Of the three films in George Lucas’s Star Wars prequel trilogy, Episode III still remains the most intriguing entry. It was meant to bring the Skywalker saga full circle and to a definitive close at the time of its release in 2005. And it is the last finished work of Lucas in the director’s chair (he announced his retirement from producing big-budgeted commercial projects in 2012). It’s also where he juggles various concepts – Greek and Shakespearean tragedies, discarding liberty and democracy in exchange for tyranny and oppression, the seduction of evil through a mask of friendship – in addition to providing one CGI spectacle after another.
These concepts and themes as well as the spectacle, like Anakin’s love of Padme verses his duties to the Jedi order and to the Old Republic, push and pull in a battle for dominance that gives the picture a thrilling, yet maddening quality to it. Episode III, more than any other entry, wants to be about something, it yearns to be more than being remembered for a terrible comic sidekick and misplaced hatred by fanboys. And certainly more than a punchline about its tragic figure whining about why he doesn’t like sand.
Revenge of the Sith picks up three years after the Battle of Geonosis, where Anakin has been elevated to the rank of Jedi Knight. His former master, Obi-Won Kenobi, now sits on the Council. As the Clone Wars rage on, Chancellor Palpatine furthers his grasp on the Republic and on Anakin himself as he places him on the Council as his representative. Seizing the opportunity, the Council have Skywalker act as a spy to report on what the Chancellor is up to. Torn between his duty to an order that have misgivings about his acceptance into the Council, his very close relationship with Palpatine and his vision of Padme dying while giving birth to their child, Anakin is ultimately put into a decision that will reverberate across the galaxy.
If you’re George Lucas, and the fans already know that Anakin will eventually succumb to the Dark Side of the Force and become one of the most terrifying villains in film history, how does one play this scenario out? He answers that question by showing the conflict raging in our soon-to-be-fallen hero. The scene where the Supreme Chancellor talks with Anakin about Darth Plagueis the Wise and the path of the Dark Side feels like a snake slithering around our protagonist, whispering sweet nothings into his ear. His words sounding like sweet honey, but is really venom behind that facade. It’s a great piece of acting by Ian McDirmid, who captures the very nature of a wicked man hiding behind the kind face of a trusted friend.
In the end, we know which path Anakin will eventually choose. But Hayden Christensen, who was terrible in Episode II, does a decent job in showing us his inner turmoil about his duty to the Jedi Order, his duty to Padme and the allure of Palpatine and the Dark Side.
And yet…? As I said before, Lucas juggles themes of damnation, greed, the war machine and tyranny supplanting a republic, and he wants this seemingly final chapter in the Star Wars series to mean something other than be a punching bag like the first two films were. However, Revenge of the Sith still suffers from Lucas’ worst traits as a filmmaker: his tin-ear dialogue, and him being more concerned about the visual look of the film rather than the story and the characters.
Beyond McDirmid and Ewan McGregor’s performances, the acting is flat and thin for the most part, primarily due to George not giving his performers enough juicy material to work with. Samuel L. Jackson looks bored as Mace Windu, a high-ranking member of the Jedi Council, and Natalie Portman is uninterested returning once again as Padme. Then again, who could blame here when she’s given lines like this?
Anakin Skywalker: You are so… beautiful.
Padmé: It’s only because I’m so in love.
Anakin Skywalker: No, it’s because I’m so in love with you.
Padmé: So love has blinded you?
Anakin Skywalker: [laughs] Well, that’s not exactly what I meant.
Padmé: But it’s probably true.
It also doesn’t help that she had accepted better, more interesting roles such as Closer and Garden State before and after Episode III. But it feels like this was more a paycheck role than something she could sink her teeth into.
As for Hayden Christensen? His overall handling of Skywalker is much improved over the last installment, but Lucas seems hell-bent on giving him little to chew on. In fact, his best acting has come in quieter moments, when he’s not given any lines. The scene with him waiting in the Council room, juxtaposed with Padme waiting for him at the loft they share on Coruscant highlight the conflict between two worlds about to come to a head. The other, when he’s on the planet Mustafar, just having slaughtered the remaining high command of the Separatists at Lord Sideous’s command, knowing full-well that he’s damned his own soul in the process. Beyond that, he’s simply not given enough to work with.
If the poor acting and dialogue stand out, then the special effects stick out like a sore thumb. Don’t get me wrong: vising a terrifying volcanic planet like Mustafar for the film’s third act, or quickly seeing baby Leia’s home world of Aldoran are beautifully captured via CGI. But the rest of the film has the feel of being trapped inside a series of well-edited game cuts, without the controller. Sure, it was probably the only way at the point to bring arial dogfights over the city of Coruscant to life (along with every other place Lucas has us visiting), but since we know it’s all just green-screened in, it just sucks the fun out it.
I should point out that Lucas wrote, directed, was executive producer and financier for Revenge of the Sith, (the same on Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones, although he had a co-writer in the latter) so most of the troubles throughout all three phases of the prequel trilogy can be placed at his own feet. And that, I feel, is the problem with these films: there wasn’t someone to tell George Lucas no, or that he needed to step away from chief screenwriter and/or the director’s chair. Instead of working with other filmmakers and writers to bring his vision to life, like he did with Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, Lucas had it all his way. I feel he is better served as someone who can create worlds, provide the skeleton to what the finished product would look like and have others fill in the muscles, blood and organs to keep it functioning.
It’s not until it’s third act where the film really gets going, as Anakin betrays the Jedi Order and succumbs to the teaching of the now revealed (and disfigured) Lord Sideous. He is tasked to Mustafar, where as stated earlier, to wipe out the high command of the Separatists movement, thus bringing an end to the Clone Wars. The planet is no better metaphor for Hell itself, or for Anakin’s fall from grace.
It is here where Obi-Won Kenobi is tasked with confronting – and eliminating – his former pupil and friend, as well as a part of himself. The lightsaber duel is among the best of the series, add to it the musical piece “Battle of the Heroes” by Star Wars regular composer John Williams, which only highlights the ferocity of the duel between the two former allies as well as volcanic hellfire that is the environment of Mustafar. And we have a fight between a fallen angel, damned for eternity to the path he has chosen verses the angel sent to hell to destroy him before his evil can spread from one star system to the other.
It’s a grand, yet somber finale, knowing that the Emperor seizes absolute power while the populous blindly cheer on the birth of a brutal regime, and that Anakin’s journey to the Dark Side is complete. Yet, we know the outcome in full: Luke redeems his father, and the former Jedi destroys the Emperor (?), thus fulfilling the prophecy of the Chosen One bringing balance back to the Force.
Episode III is the most ambitious of the three movies in the prequel trilogy, as well as the bleakest Star Wars picture yet. However, for all the impressive visual effects, improved lead performance by Christensen, a thrilling lightsaber fight between Anakin and Obi-Won, a somber, yet exciting third act, and juggling allegories for Hell, the war in Iraq, Shakesperean & Greek tragedy, and the frailties of a democratic system falling to a dictatorship, it still can’t mask Lucas’s weakness in dialogue, all around poor performances and visual effects that get tiresome if you don’t stick with two-thirds of dullness. It could have been so much better, and there would have been much to chew on as well as leave audiences entertained.
The same could be said about the entire prequel series in general. So that’s it: the completion of the the entire Star Wars saga is done and recorded. It was a rigorous undertaking, but I, for one, am glad I had guided you all through the good, the bad and the Jar Jar Binks of it all. I mean, it’s not like ten years from now, some big company will buy out Lucasfilm Ltd. and crank out more Star Wars material or something.
