Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith

RATING: B- 

The Star Wars prequel trilogy is infamous among some fans for being in part what ruined Star Wars. Most people tend to look to the Phantom Menace as the worst of the bunch, with Jar Jar Binks being the main source of the problem. Attack of the Clones, though containing a bit more action, wasn't much better, due in part to a very poor script and horrible acting from Hayden Christensen. With all of that in mind, I wasn't exactly expecting much from Revenge of the Sith. 

Revenge of the Sith tells the actual story of how Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader; and the answer is an amalgamation of fear, anger, and some twisted form of obsessive love. Haunted by visions of Padme's death, he obsessively seeks to prevent it, whatever the cost. And when Chancellor Palpatine approaches him with possible answers... well, it's not hard to guess what happens from there. Ultimately, Anakin's transformation into Vader becomes more of a tragedy than anything. 

Revenge of the Sith, on the whole, turned out to be quite a bit better than I expected. In this film, we are immediately thrust into the action, and it doesn't let up very often. There's hardly a boring moment in the film (save for the boring Anakin-Padme love scenes). Normally, we get one to two lightsaber fights in a Star Wars film. Here, we get a stunning total of *five,* and none of them disappoint. 

One of the bigger issues with the film is that, like its predecessor, it still has a shockingly poor script. An example comes near the end when Obi-Wan tries to show Anakin the error of his ways and that the Sith are evil, and Anakin responds with "From my point of view, the Jedi are evil!" I mean, point has been made, but you need something more sophisticated than that. But the worst offenders come during a couple of love scenes, where the dialogue is just simply appalling. 

However, Hayden Christensen, who acted horribly in Attack of the Clones (not that the script was helping him much), actually shows some improvement in Revenge of the Sith. He actually plays the part of a deranged person slipping into the dark side of the force quite well. His performance could still have been better (and there are a couple scenes where even the script cannot save him), but he proves to be serviceable for the most part this time around. 

Revenge of the Sith is hardly a masterpiece, but unlike its prequel predecessors it actually feels like it was taken seriously to some degree. The dialogue may try its best to undermine it, but the film actually holds up pretty decently as a thrilling sci-fi action flick. It's flawed, but it's enjoyable. In the end, the Star Wars prequel trilogy will probably be always looked upon with a degree of infamy, but at least it ended on a serviceable note.