Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith was the best of the prequel trilogies hands-down. It's arguably a better movie than
Return of the Jedi. However, this does not completely absolve it from being a tremendous disappointment to many fans and it's not fantastic movie.
Once again, Lucas reveals his ability to create great story foundations. It's the twilight of the Jedi as the shroud of the Dark Side, represented by the mysterious and diabolical Sith, has cast a pall over a war that has been a tremendous waste on resources. In the midst of this, the assumed Chosen One, prophesied to bring balance to the Force, has become a war hero. Unfortunately, because he was never trained properly (and probably shouldn't have become a Jedi in the first place) he harbors a great deal of fear and frustration. Although the most powerful Jedi, he's woefully inexperienced in accomodating the kind of aesthetic lifestyle the Jedi demand and indeed must have in order to be successful in their work: the ability to let go specific loves and likes in favor of greater loves. His marriage to Senator Amidala is reflective of this. The war has distracte the Jedi, notably Obi-Wan Kenobi, from seeing the very same hemorrhage in the Jedi Order affecting its most powerful representative. Simultaneously, even as he effortlessly manipulates the Clone War and benefits from the inability for the Jedi to detect him, Darth Sideous manipulates Anakin, slowly destroying his feeble explanations for his status. Now, the Phantom Menace is prepared to use the Dark Side to strangle the Republic after excising the Jedi. Wow. That's a great story and Lucas came up with it.
Unfortunately, as before, he has no idea how to execute it.
Throughout this film, I was dismayed with the repeated wasted opportunities to see Anakin's slide to the Dark Side as something that was sensible in its tragedy. In the original trilogy, we're constantly reminded how he was "seduced" by the Dark Side. Seduction implies that he lusted after it, that there was a selfish and foolish desire involved. Instead, what we get rather than a seduction is a foolish attempt to deny fate for a loved one in spite of what he knows is not the way to live the Jedi life. Yes, we see his frustration in how he's treated by the Jedi Council, but his frustration doesn't seem nearly enough reason to turn against his former allies and mentors. Yes, he wanted to save Padme, but his almost sudden shift -- despite his wariness of Palpatine -- didn't seem genuine at all (neither did his dedication to Padme, for that matter). Instead of a reaonable, sensible descent into evil, we get a half-hearted, reluctant shift that does not really justify the level of venom he exhibits. He slaughters all of these people reluctantly to save one person whom he turns around and almost kills...?!
Speaking of Padme, how is it that this strong woman deteriorates into a mewling, pathetic, weak woman who is completely impotent when it comes to helping Anakin? She spends half this movie crying only to meet her destiny like a spineless weakling. Oh come on! Lucas completely raped that character of her dignity and self-reliance. She was window dressing and nothing more, a terrible fate for what appeared to be an interesting character in the previous prequel installments.
Aside from the illogic of the rise of Darth Vader, we also have the atrocious dialogue again. Yes, the dialogue in this film was better than AotC and arguably on par with TPM. This is not an achievement by any stretch of the imagination because it only required that Lucas use the spelling and grammar check on his PC to fix up the garbage he wrote during the last go around. The lines are still largely flat the emotional outbursts inconsistent and almost embaressing. We cannot and should not blame the actors. Christensen and Portman are fine actors with terrible dialogue to deliver under a less than inspiring director. They're young and can be excused for not breathing life into their deliveries. However, I fear that if he's not careful, Christensen's career may be irrevocably damaged by these films, a real shame.
That said, I think that there were a number of good things in this film. The action was far closer to what we experienced with the original trilogy. There was a lot of good stuff happening and the exposition (sans the actual dialogue) was genuinely good. Unlike others, I had no problem with General Grievous or Darth Tyranus. They're like the villains from the previous trilogy. Aside from Vader and maybe Grand Moff Tarkin, none of the other villains were all that. The only thing that made Jabba the Hutt bigger than he's cracked up to beis that he didn't bodily appear until RotJ (if one ignores his absolutely idiotic addition to ANH). Bobba Fett had all of 20 words in TESB. Maul, Tyranus, and Grievous were all along the same lines and served as precursors for Vader.
The sabre fights were generally pretty good, although I was underwhelmed with the much hyped fight between Vader and Kenobi. I think the best fights were Tyranus vs. Skywalker and Kenobi and then Sidious vs. Windu (and the others).
In the end, RotS was a disappointment if you went in allowing the hype that surrounded it to affect you. It's also a disappointment in that it revealed, once and for all, that Lucas has not grown as a director or writer. He has grown as a man able to push the technology and marketing of the industry to greater heights. But, he's barely a competent craftsman much less an artist when it comes to quality storytelling and characterization. What could have been a powerful, yet action packed drama, deteriorated into an essentially empty spectacle of light and sound. The human elements, which could have been rich in their tragedy and pathos, were degenerated into empty platitudes and cliches.
I give
Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith a 6. It's not a bad movie. It's just not a great movie. Unlike ANH, it didn't retell a fairy tale in a new element while redefining movie making. Unlike TESB, it didn't have a strong story delivery with quality dialogue. If you look at it objectively, you'll realize that it's on par in many ways with the other films that so many of us claim to love. And I know that after I convince myself to recognize that at the subconscious level, I'll be fine. Until then, I'll be disappointed for a while.
Now, I need to figure out when I'll see it again at a theatre with a digital projector.
