my review of Star Wars III, Revenge of the Sith

Rating: 7/10 (22 May 2005)

I must admit that I am not a die hard Star Wars fan, but I had to go and see the third movie on the day that it came out, because my son who is 13 wanted to see it so badly. I will tell you this much: after seeing the movie, I went and bought the digitally remastered CD set of the first trilogy, and watched it from the beginning to the end. Now the last confrontation between Obi-Wan and Darth Vader becomes so meaningful, while I thought that their fight in episode IV was so primitive compared to their fight in the final moments of episode III, which was very nicely done by the way. The movie had me think so long and hard, and it has been a long time since a movie had me think so much.
I thought that Anakin had a very bad hair stylist. The entire time during the movie, I thought "boy, do something with your hair!" His acting was better in this movie than the other ones, but he did not convince me that he is a villain. He did not convince me that he became Darth Vader, he was still too cute and lovable to be anything but Anakin Skywalker.
I thought that the transition to becoming Darth Vader was a bit too easy and sudden. Just a few words by the chancellor and there was Anakin at his feet giving up his soul to the devil. That was just not believable I thought.
Then I thought about the agony that he went through to get to that point, and I saw many helped him on his path. In episode II, he did tell Padme about how he had murdered the sand people, revealing to Padme the pain and suffering that he was going through. Yet Padme, who is supposedly older and wiser than Anakin, does not try to help him resolve his feelings, either herself or by asking help from one of the Jedi's. Instead, she marries the troubled young boy who does not know what he wants in life yet! There you go Padme, that will fix him, lets add more pain and torture to this troubled young man who is trying to find his path, and can't deal with his emotions, lets marry him and keep it a secret, to add to his dilemma and pain and suffering! That will fix him! Oh no, that is not enough though Padme, lets get pregnant too, so that he is really fixed! So Padme had a big hand in pushing Anakin toward the dark side.
Then the advice that Yoda gives him when Anakin does go for help "you must forgo of all attachments..." what kind of advice is that?! Yoda, you know he is in pain, you know he murdered the sand people (Yoda sensed it as it was happening) so why the heck are you not reaching out to the boy? And there is the Jedi council. They realize that Anakin has powers, and is troubled, yet they try to force him to obey them, instead of trying to help calm his troubled soul. They keep shutting him up instead of listening to him. They keep yelling at him instead of being kind to him. There you go, good job guys, you know that Anakin has a troubled soul, yet you do all that you can to send him down the path of hell. You guys perhaps deserved your fate because you were so stupid.
I couldn't help but cry out when Anakin was defeated by Obi-Wan. As his limbs and arm were cut and he fell onto the sand, I cried. I felt for Anakin, everyone had helped push him on that dark path, and the end, Anakin had to pay for it dearly. Obi-Wan's life was saved so many times by Anakin, yet he did nothing at least to help Anakin when he was being burned by the fire that started consuming what was left of his body. He left Anakin there screaming in pain. Oh how everyone had a big hand in creating Darth Vader, and how they thought that they themselves were so much better than Anakin because they did not give in to the powers of the dark side.
I have been thinking about my relationship with my son, how now as a single mother things are hard at times and how I have no patience with him, so I try to force him to act the way I want him to, ignoring the troubled age that he is and the transformation that he is going through from a child into becoming a man. This movie made me realize that I too am like the Jedi's, trying to force my son into submission, while I forget that the forces of doing the bad things can be so strong and times, and so tempting and sweet. Throughout all of this, the only one that listened to Anakin was the Chancellor. And then the Jedi's were hurt and wondered why Anakin joined the dark side.
I vow to be different than the Jedi's from now on, and try to listen to my son's emotions as he is going through them. What my son needs to realize is that I am his only true friend, and he will not realize this by me trying to force him into my ways. That will make him choose the wrong path.
Anakin, my heart goes out to you, you were a victim.