was a decent, watchable prequel. It was not as stellar as the original trilogy, but still entertains far better than Phantom Menace and Attac of the Clones.