The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Star Wars Episode III "Revenge of the Sith" After "Attack of the Clones" Lucas had taken the "Star Wars" franchise to such an unsatisfying, dull and unappealing place, it appeared there wasn't any way to salvage the saga. He redeems himself with "Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith". Lucas remembers to edge the darkness and hostilities with wit and humour, and he ties up a lot of loose ends without taking too many storytelling liberties. Thank the movie gods this one is better than the two previous "Star Wars" films. It would have been sad and pathetic to have the franchise end not with a bang but with a whimper. The first two prequels earned a lot of ill will with hard core fans and even dampened the enthusiasm casual fans had for episodes 4, 5 and 6. Lucas went off on bizarre tangents with the first two prequels, and neither film will go down in history as Lucas' best efforts. The pod race, Jar Jar Binks, and the whole silly sullenness of the young Anakin... "Revenge of the Sith" had a lot to atone for. With "Revenge of the Sith", we know the story. We're all ready for the big events destined to occur in this edition, and Lucas understands that and placates his audience by putting our heroes immediately into action. Lucas plops us directly into battle with Anakin showing off his flying skills and Obi-Wan alternating between pride and terror over his student's abilities. Their relationship is more developed and defined this time around, with the two on a mission to free kidnapped Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, necessitating a showdown with Count Dooku and General Grievous, a bizarre-looking mechanical creature who coughs and wheezes. Palpatine gets Anakin to take his first step toward the dark side. Grievous escapes, and all is not well with the Force. "Revenge of the Sith" has grand scale battles but they're more in the background, with Anakin's personal struggle taking the forefront. This is a much more textured story than the two other prequels and though most of the story is told at a frenetic pace, the narrative gets where it needs to go in a satisfying, if hurried, manner. An epic struggle of good versus evil, darkness prevails in "Revenge of the Sith". Though in my opinion this movie, this prequel is far too advanced to follow the sequels! 5 stars
