Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005) Review

"It's treason, then."

-Chancellor Palpatine 

Near the end of the Clones Wars, Count Dooku (Christopher Lee) and General Grievous (Matthew Wood) launch a daring raid on Coruscant and kidnap Chancellor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid).  Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewen McGregor), now a Jedi Master, and Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen), now a Jedi Knight, launch a rescue attempt and manage to save the Chancellor and kill Dooku, but Grievous manages the escape.  Obi-Wan is sent on a mission to hunt down Grievious, while Anakin stays behind, frustrated and angry with the Jedi Council.  With his wife, Padmé (Natalie Portman), pregnant, and Anakin plagued with nightmares of her death, he turns to his closest confident, Chancellor Palpatine, who is ready to make his final move in pulling Anakin over to the dark side and taking control of the galaxy.

What Works:

Revenge of the Sith is easily the best of the three prequel films.  It has by far the most emotional story, although it does take a while to kick in.  Once Anakin turns on the Jedi, things get pretty heavy.  The betrayal of the Jedi is powerful, watching all of them, including the younglings, get butchered.  It's pretty hardcore.  The fight on Mustafa, the best lightsaber duel in the prequels, is awesome because it holds a lot of emotional weight.  It's very engaging and tragic.  Ewen McGregor really kills it with his performance and when he finally defeats Anakin, it's heartbreaking.  He has easily the best performance of the movie.

The action sequences in general are all very solid.  The CGI has held up well and and though some of the sequences go on a little too long, they are pretty exciting.  The opening space flight is a lot of fun, and I've always enjoyed the Obi-Wan/General Grievous duel.

I also really enjoyed Ian McDiarmid's performance as the Chancellor.  When he is finally confronted by Mace Windu (Samuel L. Jackson) he starts chewing on the scenery and never stops.  He may come off as a little silly at times, but he's having a blast, and it's fun to watch him.

What Sucks:

Once again, the Anakin-Padmé storyline sucks.  It's not quite as horrible as the stuff in Attack of the Clones, but it's still pretty bad.  The dialogue is just awful, and their performances aren't great.  Again, I don't want to blame the actors too much, it's mostly George Lucas' fault, but it's pretty rough to watch at times.

There is a stretch of the film that is pretty boring.  After Obi-Wan and Anakin rescue the Chancellor, the story becomes a snooze-fest until Obi-Wan takes on General Grievous.  Nothing exciting happens in this part of the film, and I felt my interest waning.  Fortunately, the second half of the film really picks things up.

I also just want to say the Mustafar duel goes on a little too long and is a bit over the top.  Scale it back a bit and it would be perfect.

Finally, I have some complaints about the the use of the droids.  They are used for comic relief in this movie, which is inconsistent with the first two movies and it's also very tonally awkward.  A lot of the humor doesn't land and it comes in at very awkward points.  The droids are already barely a threat to our characters, we don't need them to become even more of a joke.  It takes a lot of the tension out of the film.

Verdict:

Revenge of the Sith is easily the best of the prequel films, but it's not without its flaws.  The first half has too much awkward humor and too many boring stretches.  And Padmé and Anakin's storyline sucked.  But the second half makes up for it with an emotion story, the best lightsaber duel of the prequels (even if it's a bit long), solid action scenes, and great performances from McGregor and McDiarmid. 

 7/10: Good