The 20th Anniversary of Revenge of the Sith
I took this as ultimate confirmation that, yes, the prequels ARE popular. Phantom Menace has made some money on two re-releases itself. And if we ever see Attack of the Clones on the big screen again, it will make money too.
20 years ago, RotS arrived as the final chapter of that glorious prequel era. I have already done stand-alone blogs about episodes 1 and 2, so I have probably already talked about how all-encompassing these films were in my life for nearly a decade.
Phantom Menace was the never to be equaled hype period leading up to the film (and the 1st new Natalie Portman film in years, which was the focus of my obsessed mind). Attack of the Clones had the added bonus of going to the midnight toy release and midnight opening showing, neither of which I got to participate in 3 years earlier.
Once again, there was a 3 year gap between the prequels. Once again, I poured over all the little leaks of info to keep me hyped. Once again, there were other Natalie films to keep that fire burning (Garden State and Closer). There were some rougher life patches during this gap, but by the fall of 2004 I was locked in and ready for a new hype period, knowing it would be the last.
The 1st teaser hit in November, the full one in March. These were again major events. Having to wait out trailer premiers either on a TV show or at a theater itself is one of those experiences that are gone forever.
This hype period was melancholic, cause I genuinely didn't know how things were going to be once Star Wars was done. Yes, at the time I did probably assume that at some point in the future, there would be more Star Wars films, but I knew that this was the end of an important era. And of course, I knew this would be the for sure end of the Natalie Star Wars era.
Natalie fandom was still the center of my internet universe in 2005. The message boards were still going strong. By this point that insane fixation level of fandom had cooled into something a lot more rational, but it was also a major moment to see the last of Padme. Natalie has endured as my favorite actress, but nothing she has done since Star Wars came with all this added hype. Even Love and Thunder wasn't remotely close.
So, the steps were repeated. I didn't do the midnight toy release, but I did spend way too much on figures, again. Got the soundtrack CD and listened to it relentlessly in the weeks leading up to the film, again. Got pretty much all the magazines I could, again. Bought the novelization to read after seeing the film, again. And while it was just me on my own this time, I did go to the midnight show opening night, again. I was disappointed by the audience this time, cause it was not a very enthusiastic crowd, as I recall, and there were assholes talking during the movie.
Surprisingly, considering where things ended up, my initial reaction to the film was that it wasn't as great as Attack of the Clones. AotC was just a behemoth, and the sheer spectacle of it has been tough to top. It didn't take long, though, for my opinion to change.
Much attention was given to RotS being given that Star Wars first, a PG13 rating, and yeah, that was probably warranted. Lots of death in this film.
I guess go over the plot? Sure, it's my blog, I can do what I want. The film opens with quite simply the best opening sequence to any Star Wars film, and maybe any film period. A rousing, epic, thrilling space battle above Coruscant. The Clone Wars, which largely take place between episodes 2 and 3 (there were some animated things released prior to this film), are still raging, and here come Obi Wan and Anakin on a mission to rescue Chancellor Palpatine from droid leader General Grievous (who was new to the films but had been seen in those animated shows). Visually, this sequence is probably the best thing the franchise has ever done. Add in that John Williams and god damn! And the movie stars funny too. There's great comic relief in some of R2-D2's actions, and the interplay between Anakin and Kenobi. Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen do a fantastic job, as they did in AotC with limited screen time, of converting their relationship.
Along the way, we get the return of Christopher Lee's Count Dooku. This film is so epic that the last film's climax is almost a throwaway fight this time. We get more seeds of Anakin's turn planted. We get the first faceoff with Grievous. We get another happy landing.
I swear, this opening 20 minutes or so is always so captivating that it comes as a surprise reminder when she pops on screen that, oh yeah, Natalie. Padme and Anakin reunite, and he finds out she is pregnant. Natalie has Leia buns.
We don't get a lot.of action for a while after this, but lots of great table setting for what's going to be happening in the back half of the film. More Palpatine scheming. More fracturing of the relationship between Anakin and the Jedi council. Anakin's nightmares of Padme dying in childbirth. The hunt for the escaped Grievous.
The key is the Anakin-Palpatine relationship. Obviously, we the viewer know what's going on here. Palpatine is manipulating the whole situation to take advantage of Anakin's distrust of the Jedi, who have never fully accepted him. And Palpatine starts dropping hints that Anakin can save Padme if only he learns things about the force that the Jedi won't tell him.
That opera scene is where this whole thing really locks in. I'm good with that whole table setting section of the film, but here is where the film really elevates. Ian McDiarmid is magnificent in this scene, as snakily sleazy as it gets, but you buy it that Anakin starts to really fall for it. His focus is not on good side, bad side, none of that. He had dreams of his mother dying, and then she died. He now sees Padme dying, and feels that if he could only get powerful enough to prevent it he could. So Palpatine tells him the tragedy of Darth Plageuis (who was clearly Palpatine/Sidious's mentor) and the seed is planted. It's never explicitly stated in the trilogy, but Palpatine was obviously behind Anakin's conception to begin with.
The tragedy of course is not of Plageuis but will be of Anakin. The scene that truly hits hardest after the first viewing is Anakin and Obi-Wan's final scene together before the latter goes off to find Grievous. Even after the disagreements and with everything going on with Anakin (which we are never fully told what Obi-Wan knew and when), they have a really nice moment together where Obi-Wan tells Anakin how proud he is of him. That "goodbye old friend" from Obi-Wan is so sad when we know how true that is, and where things will be the next time they are face to face.
It isn't just Obi-Wan. With the war going on, Jedi are spread all throughout the galaxy. Even Yoda has left to assist the wookies (hey Chewy). This is of course all part of Palpatine's long term scheme.
The Jedi still on Coruscant (particularly Samuel L. Jackson's Mace Windu) know something isn't right with Palpatine. Honestly, they probably go too far with having some of them not figure it out sooner. Windu says Palpatine is surrounded by the darkside but is then stunned to find out he's a Sith.
So anyway, Obi-Wan finds Grievous. We get the glorious "hello there" and a cool fight sequence. Simultaneously we get Palpatine finally revealing his true self to Anakin. This is another of the film's great moments. The whole trilogy, and really the whole rest of the saga rests on this one scene. Anakin instinctively reacts like any Jedi would, that Palpatine is the villain. But Palpatine had that one trump card still, that through his knowledge of the darkside, and only through him, can Anakin save Padme's life.
Still, Anakin is doing things the right way. Now, maybe he should not have left Palpatine by himself again to go tell Windu what's going on, but he is still behaving the Jedi way.
Before shit completely hits the fan for the rest of the film, we get that beautiful sequence of Anakin and Padme staring out the window at each other, far apart, and about to be ripped apart for good. It's the moment when Anakin fully gives in to Palpatine.
Windu and a few other Jedi go to arrest Palpatine. It's treason, then. Palpatine no longer has any use for restraint, so out pops the red lightsaber and it's on. He cuts through the Jedi alarmingly fast, leaving just Windu.
This fight is incredible. I suppose there are differing theories on this, but I think Palpatine (I guess we can switch to calling him Sidious now) isn't just playing possum here. Yeah he probably can sense that Anakin is coming, but Windu is probably the most purely powerful Jedi, and canonicallly the purple lightsaber is cause he does draw on darkside power some. I know that story demands Windu ultimately lose this fight, but with what we see here I think he was very much able to defeat Sidious here if Anakin doesn't show up.
But Anakin does show up. Crucially, he doesn't just run in there and try to save Sidious. Windu has his weapon pointed at a seemingly defenseless Sidious, but even when he unleashes that lightning (which Anakin would know is a Sith attack) he doesn't do anything. But then Windu (correctly) says that Sidious is "too dangerous to be left alive" even as Anakin argues that it is not the "Jedi way" and just as Windu is about to strike Sidious dead he gets his hand chopped off by Anakin and Sidious kills him. (Well, we never see a dead body so maybe not?) You know it has to happen, but seeing Windu killed still felt shocking. Kinda creepy that life on Coruscant is just going on in the background as this happens.
Kind of felt at the time that Anakin's turn is too fast. Once Windu dies, Anakin is christened Darth Vader within a couple minutes and he has pledged allegiance to Sidious. But the trilogy drops hints throughout, and even in this scene Anakin looks tortured by his decision. But once he gives in to the darkside, that's it.
Then we get another of the standout sequences, Order 66. Sidious finally activates all those clone troopers to slaughter the Jedi all over the galaxy. And Vader leads an army to the Jedi temple to take out everybody else, even the younglings. Again, it feels crazy fast for Anakin to do this, but Sidious convinces him that it's the only way he can be strong enough with the darkside to save Padme. Killing kids though.
Obi-Wan and Yoda are the only Jedi we see survive. I mean, Ahsoka makes it out too, but that character didn't exist in the canon in 2005.
In the aftermath of the Jedi slaughter, we are hurtling towards the final showdowns between Jedi and Sith. Every scene is just incredible. I really think the last hour of this film is peak everything. Vader kills everybody. Sidious announces the creation of the empire. "This how liberty dies. With thunderous applause." How prescient. Obi-Wan and Yoda return to Coruscant and find out what happened. It's left vague how much Yoda knew already. Obi-Wan's wrecked by finding out what Anakin did.
Padme doesn't really know what's really going on until Obi-Wan shows up and tells her. Amazing, devastating scene between the two of them. I love that we discover that, yeah, Obi-Wan did kinda know that Anakin and Padme were a couple.
Padme goes off to find Anakin. Obi-Wan stows away. Yoda goes to confront Sidious.
That quiet little moment where Padme gathers her emotions before getting off the ship to meet Anakin gets me every time.
That final Padme-Anakin scene on Mustafar is just amazing stuff. Natalie doesn't get a whole lot to do for much of this film, but she nails these big moments.
And then we get what the whole trilogy has been leading to, the fight between Obi-Wan and Anakin. And we also get the epic Yoda vs Sidious fight. It was so jarring to see Yoda get his ass kicked a little bit.
The action and the drama and the music is just peak everything. Duel Of The Fates is brought back. You simply can't find anything better. The Yoda-Sidious fight is incredible, with the senate chamber pods getting flung at Yoda by a cackling Sidious. But Yoda eventually holds his own. It has to be this way, but it does bug me that Yoda just quits the fight and runs away.
Back to Mustafar, the Obi-Wan/Anakin duel just gets more frenzied. I certainly felt it that this was the culmination of the whole thing. That whole prequel era was going out with a bang. The drama and tension just pours out. Then Obi-Wan gets the high ground, and cuts down Anakin. That scene on the hill where Obi-Wan just pours out his pain is just wrenching. He even says he loved Anakin, and Jedi aren't supposed to love, but damn it he did anyway. Incredible acting by McGregor.
Again, the plot demands Anakin not die here. In this case, you kinda see why Obi-Wan just leaves. Anakin is literally on fire and he doesn't wanna stay and watch.
We have hit our dramatic and emotional peaks, but there is still work to be done to set the table for A New Hope. Obi-Wan leaves for a rebel base. Sidious comes to save Vader. Padme gives birth to Luke and Leia, then dies. Vader gets put into the suit. We get our first glimpse at the under-construction Death Star. Luke and Leia are split up.
The final scene of Obi-Wan delivering Luke to Tatooine and the classic music kicks in....Jesus, George Lucas is a poet. Could not possibly have concluded his masterpiece trilogy any better.
So that's Revenge of the Sith. A masterpiece. My favorite of all the Star Wars. In my top 5 of all time.
It isn't without flaws. A lot of Padme's story, largely dealing with the early formation of the rebellion, was left on the cutting room floor, so she ultimately doesn't have a lot to do in the movie other than be pregnant and fret over Anakin. So of the 3 it is the least Padme-filled. Sure, there is some clunky dialogue here and there. Whatever. I don't obsess over that. There's some CGI at points that isn't great.
But this thing so absolutely nails all the big things that it obscures any flaws.
I think the more somber tone of the film was why it wasn't immediately my favorite. Now I think that is why it's so great. The good guys lose. The bad guys win. Decisively. How often do you ever see that in a film like this?
I wasn't quite as ridiculous that summer with how often I went to see it. By 2005 I didn't go to movies as obsessively. This was a mere 8 times.
The film was huge, of course, and broke a lot of records that have since been broken again. For once, the critics actually pulled their heads out of their asses and largely praised the film. Ludicrously, the film was not even nominated for its visual effects.
But it was nice not having to defend this one all the time. I'm glad that over the years a lot of people have given up the hate, and acknowledged the prequels ARE awesome films. It was the one downside of that era, adoring these films that were being torn apart by people who just were not being fair at all.
The overall response soured Lucas on even making movies. It burned him out, and RotS remains, I suppose forever, as his last film as a director. I mean, it will be the greatest ever final film from a director no question, but he had planned to keep directing after the trilogy and never did and then of course sold the franchise itself. We could have had Lucas's 7-8-9 possibly. But as we would learn with the Disney Star Wars era, turns out a whole lot of supposed Star Wars fans are just assholes who hate it all.
For me, I will treasure the prequels forever, both as the films themselves and all the great memories that surrounded them. It was a period of my life that I will never forget.
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