Revenge of the Sith: 20 Years Later

            For the 20-year anniversary of Stars Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, movie theaters rereleased it back on the big screen, and putting a big franchise movie like this back in theaters is a sure-fire way to draw people into seats and help the theaters make some money, which they need this year. Although I have read on other people’s reviews that they had a great crowd experience, my theater was filled above its normal numbers, but sadly there was not much crowd reaction during the movie, except for the person who clapped the first time R2-D2 was on the screen, but that is about it.

            Episode III really revolves around the Anakin and Obi-wan relationships. Obviously, there is a large galactic war going on as well, but that war seems to hinge upon Anakin, and the choices he makes. I guess sense he is supposed to be the chosen one, that makes sense, but that is a ton of power for one person to have. The turn starts to happen when Chancellor Palpatine gets into Anakin’s head. This starts on the ship when Anakin and Obi-Wan are rescuing the Chancellor from Count Dooku, and the Chancellor convinces Anakin to behead him. This was also after a great chance for a pun, because Anakin said that Dooku was unarmed, and he had literally just cut off parts of his arms, so it was figurative in the sense of weapons, but also literal…

            Their relationship continues to grow, but what tips the balance of Anakin’s faith is that Palpatine says that he can assure Padme will not die. Anakin had been having nightmares/visions of Padme dying in childbirth, and he felt like there was nothing he could do to control it, so he was afraid. It literally came to a decision point, Mace Windu was being shocked by Palpatine, and Anakin had to decide to save the Chancelor or Mace, and he chose the Chancelor, and thus he reached the point of no return, and Obi-Wan chased his down for a final battle.

            This final battle is by far the most memorable part of the movie, and it is incredible. I started to worry about it, because much of the movie had not been as great as I had remembered, so I thought the final battle would also let me down. Many of the action sequences leading up to it had been poorly choreographed and looked mediocre, but the moments concluding the battles still felt like their importance held up, like when Anakin beat Dooku or when Obi-wan beat Grievous.

            There are many great aspects to the final dual on Mustafar between Obi-Wan and Anakin. There is the emotional aspect to it. Obi-Wan had been Anakin’s master, but through the series, we get to see Anakin get stronger, and there are multiple times, when Anakin is the one saving Obi-wan, showing the transition of power in their relationship, and they clearly had a very close bond, until Palpatine had started to sow his seeds of doubt. The score to the fight also adds to it. John Williams knows how to make a score, and this is some of his best work. A great score makes it so much easier to buy into a movie, especially at its climax. The fight itself being over lava and bouncing around from separate platforms, to the same platform, to fighting while climbing up a falling pole, there is so much action going on, it puts the audience on the edge of their seat.

            On top of that, it is being interspersed with the fight between Palpatine and Yoda in the senate. This is basically the patriarch of the two sides battling, they are both old, but they both have such strength in the force that it makes for an incredible match up, but the two battles end in different ways. In the senate battle, Yoda is the one that must flee, but in the Mustafar battle, Obi-Wan gets the high ground and slices Anikin’s legs off when he jumps, and Anakin starts to burn. The whole high ground thing made me chuckle, like that was a lame line, but when Obi-Wan is yelling at him that he was the chosen one, as he burned, that was a powerful and sad moment.  

            After that, Padme gave birth to her and Anakin’s children, and Obi-Wan, Yoda, and Organa decided that the children needed to be hidden, so that the empire would not find them. Their super-secret hiding places, were Tatooine for Luke, Anakin/Darth Vader’s home planet, and Leah went with Organa, the one senator who was very clearly on the side of Jedi. So basically they hid them in two of the first places that people would look, but as we know from Episode Four, they were somehow not found. The senator just happened to have a new kid right when Anakin’s kids were born. Totally inconspicuous.

            The political aspect of this movie was also poignant for right now. It was odd how relevant it felt, despite it coming out 20 years ago, when The Apprentice was still running on TV. The story revolves around Palpatine trying to take complete control of the senate, to basically become a tyrant. The quote that stuck with me came from Padme, when she said, “This is how liberty dies to thunderous applause.” Thus relaying the idea that sometimes the public does not realize when their freedoms are being taken, and by the time they have allowed it to happen and realize the evil that has occurred, it is too late.

            I do remember when it came out, the initial ruling by my parents was that I was not allowed to go and see it. They said that they heard it was very violent, and that I should not see that (the beheading of Dooku, Anakin burning, Grievous burning). Looking back, now I can see why an 8-year-old should not go and see it, but at the time, I was so mad. One of my best friends got to go and see it, and his parents were much stricter than mine, so I used that as a persuasive point. I do not remember what the actual point is that changed their mind, but I do remember getting to go see it and absolutely loving it.

            Although I did not absolutely love it this time, I can appreciate the nostalgia of it, and even though I had seen episodes 4-6 as a kid, as an 8 year old finding out that Palpatine was the evil emperor from those movies felt like a huge revelation, and that Anakin was Darth Vader felt huge, and maybe everyone felt that way, but I feel like it was obvious, and I was just 8, so I did not get what was going on. Now so many people have podcasts and talk about movies and shows like this, it would have been theoried out and everyone would have known going into it, so it is probably better that it came out so long ago. Just like most movies, the CGI did not hold up, and the action did not either for the most part, but the story was good, and I was still very invested in it despite knowing the outcome, and there are not too many movies this year that can say the same, so I enjoyed my experience. 3.5 Stars