Star Wars: Episode 3 Revenge of the Sith

Alright. Here it is. The first big budget, summer blockbuster, stand in line the night before it opens movie review. The movie review of probably the most anticipated movie in recent memory. Revenge of the Sith is the movie that ties three of the greatest movies, (IV, V, and VI), to some of the most disappointing movies of recent memory (I and II). Revenge of the Sith had a tall order for most Sat Wars fans. Tie these movies together in a way that does not diminish the original three movies, while somehow making the two prequals a better compliment for the entire series.

For those of you out there looking for a brilliant movie, with acting and dialogue that you hoped would make it into the movie, you are probably gonna be sorely disappointed. The movie had everything that for the most part all five movies lacked. Dialogue. The dialogue in this movie is at best out of place and a little off putting, and at worst, cringe inducing, but none of the star wars movies are known for it’s Shakespearean dialogue. Acting. Mark Hamill couldn’t act his way out of a paper bag and arguably the best acting in the entire series was done totally in voiceover. If anything, this movie took a complete 180 turn from the other five and rather than the wooden high school play acting in most of the movies, the acting in this film took an almost soap opera turn. So what’s left? The story. The story for me carried the first three movies and left the two prequals flat. The entire movie rested on the story. How would Darth Vader finally turn, how would the Jedi be wiped out, how..? how..? My answer. To paraphrase another man of his time: “It tied the room together nicely”.

The movie itself was rushed and it seems like a lot of the film was either left in the script or on the cutting room floor. It actually felt like it needed to be two movies instead of one, to give the movie time to unravel itself at a decent pace. The pacing of the film completely glossed over what could have been some really great moments that probably needed to be drawn out. That aside, (and it is a very big aside), I loved the reason for his descent into madness, his reasoning for what he did. I have a soft spot for evil men that are willing to destroy their entire world for the love that they are trying to save. George Lucas didn’t pansy out on the evil acts that Darth Vader would commit to accomplish his goals in this film either. All in all, despite the major flaws in the way the movie was actually made… I thoroughly enjoyed it. I went to see the final Star Wars movie to see the hows and the whys, and I got what I wanted out of it. I don’t have as negative opinion of the first two movies as I did before seeing this one.

If you notice, throughout the review I constantly compared different aspects of the other five films when reviewing this one. And I think you kind of have to. This movie tied two sets movies together, for better or worse, and as smaller parts of one continuous story, they should be compared side by side. That said, one final warning to those that haven’t seen Episode III. You are not getting anything like the original three movies. I am 29 years old I still get goose bumps watching different parts of the original movies. That sense of wonderment and awe that I’ll never get from another movie in my life. And, ultimately that is the biggest difference between the original three and the three prequals. The newest installments don’t have any magic.

For those still reading:  My order by favorite to least.

The Empire Strikes Back-Do I really have to explain that one
A New Hope-Although mostly exposition. It went a long way toward the wonderment and awe factor.
The Return of the Jedi- Probably a better movie than A New Hope, it loses points in my mind for the obvious marketing ploy of the midget Muppets.
Revenge of the Sith- It tied the room together nicely
Attack of the Clones-A pretty good lead in to the main event that was Revenge of the sith
The Phantom Menace-made marginally better by Episode Three, has no real story except the origin of Anakin and after seeing the rest of the movies, is it really that important to make an entire movie about it?

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