Star Wars Episode 3 : Revenge of the Sith (2 Disc Edition) [2005]

But then it all changes.

After setting up characters and situations for the first two and a half movies, Episode III finally comes to life. The Sith Lord in hiding unleashes his long-simmering plot to take over the Republic, and an integral part of that plan is to turn Anakin away from the Jedi and toward the Dark Side of the Force. Unless you've been living under a rock the last 10 years, you know that Anakin will transform into the dreaded Darth Vader and face an ultimate showdown with his mentor, but that doesn't matter. In fact, a great part of the fun is knowing where things will wind up but finding out how they'll get there. The end of this prequel trilogy also should inspire fans to want to see the original movies again, but this time not out of frustration at the new ones. Rather, because Episode III is a beginning as well as an end, it will trigger fond memories as it ties up threads to the originals in tidy little ways. But best of all, it seems like for the first time we actually care about what happens and who it happens to.

Episode III is easily the best of the new trilogy--OK, so that's not saying much, but it might even jockey for third place among the six Star Wars films. It's also the first one to be rated PG-13 for the intense battles and darker plot. It was probably impossible to live up to the decades' worth of pent-up hype George Lucas faced for the Star Wars prequel trilogy (and he tried to lower it with the first two movies), but Episode III makes us once again glad to be "a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away." --David Horiuchi, Amazon.com

Up there with the generally conceived best one of the lot, The Empire Strikes Back, Revenge of the Sith is a mouth watering prospect for any movie goer.

The birth of Darth Vader. That is what makes this film ESSENTIAL! And Hayden Christensen, slightly meek in Episode II, really proves to be inspired casting here. It's a shame that Natalie Portman is wasted (apart from one scene when she confronts anakin on Mustafar) with a tiny role, but Hayden's scenes opposite Ewan, especially the famed lightsaber fight to end all lightsaber fights, is astonishingly good.

This has got some of the most emotional scenes in the entire saga. Check out anakin's and Obi-wan's last conversation as friends; the emotion filled climax; and the dialogue free scene with anakin and padme looking out of windows, seemingly at each other, but it has so much meaning - this is when he chooses the Dark Side. It's haunting, epic and legendary.

This is what the Star wars story boils down to, what everyone has been waiting for, and it delivers in spades. Do we need to mention the special effects? Amazing as usual, particularly the opening space battle. Ewan is more at ease in his role, and seems genuinely having fun with his last foray into star was. Ian McDiarmid is all cakles and evil grins as the Emperor, finally coming into his own - and getting to grips with a lightsaber!

It ties up all loose ends, but there are a few niggles. General Grievous, although a brilliant character, was not really needed. Count Dooku was dispatched of far too early on. But in the end, you are just shocked at seeing what is up there on screen.

Afterwards, you have to watch the original trilogy. Just to see the man, who did so much wrong in his life, who had so much potential and blew it, finally redeem himself.


Fan-pleasing deleted scenes   October 2, 2005
77 out of 89 found this review helpful

Okay, I won't talk about the film; everyone's already seen it and made up their own mind (I loved it). But I do want to mention some of the deleted scenes which have been announced.

The previous two episodes had some deleted scenes, but although they were interesting, they didn't really generate a great deal of excitement. However, this time it's different; the fans will be thrilled with some of these newly-completed sequences confirmed for the DVD release:-

*** Yoda arriving on Dagobah to begin his exile
*** The birth of the Rebel Alliance, featuring Mon Mothma
*** Anakin and Obi-Wan swimming through a cruiser's fuel tanks and battling new underwater battle droids
*** The execution of Jedi Shaak Ti by General Grievous (which follows on from the 'Clone Wars' cartoon)
*** other scenes yet to be revealed

Plus of course the usual documentaries, trailers, etc.. I can't wait!


The circle is complete...   August 23, 2005
Mr. N. J. W. Turnbull (Canterbury, UK)
44 out of 58 found this review helpful

From the opening onslaught of the now over-familiar theme to the poignancy of the film's emotionally silent finish, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith is a guiltlessly enjoyable sci-fi romp, encompassing the now familiar Lucas themes of Love, Regret, Responsibility and Greed.

From the iconic use of original dialogue ("This is where the fun begins!") in the oddly calm opening battle, to the poetic justice of Obi-Wan's tainted victory over the corrupted Anakin, ROTS is unique, the end of a dynasty, a film saga that is truely timeless, despite all the criticisms of the new prequels ("Too many SFX", "Pathetic dialogue", "irritating characters").

Fortunately, ROTS manages to address many of these problems (except the FX, still billions of those). Yes, the dialogue is still occasionally cringe-worthy, but who cares when it looks this good? The film that Star Wars fans have always wanted to see, with all the things we wanted to see. Clone Wars. Check. How the Jedi got wiped out (and SO cunningly!). Check. How Palpatine ended up like a prune. Check. Obi-Wan V Anakin/'Vader'. Check. Yoda V Emperor Palpatine. Check. Kids being born. Check. What happened to Mum. Check. How Anakin became the asthmatic poster boy of the Empire. Check, check and check mate.

ROTS is everything you could possibly want, minor quibbles aside: 'What? He had 28 YEARS to write the opening crawl, and he came up with "War!"? Oh, Bra-VO!', 'Why are the Clone Troopers all random colours like Red, Yellow and Green when they all look the same in the future?', 'That's our lot for Kashyyyk? After waiting for that for 28 years too? Utapau is better!', 'What? He turned to the Dark Side just like THAT? Jeez...', and the best one, 'DARTH VADER DOESN'T TALK LIKE THAT!!!'

But it dies away. While the opening space battle isn't quite as billed, it is intriguingly shot, showing the calm serenity that the Jedi can exude in the most turbulent atmosphere, further exemplifying the cruel sadness of their unbeknown fate. Also, Lucas moves the action along at a cracking pace, with some terrificly boys-own set-pieces, as well as freneticly gruesome lightsaber duels, the standout obviously being the duel between the two Jedi on the delectably designed Mustafar, with a quite ghastly coup de gras, fully deserving of the 12A certificate bestowed upon the film (the common Star Wars mythos still doesn't quite prepare you for Anakin's horrifying destruction).

To further complement it, Ian McDiarmid is outstanding, compensating somewhat for the slightly wooden Ewan McGregor (who almosts seems disbelieving in some of his deliveries) and the woeful Natalie Portman, whose transformation from strong individual to pathetic floozy is startling over three films. The scenes between McDiarmid and Hayden Christensen (a real star turn this time), especially in the the Opera sequence, are among the best in all six (!) Star Wars films, although, as noted, Anakin's final capitulation to his dark inklings is woefully underplayed, but that should be contributed to Lucas, not his cast.

All without mentioning John Williams' masterful score, fully embellished in the tragic segment following the murders of the Jedi Order across a far-flung array of war-torn planets. To call it a minor triumph is like saying how relieved fans were to see that Jar Jar Binks only managed a single line, "Excuse me", which is, incidentally, unnoticeable.

Tying up loose ends, being loud, and proud with it, ROTS is popcorn fun all the way, just as Star Wars always has been, even in the much-maligned prequels (I saw The Phantom Menace no less than 3 times at the cinema and enjoyed it every time. Hell, I even liked Jar Jar.)

And I challenge you not to get AT LEAST a lump in your throat when Yoda chokes on his words: "Failed, I have".

Only when I stop watching. Only then.


Well, thank God that's over...   August 6, 2005
S. A. Douglas
33 out of 56 found this review helpful

Brief Summary: Better than the first two in the series, although the whole film is really just a sad join-the-dots exercise, designed to get every character in the right place for 'Star Wars: A New Hope' (the film formerly known as 'Star Wars')

There are some great bits in RotS, but they tend to be moments when cool effects are of paramount importance and dialogue is kept to a minimum. So, the first ten minutes or so, in which our heroes rescue Palpatine from the Bionicle-inspired General Grievous, are excellent. Space ships fight and explode, little robots cut the head off an R4 unit in the middle of a space battle, Anakin saves Obi-Wan from the same fate, lightsabers twirl, robots get minced, and so on. If I were still nine, I'd be talking about the cool space battle at playtime today.

Other good bits include the almost elegiac murder of the Jedis (no talking at all); Anakin turning his lightsaber on in a room full of children expecting him to protect them (minimal dialogue); the pre-teen Jedi killing half a dozen stormtroopers before being killed himself whilst saving Senator Organa (not even a 'fly, you fool' in terms of dialogue); and the lava world itself (no dialogue, obviously).

Unfortunately, these are about the only moments when no-one is attempting to give gravitas to Lucas' terrible, terrible words. As a result, the actors are left foundering every time they opens their mouths. Ewan McGregor, Ian McDiarmid and Samuel L Jackson can at least act and thus are left simply looking embarrassed, but Haydn Christianson and Natalie Portman are awful. In their (partial) defence every single bit of dialogue involving Portman's Amidala is trite beyond description, but then again so is every other spoken word in the whole movie, so it's not a complete 'get-out-of-jail-free' card.

At a more basic level, Lucas' plotting is abysmal. He spends 90 minutes arsing about with Anakin in full-on spotty teenager mode, sulking because he's not given sufficient credit for how grown up he is now, and with Amidala spouting declarations of love in some form of archaic English known only to the romantically insane, before cramming Anakin's switch to the Dark Side into approximately 30 seconds of standing about beside a handily broken window. The disappearance into exile of Obi-Wan and Yoda; the adoption of Luke by his Uncle Owen and of Leia by Senator (shouldn't that be King) Organa; and the election of Palpatine as Emperor of the Universe are similarly rushed through as quickly as possible, presumably in the hope that no-one will spot how unlikely it all is.

Finally, extra crassness points must go to Yoda for telling Obi-Wan that he can now talk to the long-dead Qui-Gon, just in case anyone watching Episode 4 is a bit confused as to why Kenobi can talk to Luke after Vader kills him.

Oh, and before I forget - 'younglings'? Why has the centuries old word for 'child' changed when nothing else in the language seems to? Could it be that George Lucas truly is just full of sith?


Tedious in the extreme   September 6, 2005
D. M. Wright (Manchester, England)
32 out of 67 found this review helpful

I love Star Wars, I really do and I desperately wanted to like this movie but it's just impossible. Yes it's better than the other prequels but that's not saying an awful lot.There are some fun moments, the initial battle with Count Dooku, dramatic ones like the Order 66 to exterminate the Jedi and horrific ones like the birth of Vader as we know him parallel to Padme giving birth to Luke and Leia.

Still, like with the other prequels, boredom is a massive presence. We know all the characters engaged in major battles survive and unlike James Cameron and other directors, there's no suspense, drama or real emotion to the 'big' duels, Anakin v. Obi-Wan being spectacularly set and executed but cheesy (floating robo-platforms) and stilted. The dialogue is, as usual, appaling (Padme? Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!)and Natalie Portman can be seen to visibly squirm as she delivered the line 'Anakin, you're breaking my heart.'

Try as he might, Lucas doesn't have an awful lot to say here; I preffered these amazing fights and backstory in my head with a level of majesty this pseudo-Greek tradgedy simply cannot deliver.

If you want to see anything that manages to give you that old-fashioned Star Wars vibe, try Joss Whedon's Serenity.