Customer Reviews

Greek Tragedy Meets Morality Tale - George Lucas's Masterpiece - By: P. Partridge, 11 Oct 2008
*Contains Spoilers*

In my review for Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace I wrote how the light & bright Phantom reflected the timein which it was released. 1999 was the dawn of the new Millennium & hope & freshness abounded during what was something of a short golden age for Western Society. If The Phantom Menace was a movie for its time, then 2005's dark & desperate Revenge of the Sith was also a movie of its time & for today. As the world stands on the edge of global despression & we continue with uncertain wars & the face the prospect of ever more sophisticated & outrageous terrorism many of us are feeling a sense of despair - Revenge of the Sith reflects that sense of despair & unease really quite profoundly. This film transends the Star Wars myth & becomes tome for today.

The story of "Revenge" is basically Anakin Skywalker turning to the dark side & embracing his destiny - Darth Vader. However, this film actually belongs to The Emperor, aka Darth Sidious, aka Palpatine. Its Ian Mcdiarmids outstanding performance of Palpatine that is the glue that holds the film together. As Paplatines plot finally falls into place & we understand at last just who The Phantom Menace is, Mcdiarmid totally eats up the screen. From the early scenes where Palpatine subtlely sucks the unsuspecting Anakin into his dastardly plot (look out for a particularly stunning scene between Anakin & Palpatine earlyin the movie, where Palpatine relays the legend of the tragedy of "Darth Plagueis The Wise" to Anakin. This is possibly the best acted scenein ANY of the six movie Saga) through to the hackling, insane & unbelievably evil Emperor literally trashing democracy itself as he battles Yodain The Senate, this is Mcdiarmids movie & does he rise to the occasion! This is surely the best Star Wars performance since Guinessin Star Wars & Fordin Empire Strikes Back.
However, ALL the acting performances are betterin this film. Natalie Portman, Hayden Christenson & Sam Jackson deliver much more solid work than they didin Attack of the Clones. Ewan Mcgregor, if not quite as good asin Clones, is still excellent. The actors clearly relish have more dramatic material to work with, & aside from the occasional poor line here & dodgy acting there, everyones work rises to a better standardin this film.

The film starts with an epic space battle as The Clone Wars reaches its final cresendo. Palpatine has set up his kidnapping & Anakin (now a Jedi Knight) & Obi-Wan Kenobi stage a desperate bid to rescue him from the clutches of Darth Tyrannus (Christopher Lee) & new villain General Grevious. The first twenty minutes is non stop, classic Star Wars action. Look out for the shocking moment when Tyrannus is executed at the hands of Anakin. - This is the first indication of just how dark Revenge of the Sith is.

The film for me really picks up after the opening action when Anakin returns to Coruscant & is reunited with his wife Padme. He finds out he is to be a father & its at this point he begins to have visions of Padmes death - Which takes us back to his mothers deathin Attack of the Clones. This sets Anakin on a journey to stop Padme from dying as his mother did. A journey that sees him selling his soul to the devil & desending litterally into hell. For the knowlage to save Padme Anakin must betray his Jedi comrades & become Sith Lord Darth Vader.

The middle of the film, where Anakin makes his choice to turn to the dark side, is where Revenge of the Sith lifts from just being a good Star Wars film to being a great filmin its own right. A slient moment of rumination between Anakin & Padme offers one of the most haunting momentsin Star Wars history. As Anakin & Padme connect silently across the bustling cityscape on Coruscant, a silent voice wailsin pain. The sun sets on the galaxy & on our doomed lovers & Anakin makes his decision.

The rest of the film sees the destruction of the Jedi & Anakins appalling betrayal. A pivitol scene between Anakin, Palpatine (now transformed into the warped Emperor we knew from Return of the Jedi) & Mace Windu is really the key scene to understanding just how deep Anakins betrayal was & that he was given the chance to do the right thing, but made the wrong choice - Leading to the quite shocking death of Mace.

The final part of the movie is where all the loose ends are tied up. From Palpatine becoming Emperor of the Galactic Empire through to the end of the Clone Wars, through to the mythic & long awaited lightsaber fight between Anakin & Obi-Wan against the volcanic, hellish backdrop of Mustafar, through to the birth of Padmes children, Luke & Leia & the death/birth of Padme/Anakin/Darth Vader, Revenge of the Sith deliversin spades.
The shocking irony of Anakin himself making his nightmares come true & lashing out at the woman he turned to the dark side to save takes "Revenge" to the level of greek tragedy. Christenson & Portman are stunningin this scene. The way their relationship just disintergrates before our eyes is so well done & seeing Anakins rage & anger is really quite disturbing.
The tragedy continues with Anakins downfall at the hands of his former friend & mentor Obi-Wan. The force with which Ewan Mcgregor delivers his parting words to Anakin are just fantastic & you'll find the immolation of Anakin, even if you know its coming, both shocking & moving. Even though at this point Anakin is throughly evil, you'll still feel, through the music & Mcgregors performance, a great sense of compassion for Anakin plight.

So what about the technical aspects of this film? Firstly Lucas's direction is superb. If he was rusty for Phantom & going somewhat through the motions with Clones, then with Sith he definatly rises to the occasion. This is the film he made the Prequelsin order to make. This is the tale he's been waiting 30 years to tell. The how & why Star Wars happened.
Like Lucas & all the actors, John Williams delivers his best Prequel work on this film. Many of his pices of music are by turns operatic & tragic. The music that accompanys Anakin & Padmes silent ruminations, the fall of the Jedi, the disturbing "Godfatheresque" moment of Palpatines triumph as Anakin wipes out the remaining Sepratist leaders & the music that accompanys the battle of Anakin/Obi-Wan & Sidious/Yoda are all notable musical highlights. Listen out at the end of the film & during the credits for pieces of music from "Star Wars" itself - Hinting at the hope to come & taking the movie full circle.

The special effects, sound effects & costumes are outstanding as ever. Its easy to take ILM's fabulous special effects for granted, but the fact is they produce jaw dropping scene after jaw scene. How/why they never won an Oscare for the Prequels is totally beyond me!
The editing from Roger Barton & Ben Burtt is much improved on Burtts solo edit for Attack of the Clones.

Also greatly improved is the digital camera. Where Attack of the Clones had a some how false & shiny look to it, Revenge of the Sith looks much more gritty & realistic. If you didn't know, you would definatly think this movie has been shot using regular "film" cameras, rather than groundbreaking digital cameras.

Revenge of the Sith is a fantastic contrast to The Phantom Menace. If the colour of Phantom is all greens & blues, this film is all blacks & reds. Where Phantom was light, this film is dark. Where Phantom was goofy, this film is mature. There is, very much a sense of despair & desperation about this film & this contrast actually makes The Phantom Menace more interesting,in my opinion. It doesn't negate all the many problems Menace has, but it at least justifys through contrast, the tone that Lucas chose for Epsiode I. Aside from brief chinks of hope with the arrival & splitting up of the twins right at the end of the film, Revenge of the Sith is unremittingly dark. Some scenes, such as the creation of Darth Vader are actually quite disturbing - Hence the 12 certificate.

As far as extras go, Revenge of the Sith is unfortunatly somewhat lacking compared to Menace & Clones. The main documentery "Within A Minute" is very poor compared to Menaces "The Beginning." Aside from that the extras contain the usual film maker commentery, deleated scenes, trailers, web-docs (which are excellent) & music video. But with this DVD its the film that speaks for itself not the extras. So even though the extras are *** affairs, the movie itself is a brilliant *****

Along with The Empire Strikes Back, Revenge of the Sith is my personal favourite Star Wars movie. The visual poetry of the final scenes (first dealing with the mother, then the father, then the daughter & finally the son) is just beautiful. As we arrive at the final scene where baby Luke is delivered by Obi-Wan to Uncle Owen & Aunt Beru & the twin suns set over Tatooine, we come full circle & you'll have to have a heart of stone not to be moved by the sheer beauty, opera & poetry of it all.

It may not have been a smooth ride, but this film made the Prequels a worthwhile project.

Thank you George Lucas for the wonderful ride that is the Star Wars Saga.

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Arghhh Lucas you bloody idiot - By: C. A. Hack, 19 Jun 2008
Stop Anakin I have the higher ground yes but earlier we were jumping around like computer animated demented fleas!!!!!!!

Not my only complaint he killed a load of kids because he loved someone? hmm yes that didn't work

Yoda being a pansy who couldn't kill crap dracula Count Dooku then he got his arse kicked & ran away.

Forgive me but no wonder he started with episode four if the quality of writing on his previous efforts was this bad.

Suffice to say very disapointed also to say I bought the bloody thing still shame on me!!

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the best star wars movie since empire strikes back - By: martin thomas, 06 Jun 2008
better than the boring phamtom menace & the simply awful attack of the clones director george lucas has at last delivered a star wars movie the fans can shout about.

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Lives up to expectations... unfortunately - By: M. Matthews, 05 Jun 2008
Revenge of the Sith is undoubtedly the best of the 'prequel' movies, but that's like saying that cabbage tastes nicer than sprouts. There is still a mammoth gulf between this film & the original Star Wars movies.
There is, however, much here to enjoy. The tone is much darker than any of the other five Star Wars movie, & includes numerous dismemberings by lightsabre. Indeed it's a surprise that it wasn't slapped with a 15-certificiate. The visual effects are also an improvement over the previous two instalments, with the CG spaceships & characters actually looking almost real (although that creature that Obi Wan rides looks utterly ridiculous). There are some good lightsabre duels & action sequences, & it's great to see the Wookiees again, although their involvement is disappointingly brief. The acting is also a notch better, with Ewan McGregor & Ian McDiarmid bothin good form. Natalie Portman is also more convincing this time around, although Samuel Jackson is spectacularly wooden. The movie also sounds great, thanks to another brilliant John Williams score & Ben Burtt's sound department.

But then there are the flaws. For one thing the plot is far too busy. The original Star Wars movies were beautifully simple, but Revenge of the Sith, as with its predecessors, is a mess. The characters spend the movie darting about from one planet to another, with the result that the film feels awkward & disjointed. If the original films might be described as taking a trip on a recently resurfaced motorway, Revenge of the Sith feels like driving on a concrete roadin a council estate that hasn't been repairedin years.

The movie also suffers from too many silly moments. I've already mentioned the ridiculous creature that Obi Wan rides, but there are plenty of other examples. Personally the sight of Yoda engagedin a lightsabre duel cracks me up every time, & for me the epic scrap between Obi Wan & Anakin is ruined by the sequence with them battling it out while perched precariously on pieces of metal junk floating on the lava river (actually I thought the backdrop to the duel was totally unconvincing anyway).

While the dialogue is better thanin the previous two movies, there are still plenty of clunky moments, notably whenever Anakin & Padme get touchy-feely. However what I also found annoying was the inclusion of catchphrases from previous movies (e.g. "Here's where the fun begins"). This was totally unnecessary & I can't help wondering whether this was a desperate attempt by Lucas to make the audience connect with the original trilogy.

There are also countless plot holes. Why doesn't Obi Wan remember the droids? Why erase C-3PO's memory but not R2's? And why leave Luke with Owen & Beru - wouldn't that be the first place Vader would look for him?

However, the biggest problem with Revenge of the Sith is Hayden Christensen. He is undoubtedly better here thanin Episode II, but most of the time he still comes across as a sulky teenager, & his fall from grace fails to convince. It is impossible to believe that this bland youth becomes one of the most memorable & menacing screen villainsin screen history. And considering that is what this trilogy is all about, that's a fairly major flaw!

The final few scenes of Episode III, though, are great, with Vader & the Emperor on the bridge of the star destroyer looking out at the Death Star, followed by the scenes on Alderaan & Tatooine with Leia & Luke delivered into the care of the Organa & Lars families. And the very last moment, with Owen & Beru watching the twin suns of Tatooine setting behind the horizon, really make the hairs stand up on the back of your neck. If only the rest of the prequel trilogy had been like this...

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AN EMPIRE RISES!! - By: Adam Jackson, 03 May 2008
Id have to say that this is my favourite of the saga.
Darker & more intense than the other episodes, this is light years beyond the simplistic narrative of the 1977 original.
Main highlight for me is the career defining performance of Ian McDiarmid as the evil Darth Sidious/Emperor Palpatine. Absoluteley OWNS this film!!
Hayden Christiansen is a very average actor but there was major improvement from Attack Of The Clones & the scenes with him & McDiarmid sparkle.
The plot is brilliant & the FX are superb. John Williams's score may just be the finest of all 6 movies!
My favourite scenes are Order 66, wherein true Night Of The Long Knives style, Palpatine eliminates the Jedi & consolidates his Empire & the final scenes where Palpatine, Vader & Tarkin oversee the construction of The Death Star from the bridge of an Imperial Star Destroyer. Class!
I absoluteley love the music to this scene too!
And lets not forget the graphic scenes of Vader's immolation & the extreme surgery as Palpatine's medical droids rebuild this tragic character into The Dark Lord...
There's some stunning lightsaber duels that are second only to The Phantom Menacein intensity. And the CGI work is way better than episodes 1 & 2.
2 things id recommend - read the novelisation, it offers some fascinating insights into the relationships of the Sith protagonists, Palpatine/Sidious, Dooku/Tyrannus & Skywalker/Vader that were not as detailedin the movie.
Also, any Metal/Rock fans might enjoy a video that i found on YouTube which is Metallica's Master Of Puppets set to a montage of scenes from Star Wars (mostly episode 3) featuring Palpatine/Sidious. It goes really, really well, the lyrics & all. The True Master Of Puppets!!