Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
Directed by:
George LucasScreenplay:
George LucasCinematography:
David TattersallComposer:
John WilliamsCast:
Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Hayden Christensen, Ian McDiarmid, Samuel L. Jackson, Jimmy Smits, Frank Oz, Anthony Daniels, Christopher Lee (more)VOD (4)
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Discover the true power of the dark side. Clone Wars rage across the galaxy. The sinister Sith Lord seizes control of the Republic and corrupts Anakin Skywalker to be his dark apprentice, Darth Vader. Obi-Wan Kenobi must confront his fallen friend in an epic lightsaber duel. (Disney / Buena Vista)
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Reviews (13)
The dark side of the Force suits it. Even so, I don’t think even retrospectively that it makes any more sense than the previous ones; quite the opposite, in the light (excuse me, “the darkness") of this episode I find that the absolute superfluousness of the saga becomes even more obvious. The imbalance in pace is a huge mistake. The first fifteen minutes involves a monumental battle, then we get a boring hour with starched amateur dramatic dialogs and then during the last hour it turns into a serious drama with convincing (as far as the Star Wars universe is concerned) characters. Too bad that the transformation of Anakin into Vader seems unbelievable and rushed. The idea that this mentally unstable character was in fact the embodiment of living charisma that we know from the original trilogy is ridiculous. The weaker moments are saved by the stylish over-acting of Ian McDiarmid. The greatest faux pas is that, although this was supposed to be emotionally tense due to the tragic context, sadly the opposite is true. While on screen we see something technically impressive, it leaves you absolutely cold.
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One film legend says that there was a fundamental difference in the approach to the world of cinema among the three most influential filmmakers of the 70s, namely Spielberg, Coppola, and Lucas. While Spielberg and Coppola literally lived for movies, exhaustively watched the performances of acclaimed film classics in film clubs, passionately discussed cinema with similarly affected individuals late into the night, and tried to push the world of film forward, Lucas was an enthusiastic reader of outdated comics, a viewer of 1950s TV space operas, and film theory was inherently foreign to him. However, he was able to capture the essence of popular culture and the transformation of the film audience from the 40s to the 70s, when the average age of cinema-goers continued to decrease. At the same time, due to sociological processes and the enrichment of society, there was a change in the perception of film. The infantilization fully manifested itself and the concept of a family film with a lower standard prevailed to be understood by a wider range of potential viewers. This is how Star Wars came into being, where a fairytale was wrapped in cosmic technology and the nonsense of the then-popular New Age movement. Lucas filmed it as visually and naively as possible, and precisely because of that, it had such a penetrating success. What succeeds attracts attention and the desire to imitate, and at a certain stage, when it becomes a cult, it is practically unquestionable and by itself carries the seal of quality regardless of its content. I saw the first three films of the famous series at an age when I found the motifs and execution, especially the "intellectual superstructure," laughable. Otherwise, the course of events is such that you see it for the first time at the age of 8-9, and then with an iron regularity, so you grow up with it and it has emotional and nostalgic value for you. Even if I grew up with it, I still would have most likely become a fan of the Star Trek series, which, despite its clichés, naivety, and the ideological basis that stems from multiculturalism, represents an honest work from the sci-fi genre. Star Wars only shares the space settings with the sci-fi genre. It is a fairytale fantasy that is neither clever nor innovative nor brilliantly directed. The later three episodes of the series are loaded with bombastic special effects, but they are more childish than anything, and they also lack the confident ironic detachment that emanates from every smirk of Han Solo. His portrayal by Harrison Ford somewhat resembles the much more pronounced ironic detachment of the Indiana Jones character. Personally, the entire series has nothing to offer me, and although there are understandably significant nuances between each film, what bothers me, such as the frenzied waving of lightsabers, the babbling about the Force, and the cute plush creatures as extraterrestrials, are typical of all the episodes. Therefore, this commentary applies to all parts of the Star Wars series. Overall impression: 20% for the set design.
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Lucas didn’t deliver what I was looking forward to the most. There was no major internal struggle in Anakin's mind, his transition to the dark side was too rushed, despite Lucas having the whole movie to work on it. It called for more Anakin and his mental struggle and less flashy Grievous (though the four lightsabers were cool). Some moments were weaker or outright lame (Obi-Wan chasing chasing Grievous on a lizard, the deformed face of Palpatine's with a make-up that failed fatally when compared to the Emperor's expression in the old series), some were exquisite (the whole Obi-Wan vs. Anakin duel, Obi-Wan's beautifully played emotional speech to the burning Anakin, the extermination of the Jedi), and the overall emotional impact was quite strong. But I still stand by the fact that Lucas is not a very good director and should have given the helm to someone more skilled. This episode is not without flaws, so with its cautious five stars, The Empire Strikes Back remains on top. But I still love this legend as a whole.
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Dramaturgically, it’s much more mature and immersive than the two previous episodes. It’s incredibly spectacular and dynamic in its individual attractions, which exquisitely heightens the atmosphere and, for the first time in the new trilogy, revels in fatality and visual darkness. While Lucas is absolutely incapable of any psychological level, and SW in his hands remains a cold showcase of intergalactic filmmaking possibilities and worlds, this instalment at least has the narrative balls and verve to make me gladly forgive him for the mechanical dialogue or the dull character shift by the awful Christensen. It's got major conflict, pivotal moments of the entire saga, and an ultra-cool Yoda and Obi-Wan whose separate story-arcs, capped by two parallel and iconic duels, I would sketch in the starry sky at night and always watch before falling asleep. The transition to A New Hope is finally completed, George Lucas, you have my respect...
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The third episode, which is also the sixth one to be shot, makes its epic qualities really more than obvious. I feel that George Lucas told everyone that the first trilogy couldn’t be done in the 1970s, but he also did it on purpose so that the epicness of it could be built on the existing fame. Which actually, in the end, happened. I remember, that when I, back then, started with the newer trilogy, I was very uncertain after the second episode what would come in the third one. And the third one also started pretty slow. But the second half of the movie is, thankfully, a never-ending wipe-out that not only brings you the transformation of Anakin into Darth Vader, but there is also a solid amount of scenes some fans have been waiting for for 2 decades and which aren’t going to be forgotten easily. And that’s despite the fact that everybody even then knew very well what was going to happen and they still couldn’t help but feel the suspense that the third episode hides. For me a complete climax during which you need to wait out the first half-hour of political babbling so that you can enjoy the acting reincarnation of Hayden Christensen into one of the most powerful Sith Lord of that time.
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