Talk about "Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith" here:
Review by: Breanne Derby
Plot Summary
Though I'm sure most people know the gist of the plotline from this film by having seen the episodes which take place before and after it, I will outline the plot for those of you who have no idea what's going on. After fighting in the Clone Wars, our "hero," Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christianson), continues on his quest to become a Jedi Master, and his prophesized future as "the one who will bring balance to the force." Throughout the film, Anakin is constantly being pushed and pulled in a multitude of different directions, the main two being between the dark and the light sides of the force by Chancellor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) the closet Sith Lord, and the Jedi Council who are considered the epitome of good in the galaxy. It is these pressures, along with his wife Padme (Natalie Portman)'s secret pregnancy, and his fear of losing yet another person that he cares about, that eventually drives him to become Darth Vader. He always was a bit moody anyways.
Review
Out of Star Wars Episodes I, II, and III, Episode III is undoubtedly the best. Just like Episode II, the dialogue is forced, and some of it incredibly corny (there's actually a scene where someone raises their hands in the air and yells "NOOOOOOOO!" as the camera zooms out), and Hayden Christianson isn't really a very good actor, but nonetheless, this film is still quite well put together, and is definitely fun to watch.
After having seen all of the other Star Wars movies, this one was definitely a must. It completes the first triad of the series very well, and explains the whereabouts of all of the main characters in the second triad. Personally, I'm not a die-hard Star Wars fan, though I did enjoy the films, and I still firmly believe that this is a good flick.
Watching Anakin transform into Darth Vader was a very interesting thing. The events that pushed him to the edge weren't all that interesting, but after he finally snapped, his persona was completely transformed. I found it interesting that his personality went before his physical appearance, as I expected both to be gradual changes.
Padme goes through something of a drastic personality change in this film. Perhaps it's that she was pregnant with twins (which, by the way, I find it a bit odd that they didn't know and that she wasn't the size of a small horse when she was carrying them) and the hormones were taking over her, but instead of being the decisive, driven and powerful woman she was in Episodes I and II, all she ever did was sit around her house and mope. When the Padme from Episodes I and II wanted to do something, nobody stopped her, but in Episode III, she was hesitant in everything she did. This personality change was an enormous letdown.
Unfortunately the dialogue was abysmal, and Hayden Christianson's acting was also quite lousy. Everything Anakin did was stiff and unfeeling. He seemed to spend the whole film simmering, and even scenes that were supposed to be angry, or ones that were supposed to have the tiniest bit of emotion towards them were dead. Everything Hayden Christianson did was dead.
Though the dialogue was horrible, there were several beautiful sequences of scenery, landscapes, and cityscapes. The computer technology that was used to create the other planets was very well done, and though there was a great deal of computer animation in the film, it melded well with the live-action and the film flowed. There wasn't a distracting contrast between the computer animation and the actors, like there has been in films of the past. Hopefully the art of moviemaking is coming out of that phase, and into one where computer animations and actors can work together as well as actors and actors.
Despite the horrendous dialogue, and quite a bit of mediocre acting, this still turned out to be a good film. The first hour of the film was somewhat boring, as things were just warming up, and the audience was being "hooked" with quite a few opening fights, but once things started happening for real, the movie picked up and gained momentum. I left the theatre satisfied with the film, and it made up for what the first two were lacking.
Conclusion
After seeing this film, I had the immediate desire to watch the three following it, because it has been years since I've seen them, and I feel like I would have a much better understanding of them than I did when I was twelve. It helps that the first three spell out exactly what's going to happen for you. Watching the Episodes IV, V and VI would be so much different now that I know more of the history of all the characters and have a better understanding of their motives.
