Warning: Spoilers
I went and saw the midnight Wednesday show of Revenge of the Sith on the UltraScreen(TM) and watched the beloved saga of my childhood complete amongst those dressed as wookies and stormtroopers.
First, I might as well address what I didn’t like: The clumsy attempt into 21st century politics. “You’re with me or against me,” Anakin says to Obi-Wan after his turn to evil, in an echo of President Bush’s post-9/11 speech. To which Obi-Wan replies, “Only Sith deal in absolutes.” That should be news to Star Wars fans that have listened to Jedi caution never to use feelings of anger, fear or aggression for the five other movies. Sounds pretty absolute to me.
The exchange is, quite frankly, embarrassingly awkward and bad, especially for a movie that will be watched for the next fifty years on whatever replaces DVD and whatever replaces what replaces DVD. Thankfully Lucas continues to use his model of the rise of Nazi Germany for the rise of the Emperor although some MoveOn.org types might think that it is about Bush and Republicans and go so far as to spend $150,000 on advertising to say so. Oh. Never mind.
What I did love was pretty much the rest of the movie. It is a rare movie that can make five other movies better, but this one did. There is about a ten second sequence in the movie that makes the Episode I investment payoff in a huge emotional dividend. After Anakin has turned he is ordered by the Emperor to lead an attack on the Jedi Temple with Shock Troopers. When Anakin comes across the youngest Jedi trainees –Younglings, five or six years old – hiding. The kids see Anakin and are relieved to see a powerful Jedi that is sure to help them. “What are we going to do, Master Anakin?” one asks. Anakin’s answer is a drawn lightsaber. The next time we see the Younglings they are dead in a pile from lightsaber wounds. Anakin Skywalker, the young slave boy who risked his life to help strangers in Episode I is symbolically killed by his adult self in Episode III in that moment and it packs a punch.
In moments like that, “Revenge of the Sith” takes it’s place as the #3 Star Wars movie, while making a strong case for #2, but not quite reaching the “gee whiz!” magic of the original or an “I am your father” moment of Empire, but through no fault of it’s own. It’s hard to be match the magic in any sequel and had they been filmed in order Anakin becoming Vader would’ve been the shocker and not Vader being Luke’s father.
Lucas put together a fairly Shakespearean tale of Anakin’s fall. Rather than being a driving force in his own fall, Anakin turns out to be more of a pawn in a tug-of-war between the Jedi and the Chancellor Palpatine, who Anakin finally figures out is the master Sith. The Chancellor puts Anakin on the Jedi council to report back to him only to have the Jedi ask him to spy on the Chancellor.
Anakin had dreams of his pregnant wife dying in childbirth, and when Palpatine reveals himself as Sith and promises Anakin a way to defeat death if he joins him. (In a twist of stinging irony at the end, it is revealed that Anakin chose the wrong side, anyway. Obi-Wan’s late master Qui-Gon Jinn discovered the secrets of immortality from beyond the grave; Jedi held the secret of immortality, not Sith.)
Even when Anakin makes the correct choice and reports what he has learned to the Jedi, the last string is pulled by Palpatine. When Mace Windu declines Anakin’s help handling the Sith Lord because of his lack of trust Palpatine has been able to build up between Anakin and the Jedi, it leads to the moment-of-truth for Anakin as he comes to Palpatine’s chamber as Mace Windu and Palpatine stand in a draw. He listens to them plead their case and then makes his decision to become a Sith because he needs Palpatine alive to save Padme. One wonders if this crossed Palpatine’s mind as he stood killing Luke in “Return of the Jedi,” expecting Vader to watch. Don’t mess with this guy’s family.
Right after we get another scene Star Wars fans have been waiting for since 1977, as Palpatine declares himself Emperor, dispatches Anakin to attack the Jedi Temple and orders the clone troopers across the galaxy to execute Order 66 and kill all the Jedi. From planet to planet we go and see the doom of Jedi. However, when we get to Yoda who is helping the Wookies, he easily takes care of the only two troopers near him (the Wookies, unlike most, are fighting their own battle with only help) and we get a crowd-pleasing scene of Chewbacca helping Yoda escape.
Obi-Wan also escapes after defeating the Vader prototype General Grievous and he meets up with Yoda, apparently the only two Jedi left. In a great Jedi moment, instead of running and hiding they regroup at the temple, figure out what has happened, Yoda goes to face Palpatine and Obi-Wan leaves to find Vader. (Why they just don’t go two-on-one with both of them, I’m not sure.)
The Emperor in “Sith” does a good job showing what the Dark Side is all about. When Mace is about to kill him he pathetically pleads for his life to Anakin. When Yoda shows up to challenge him he tries to run. Yoda and Palpatine fight to a draw before Yoda has to flee when reinforcements arrive.
Of course the climax of the trilogy is the showdown between Obi-Wan and Anakin, and it was the emotion of the showdown that hit me harder than I thought it would. Anakin chokes Padme because she inadvertently led Obi-Wan to where he was hiding, and you realize he’s hit the point of no return. Anakin accuses Obi-Wan of turning Padme against him, though Padme told Anakin she wanted no part of his plans of ruling the galaxy as husband and wife. The real emotional confrontation turns out to be the one between the men, Obi-Wan the father figure who took the small boy Anakin at the end of Episode I for training and Anakin who grew to be more like a brother to Obi-Wan. When Obi-Wan has finally defeated and physically broken Anakin and is apologizing to his old apprentice for failing him only to be told by Anakin that he hates him my stomach was knotted. When Obi-Wan picks up Anakin’s lightsaber (to be given to Luke years later) and turns his back on Anakin for what he thinks is the last time, it had me near tears.
And again, “Sith” reaches back in time (forward in the story) and actually improves the original Star Wars. Plop “A New Hope” into your DVD player and Obi-Wan giving Luke Anakin’s lightsaber in order to try and redeem himself takes on a little more emotional heft.
The last few minutes of the film bridge to the original trilogy well. Padme’s death in childbirth becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. (Anakin trying to prevent Padme’s death is ultimately the cause of it in a “Romeo and Juliet” type of way, minus the suicide.) Babies Leia and Luke are placed with their adoptive parents and in a moment that recalls “A New Hope” Luke is shown the Tatooine twin sunset for the first time as the movie closes. If it hadn’t been 2:30 in the morning I would’ve ran home and put “A New Hope” in the DVD player.
Ultimately, I think this is what most die-hard Star Wars fans were waiting for. I also think that despite all the bitching and moaning, patience with the story line for the first two prequel movies paid off in a large way. Seeing Anakin as a child, then as an uppity teen in love, then as a man so desperate to save his love that it is used to twist him to evil. By the time Vader fulfills the prophecy and destroys the Sith in “Return of the Jedi” one of the most epic lifetimes in the history of movies has been told, and told in a very pleasing way, Jar-Jar Binks aside.
4/4 stars.
