And, fortunately, this conclusion to the second Star Wars cycle does bring things to a satisfying end – swinging us full-circle to the events leading up to the days of Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han Solo and the rest. There is, at least, closure in a galaxy far, far away.
Finally, the legend tells us, we will earn what exactly turned Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) evil – what series of events transformed him from a promising if petulant Jedi warrior (under the tutelage of Obi-Wan Kenobi, played well here by Ewan MacGregor) into… Darth Vader(!)
That everyone who’s seen the original three Star Wars movies knows this outcome already is part of the appeal of director George Lucas’ finale. (Apparently, the back-story on Darth Vader’s emergence was included in the original hefty script he wrote back in 1976, but the tale was then shaved down to a single movie – Star Wars – which became a worldwide phenomenon.)
Approximately 20 years later, Lucas had the opportunity to revisit his characters, flesh out their stories and wrap everything up in state-of-the-art digital special effects. The second series – beginning with Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones and ending with Revenge of the Sith – is probably closer to Lucas’ ideal vision. The digital effects are seamless, the camera work dizzying and dazzling, the music and sound effects powerful and compelling (especially in a high-tech venue such as Eastwood, where we saw this preview).
The only real problems are the wooden acting and a fatally weak script.
Yes, you get plenty of action – like the exciting space chase and rescue sequence that opens the film, as Anakin and Kenobi attack a separatist ship to rescue Supreme Chancellor Palpatine (a slithery and effective Ian McDiarmid) from Count Dooku (Christopher Lee) and General Grievous. (We’re gonna miss those kooky names, I swear.)
There are many such sequences, so many I lost count, not to mention generous doses of light-saber dueling and breathtaking battle sequences. For the first 10 minutes, I thought: Great, Lucas is going to keep up the pace, keep us strapped in for a two-hour rocket ride.
But then the story intrudes. Every time Anakin and Senator Padme (Natalie Portman) are in a room together, talking, the movie grinds to a dead halt. They are married, a fact that takes much urgency out of the fact that she is pregnant with Anakin’s baby. (A better scenario might have been an illicit affair between Sen. Padme and Anakin — a fact that would explain the Jedi council’s displeasure with him.) But when Mr. and Mrs. Skywalker are in a room together, the dialogue becomes stiffer than a plank and the acting just as wooden. Their "chemistry" just lacks the pluck and spark of the original Star Wars exchanges.
(Sample exchange from The Empire Strikes Back: Leia: "I love you." Han Solo: "I know." Sample exchange from Revenge of the Sith: Anakin: "You are so beautiful. I’m so in love with you." Padme: "No, I’m so in love with you…")
Still, we could forgive the flat exchanges between the two most important characters in the movie, if the reason for Anakin’s turning to the dark side were convincing enough. It is not.
This weakness in the script nearly ruins Revenge of the Sith, but not entirely.
After all, there is still the feisty Yoda to kick things into high gear. Whenever this CGI-created muppet is on-screen, kicking ass, we are sadly reminded that he out-acts most everyone else in the cast.
Second best is McDiarmid, whose Chancellor Palpatine is the epitome of evil, and why Anakin never gleans this fact is a mystery for the ages. Check out the scene where Palpatine seduces Anakin onto his side, by simply pointing out what the Jedi doesn’t teach, and you’ll begin to glimpse that stronger acting could have raised this movie up a few notches, bad script or not.
A few other lines stand out, like Sen. Padme’s observation, as the faceless senate applauds loudly for Palpatine’s call for emergency powers "to bring peace": "This is how liberty dies – to thunderous applause." You wish the script had more pithy, and topical, observations such as this.
But the Star Wars saga is, after all, a kid’s saga, even though we kids have grown up with it, and expect more from it as we age. And yet, if you grew up watching the original first trilogy when it came out in 1977, you just might find the sweeping shots of meticulously detailed troop ships in Revenge of the Sith (all rendered with computers) leave you a little cold. Perhaps what’s missing is a human element: after all, the original ships in Star Wars were basically plastic models, bedecked with plenty of human grime and age, made to look like real ships that had seen a number of battles.
This lack of a human touch is inadvertently highlighted in one sequence of Revenge of the Sith when Obi-Wan Kenobi battles General Grievous, whose six mechanical arms each sprout a twirling light saber. Despite being heavily out-armed, we’re rooting for Kenobi in this scene, because he represents the triumph of human gumption, determination and pluck. Same with the old Star Wars. I prefer models built with human sweat to the cool and sleek CGI devices that populate Lucas’ later vision.