Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith
After three years of fighting in the Clone Wars, Anakin Skywalker concludes his journey towards the Dark Side of the Force, putting his friendship with Obi Wan Kenobi and his marriage at risk.
Directed by
George Lucas
Genres
Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Sci-Fi
Cast
Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Hayden Christensen, Ian McDiarmid, Samuel L. Jackson, Jimmy Smits, Frank Oz, Anthony Daniels, Christopher Lee, Keisha Castle-Hughes, Silas Carson, Jay Laga’aia, Bruce Spence, Wayne Pygram, Temuera Morrison
As a fan of the series from the beginning, like all Star Wars fans, I’ve had many questions – questions like: How could Darth Vader be Luke’s father? Where did all the Jedi go? and Why did Vader turn to the Dark Side in the first place?
Well, the waiting is over and all is now revealed. I went to watch it alone Wednesday night while Lay was at work. He wasn’t really keen on seeing it.
Purported to be the best of the “new” Episodes, ‘Sith’ certainly answered my many questions, and did so with some sense of satisfaction. But not as completely as I had hoped. ‘Sith’ falters where one expects it to. The acting isn’t its strong suit. The performers are a bit stiff possibly due to having to work with virtual “fill in the scene later with computers” green-screens. The script isn’t what one might call a literary classic. All the usual criticisms.
But it’s a massive accomplishment, too. The action is great, of course – that’s a virtual given. The visuals are truly beyond belief. The story is all wrapped up, each loose end being carefully tied, including stunning visual connections to Episode IV near the end of the film. But something feels missing. The heart of things, the humanity of the drama is somehow lost in all the modern technological advance. I don’t know, maybe it’s me, but the thing that drew me with such Force to Star Wars in those early impressionable years was wonderful over-the-top characters immersed in an utterly involving story. Sure, it happened to be set in the future. It happened to take place in outer space. It happened to have incredible action sequences and mind-blowing battle scenes. But beyond all that, it had tremendous heart. Luke, Leia, Han, the lovable Larel and Hardy droids. They are what you remember above all else. The connection you feel to the people on the screen, not the lifeless effects that surround them.
Unfortunately, the beating heart has been somehow lost along the way. Now don’t get me wrong, ‘Sith’ is a very good film. Certainly better than installments I and II. But it exists in this era. An era that has more respect and fascination for lightsaber fight scenes and blinding speed and the blaring sounds of C.G.I. battle than for the actual human elements that happen to bring all that technological razzle-dazzle together.
There is a surreal moment in this film when Darth Vader finally dons his infamous suit and looks like the villain we know from years ago, and in that moment, the sound goes out. It’s completely quiet. All you hear is the pumping of blood and then that particular breathing we all remember sending a shiver up our collective teenage spines. In that moment, I felt a glimmer of the unique connection that has kept Jedi questions dancing in my head all these many years. Yes, answered my questions have been.
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