Originally Posted 12/2/17
To paraphrase Obi-Wan Kenobi, "This movie was our last hope." Fortunately, as Yoda pointed out to him, "No. There is another." Luckily, we were gifted with Rogue One.
Revenge of the Sith is, however, a monumental improvement over its immediate predecessor, Attack of the Clones. But then again, how could it not be? Attack is by far the worst Star Wars episode (until The Last Jedi) and is a strong contender for the worst follow-up in movie history (again -- until The Last Jedi). So, the bar wasn't set very high for the final (at the time) prequel. All it really had to do was make sense.
It's impossible to refer to Sith as a film. It's completely digital -- and looks like it. It's also clear that this is not cinematic art. There are many reasons not to like it. The crucial, and for some, long-awaited lightsaber fight between Anakin Skywalker and Kenobi is so anti-climactic that I looked up synonyms for the word. It's the most important duel of the entire series and it was ass. There are no mind-blowing martial arts skills on display like what we got from Darth Maul. And we don't even get the benefit of lightsaber blades with contrasting colors; blue on blue with a fiery backdrop just isn't very aesthetically appealing.
The film provides two concurrent explanations for Anakin Skywalker's fall to the dark side. The first: The explanation that Anakin Skywalker, a grown man, former slave, experienced jedi, war hero and battle-scarred combat veteran would betray all of his peers and principles and turn to evil solely because a mentor who revealed himself to be indescribably deceitful promised him that he possessed the previously unheard of ability to "cheat death" -- is patently ridiculous. The other, most likely and believable explanation for Anakin's treachery is simple: He was a bad guy, albeit a conflicted one, with his own agenda all along. Remember, Palpatine wasn't the only one keeping secrets from the Jedi. Skywalker had been hiding his marriage and his mass murder on Tattooine from both the council and Palpatine for years.
The film provides two concurrent explanations for Anakin Skywalker's fall to the dark side. The first: The explanation that Anakin Skywalker, a grown man, former slave, experienced jedi, war hero and battle-scarred combat veteran would betray all of his peers and principles and turn to evil solely because a mentor who revealed himself to be indescribably deceitful promised him that he possessed the previously unheard of ability to "cheat death" -- is patently ridiculous. The other, most likely and believable explanation for Anakin's treachery is simple: He was a bad guy, albeit a conflicted one, with his own agenda all along. Remember, Palpatine wasn't the only one keeping secrets from the Jedi. Skywalker had been hiding his marriage and his mass murder on Tattooine from both the council and Palpatine for years.
It's not all bad, though. General Grievous is great -- until he inexplicably turns out to be an incompetent coward (a characterization that completely contradicts his introduction in 2003's The Clone Wars animated series). Palpatine is great, as usual (except for his duel with Yoda, which amounts to a CGI crapfest). The near-total absence of Jar Jar Binks and the PG-13 rating (and the more mature tone that comes with it) are much appreciated as well. The trailers, rumored to be directed by Steven Speilberg, are brilliant in their own right. Best of all, the space battle in the opening is phenomenal -- aside from the lame attempts at comedy with the buzzdroids.
As I said before, all this movie had to do was make sense in order to be considered an achievement. It didn't -- but it's nice to look at. Most of the time.
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