The birth of Darth Vader

Rating: 7/10 (3 May 2010)

With the promise of being the darkest of the Star Wars film, Revenge of the Sith was the prequel we all wanted to see: how Anakin Skywalker became force of evil Darth Vader and fell into the dark side. Luckily Revenge of the Sith was the best of the prequels, but not as good as the original trilogy.
The Republic is in the middle of a brutal civil war against the Separatists led by Count Dooku (Christopher Lee) and General Grievous (Michael Wood). The Separatists launched a bold mission against the Republic, kidnapping Chancellor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid). Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) and Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) led a rescue mission and Anakin becomes a hero of the Republic. Anakin ends up becoming very close to the Chancellor and with his influence Anakin becomes a member of the Jedi Council. Anakin was quickly thrown in the middle of a conflict between the Jedi and the Chancellor. Anakin also suffered from nightmare that his wife Padme (Natalie Portman) dying during childbirth. The Chancellor makes promises that he could save Padme because of the power of the Dark side. Anakin's corruption quickly spirals.
Revenge of the Sith is far from being a perfect film, but it is better then the Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones. There are a few reasons why that is: there is a great deal of action with a lot of lightsabre fights and giant battles. Some may be a bit too reliant on CGI but it still very entertaining to watch. The plot was streamlined, with much of the political element cut out and focuses on Anakin's corruption. There is the important issue of the Civil War, responsible for most of the action sequences and an obvious drive for the characters: but Anakin is the main focus of the film. It also contents the obvious message that absolute power corrupts and that Anakin's fearing the lost of his loved ones was the reason why he turned. Ian McDiarmid made a very effective villain with his oily charisma and had groomed Anakin for years. Revenge of the Sith also takes a darker route to previous Star Wars films. Much of the humour is cut out and the film looks at the ideas of military coups and merciless killings. The most potent scene is Anakin willingness to kill children.
But there are obvious problems. The acting is bad to start with. Somehow Christensen is even worst then he was in Attack of the Clones, either just shouting or talking in a monotone. He was really unbelievable as a man who turns to evil to save his love ones. It's amazing that he could land such a plum role. Portman had the emotional range of plunk of wood, which is a shame because she can be a good actress. Samuel L. Jackson was on autopilot which was another shame because he can be the king of cool when he is in the right role. Only McDiarmid was worthy of comment. The dialogue is really awful at times, particularly between Anakin and Padme saying things like 'you are so beautiful' 'it's only because I am so in love with you'. Lucas really needs someone else to write his scripts for him. There is also the problem that Revenge of the Sith it makes out that only Yodi and Obi-Wan Kenobi were the only two Jedis that were any good to survive the Purge of the Jedi. Strange when the Jedis are meant to be the best of the best. The fight between Palpatine and Mace Windu was also disappointing, with Palpatine killing 3 Jedi masters very easily; it could have made a great fight between Palpatine and 4 Jedis. The also gives an awful reason why Padme dies and why the advance medical science of this world could not save her. I also don't know what Lucas was smoking when he created that lizard creature that Obi-Wan Kenobi rides. The film also seems to have a problem involving it's time-scale, with the events seeming to go by quite quickly, but shouldn't it have lasted 6 months because of Padme's pregnancy. Finally as a friend of my said when he saw the film, Jar-Jar Binks was in the film for 2 seconds, 2 seconds too long.
Revenge of the Sith is entertaining as an action film the best of the prequels.