Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005)
★★★★½ — Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005)
By the time Star Wars: Episode III, Revenge of the Sith arrived in cinemas in May 2005, the pressure on George Lucas was considerable. The two preceding prequel instalments, Star Wars: Episode I, The Phantom Menace and Star Wars: Episode II, Attack of the Clones, had received mixed receptions at best, and a sizeable portion of the fanbase had grown weary of the direction the saga was taking. This third and final chapter in the prequel trilogy had one enormous task ahead of it: to bridge the gap between the Republic-era stories and the world of the original 1977 film, accounting for how a heroic young Jedi could become the black-helmeted villain generations of children had grown up fearing. That is, when you think about it, a genuinely difficult dramatic challenge, and one with very little room for narrative manoeuvre given how much was already established.
Produced by Lucasfilm Ltd. and again written and directed by Lucas, Revenge of the Sith runs to 140 minutes and carries the weight of six films' worth of mythology on its shoulders. Lucas had, of course, built a career on ambitious world-building, from his early work (his debut feature predates American Graffiti by several years) to the construction of an entire cinematic universe across the preceding decades. Here, the production design and visual effects work are polished but at times overwhelming, the sheer density of computer-generated imagery occasionally working against the emotional beats the story depends on. John Williams returned to score the film, lending it the same orchestral grandeur that had defined the saga from the beginning, and that contribution is far from negligible when the film reaches for genuine tragedy.
The cast is a familiar one at this point. Ewan McGregor, returning as Obi-Wan Kenobi, had grown visibly more comfortable in the role across the trilogy and brings a quiet, melancholic authority to proceedings here. Natalie Portman's Padmé Amidala is given a storyline that asks a great deal of her, even if the script does not always reward the effort. Ian McDiarmid, as Chancellor Palpatine, is the standout performer by some margin, chewing through his scenes with the kind of controlled theatricality the role demands. And then there is Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker, arguably the most scrutinised performance in the entire saga (you can find my thoughts on him in a rather different context over at Jumper), carrying the burden of a character whose tragedy the whole trilogy has been building toward. Whether he manages it is very much the question at the heart of any honest assessment of the film.
The Fall of Anakin Skywalker Say what you will about the prequels, but Revenge of the Sith delivers one of the most tragic and compelling character arcs in all of Star Wars. Anakin’s descent into Darth Vader is heart-wrenching to watch. His fear, his anger, his misguided loyalty, it all comes crashing down in brutal fashion. The final act is peak Star Wars. The duel on Mustafar, the haunting Order 66 sequence, the sheer operatic scale of Palpatine’s rise… it’s phenomenal. And yet, all of that tension and heartbreak leads us to that moment, the infamous "NOOOOOO." as the Darth Vader we all feared as children is born. This is Star Wars at its most tragic, where the hope of the original trilogy is built upon the ashes of everything that came before. And for that alone, it stands as one of the strongest entries in the saga.
I think that tension between the genuinely powerful and the occasionally clumsy is what makes this film so interesting to talk about, even now, twenty years on. It is not a tidy film by any means, and the seams show in places, but the ambition of what it sets out to do and the moments where it actually pulls it off make it hard to simply dismiss. The prequels as a whole remain a divisive conversation, but this one at least earns its place at the table. A flawed film, yes, but one with real weight to it when it counts.
Rating: ★★★★½ | Year: 2005 | Watched: 2005-04-30
Trailer
▶ Watch the official trailer for Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005) on YouTube
Where to watch
Watch in the UK
Stream: Disney Plus
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Buy: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Physical: Amazon UK · Zavvi
Watch in the US
Stream: Disney Plus
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Buy: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Physical: Amazon US
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Related on Movies With Macca
More from George Lucas: American Graffiti (1973) · Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999) · Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002) · Star Wars (1977)
More with Hayden Christensen: Jumper (2008) · Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002)
More from the 2000s: Kirikou and the Wild Beasts (2005) · Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) · Daredevil (2003) · Apocalypto (2006)
More adventure: Alice in Wonderland (1951) · The Eagle (1925) · Louisiana Story (1948) · The General (1926)
More action: A Better Tomorrow (1986) · The General (1926) · Hand of Death (1976) · Daredevil (2003)
