With The Rise Of Skywalker on the way in December I decided to do retrospectives on each of the films. I am going in the order of the story which means we’re continuing on with Revenge Of The Sith. This film came out in 2005 and I was 11. It was my midnight premiere and I loved every second of it. It was a massive crowd, there were people in costumes and everything. It was great. The first time I saw this film, I loved it…unfortunately, as I’ve gotten older, I don’t enjoy it quite as much. It still has some great moments and honestly I think that if they had stretched this film out over the trilogy then it would’ve been a better series overall. I understand that might be a bit confusing but just follow along and I’ll explain.
So we start off with what is probably my favorite opening of the Prequels. Getting to see Anakin and Obi-Wan as the pilots we know them to be is a great start especially for Anakin. We hardly saw him do any flying in the second film and in the first we see him do some pretty cool stuff…but he’s like 10 so it almost doesn’t count. The other reason I like this opening is because we actually get to see Obi-Wan and Anakin have fun interactions. I know it’s a nitpick, but if you had focused on this the entire Trilogy, then it would be so much better.(See? That’s what I meant earlier.)
They get inside the ship, hijinks ensue. Fun is had by all before we have to watch our protagonist be burned alive later. They fine the chancellor and have to fight Count Dooku off to rescue him. This fight is much better than the one in Episode II. That phrase will be a fairly consistent one throughout this retrospective. The Fight’s are more intense and they look cool but they don’t carry as much emotion as the ones in the Original or Sequel trilogy…or even the Duel Of The Fates from Episode 1 for that matter, which is kinda weird in hindsight. But seriously, the flow is much better here and I even like the finale better. Anakin just gets the better of him and it’s here that we get to see more of Palpatine corrupting him. I’ve always wondered what Dooku thought the plan was for the rest of the Clone Wars. I’m sure there’s videos and theories on it…might go down that rabbit hole later.
Anyway, then we meet General Grievous and now we all forget that the Clone Wars Cartoon happens. Because everyone speaks like it’s their first meeting although now, I’m trying to think if Grievous and Anakin ever have an encounter with each other. I’m sure they do but then again, maybe not. I personally don’t care much for General Grievous, I think he’s a cheap option and is shoehorned into this movie out of nowhere. I originally liked him because I loved that he was basically an unstoppable monster in the Tartokovsy version of the clone wars but I would’ve preferred Dooku or Maul to have been fleshed out more character instead of adding a third secondary villain.
Grievous runs away and Anakin has to land a crashing separatist ship in the middle of coruscant. This is pretty much the last time that we’ll ever be happy. Everything else that happens in this movie is things going from bad to worse. Padme tells Anakin that she’s pregnant and at first they’re really happy and they have another scene that makes the Twilight Romances look compelling :
“You are so beautiful.”
“It’s because I’m so in love”
“No, it’s because I’m so in love with you”
“So love has blinded you?”
“Well, that’s not exactly what I meant.”
“But it’s probably true.” Pure Poetry, George.
Anyway, it’s after this that Anakin starts to have visions of Padme dying in childbirth. He says they remind him of the visions of his mother and that he’ll make sure they won’t happen. She asks if Obi-Wan could help and Anakin says “We don’t need his help.” Alright, well that’s not true at all because after this Anakin’s next plan is to go to Yoda and ask vague questions while having the worst body language of all time. Yoda basically tell him to give up attachments and rejoice in the fact that someone is becoming one with the force/dying. This is probably my least favorite scene in the trilogy. I really can’t think of one that tops it because every other time that Yoda makes a stupid decision in this trilogy I can either A. Understand it as “Well, he didn’t know any better” or B. Just say “Oh, well Palpatine was shrouding his mind.” I can’t do that here. Anyone could see that Anakin is struggling with a big decision here and yet, Yoda is a character who is like 883 years or something like that at this point and he can’t see that this isn’t what he needs to hear right now. I get that these are Jedi teachings but maybe, just maybe, the Jedi should’ve adapted on a few things instead of just dying out…which we’ll touch on more when we get to that one movie that everyone hates.
Following this, we get about 30 minutes of exposition that is honestly pretty boring. I won’t lie. Palpatine gets more power, makes Anakin his representative on the council, Obi-Wan’s the only one who can sense that something is wrong because he’s the best, Mace Windu makes the masterful decision of putting Anakin on the council but making sure that he knows that he’s not a master. It’s literally the scene from the Office where they won’t let Andy be in the finer things club, Anakin complains to Obi-Wan and he’s like “Anakin, slow your roll. You’re young and aren’t about to have any life changing moments happen. Just chill, finish out the war and we’ll go from there. Oh, by the way, The Council wants you to spy on Palpatine and I hate everything anymore.”, Anakin actually responds intelligently and says that it’s against the Jedi Code and that he hates everything too, Obi-Wan comments on his hesitance to Mace and Yoda and Mace has the audacity to say “I don’t think the boy can handle it. I don’t trust him” THEN WHO MADE THE CALL ON ANAKIN SPYING ON HIM! Obi-Wan at this point asks if Anakin is or isn’t the chosen one and both of them basically just say “Meh, maybe.” Then, Padme asks Anakin to talk to Palpatine about ending the war because No one can leave him alone. Then we get to the opera scene. This is when Anakin is really tempted to turn to the dark side. Palpatine plays him perfectly and even though I think his character is ridiculous I have to say that Ian McDiarmid is absolutely fantastic as the dark lord. His retelling of Darth Plagueis’ death is exceptional.
Then, Obi-Wan is sent to capture General Grievous and I’ve never understood why they don’t send Anakin with him. It’s a very odd decision on the council’s part. Anakin doesn’t go with him and obviously that ends poorly for everyone else in this film. When he finds Grievous he just jumps down in front of all of the droids and says “Hello There” and lo, thousand of memes were created.(Feel free to go look at some and then come back. I can wait.) When he kills all of Grievous’ bodyguards is actually one of my favorite moments in the movie because of how smooth he is when cuts off that one droids head. It’s just a cool moment. His following fight with Grievous really isn’t that great. The Four arms thing is nowhere near as formidable as it should be and really, neither is Grievous. When Obi-Wan finally catches up to him and fights him, Grievous is killed by just a few blaster bolts.
Meanwhile, back on Coruscant, Anakin finally learns that Palpatine is the Sith lord and He’s like “Hey, the Jedi kinda suck and I could save your wife.” and Anakin’s like “Yeah, but you’re also super evil so I’m gonna turn you over to the Jedi.” and Palpatine’s like “Fair, sure wish someone could save Padme though. Such a shame.” Then Anakin goes back and tells Mace and he’s like “Welp, I’m gonna kill him. Later.” Anakin goes back to the Council Chambers and has my favorite scene in the prequel trilogy. There’s no dialogue, it’s just Anakin staring at Padme’s apartment and Padme staring at the Jedi Temple. It’s a beautifully well done scene. He then goes to the Chancellor’s Office just in time to see Mace Windu about to just destroy Palpatine.
Here’s where my biggest issue with this movie comes from : I agree with Anakin that the Jedi council kinda sucks. Obi-Wan is the only one who has shown any kind of sense in this trilogy but I honestly would’ve preferred it if Anakin had turned because of them instead of Padme. I know that’s a weird complaint but it’s true. But let’s really look at Anakin’s journey in this film :
- Has Dreams about Padme dying.
- Gets told to give up attachments by Yoda. Which doesn’t help his situation at all especially when anyone could see that Anakin is basically a broken man the entire conversation.
- Gets put on the Council but isn’t made a master. Basically, gets more work with none of the rewards of the position.
- Is told exactly what he wants to hear from Palpatine.
- Sees the second in command of his order about to execute an “Unarmed” man.
- Becomes Darth Vader
Alright, so that’s a very base version of this story but it’s clear that mistakes were made and that the only people who aren’t in the wrong in this film are Obi-Wan, Padme, Chewbacca, Tarfful, R2-D2, C-3P0 and Bail Organa. (This is our squad and they must be protected at all cost.) Seriously though, There’s a part of me that doesn’t entirely blame Anakin…until we get to the next part.
Him attacking the Jedi Temple is why they should’ve taken their time with Anakin turning. When watching it, it basically happens over the period of an afternoon. I’ve had shifts that have lasted longer than the time it took Anakin to turn to the Dark Side. The only scene where we actually see him do anything with the temple is during the scene with the Younglings. Which is an absolutely ridiculous scene but I mean, he was supposed to wipe out every single one. I just feel like that they didn’t have to try so hard with the young kid.
Order 66 happens and there’s a terribly depressing montage of a bunch of EU Jedi getting killed. None of us really care about them because they forgot to include them in the films for more than a few moments. So basically at this point it’s Bail Organa saving Yoda and Obi-Wan and then them working together to try and stop the code from getting out that would lure Jedi into the trap at the Jedi Temple. Chancellor Palpatine refuses to give up power and becomes the emperor offically. His excuse is pretty weak but hey, everyone’s pretty stupid in this movie anyway. It basically all leads to Obi-Wan facing off against Anakin and Yoda facing the Emperor. So everything has built to these final confrontations and although they look cool, they lack any real weight or emotion.
First off we have Yoda and Palpatine and it’s grandiose and epic cause they start using wild force abilities and the crazy old men fighting style of jumping in CGI First off, I hate both Obi-Wan and Anakin in this scene because neither one makes sense here because Obi-Wan’s line of “Only a sith deals in absolutes” doesn’t work when that in itself is an absolute and Anakin basically turns into a Psychopath and attempts to force choke the only thing he cares about. Then we get to the actual fight and my biggest issue with the fight is that we traded cool set pieces and effects for any actual emotion within the scene. It has some beautiful choreography but lacks any real weight until the very last moments when Anakin is burning and screams “I hate you.” This is the scene that we’d been building up to and this part actually works very well, it’s everything else leading up to it that I hated. I love the contrast of Luke and Leia being born at the same time that Anakin finally becomes Darth Vader. It’s one of the few moments where there is some beautiful poetry and symmetry to the film. Between the twins being born, they put the suit on him and you hear the breathing and I love that he just starts destroying everything with force once he hears that Padme is dead…but yes, The scream becomes too much.
From there, they basically spend the last 10 minutes just making sure that everyone’s in their places for A New Hope. The ending shot is beautiful and it always makes me want to start watching the original trilogy immediately and maybe that’s the real point of the prequels. I know I’ve been incredibly critical of them but for better or worse, they’re what I grew up with and I do love them for that.
5 Times The Jedi Were Massive Fools.
Alright, so at the end of each retrospective I’ll be doing a different top 5 list from each film. I just figured this would be a solid one considering the Jedi basically just take out themselves.
5. Separating Anakin and Obi-Wan.
Why, oh why wouldn’t you send Obi-Wan and Anakin together to take on General Grievous? Like , it just doesn’t make sense. I mean, I know they’re both capable but they’re literally ending the war with this battle. Maybe 2 Jedi wouldn’t be a bad idea.
4. Refusing to make Anakin a Master.
Mace gonna Mace. He’s the worst.
3. Taking on the Emperor and Anakin separately.
Once again, I’ll never understand the Jedi’ obsession with splitting up. They’re the worst horror movie couple ever. Why don’t Obi-Wan and Yoda challenge the Emperor together and then go and find Anakin afterwards.
2. Asking Anakin to Spy on Palpatine.
This one is a no brainer. It makes no sense to ask him to do something like this if you don’t trust him to do what you need. I get that they had no idea that Palpatine was the Sith Lord but they still all knew he was dangerous.
1. Not taking more Jedi.
But what did they do after they found out he was the Sith Lord? Why take 3 random Jedi that are very clearly cannon fodder? For those of you who don’t know who they are : We’ll go in the order of who dies first.
- Agen Kolar. Dude was basically one the council for like a month before dying. He was only recently made a master.
- Saesee Tiin is known as one of the best pilots in the Jedi Order. Meanwhile, here he’s supposed to duel against Darth Sidious so we know how it goes.
- Kit Fisto. Ah, poor Kit. He’s a great Jedi and he deserves way better than this.
- Mace Windu. Mace does very well actually…except for that he’s stupid.
Now, you might be able to defend them by saying “Well, they didn’t know how powerful he was.” Alright, but why not make it public or send the full might of the Jedi Temple against him and then arrest him. It’s just baffling honestly and it doesn’t really surprise me that they lose.
