On this weekend 10 years ago, the lights dimmed in theaters around the world as we all sat and waited for what could have been the last time the Star Wars title march blared from theater speakers for a new film. Of course, we now know that a new Star Wars movie will be opening in December, but Revenge of the Sith still marked a turning point in the franchise.
Widely regarded as the best of the prequels, the film marked the final time George Lucas had complete control over a Star Wars film. He’s not working on Disney and J.J. Abrams’ The Force Awakens and wasn’t even at Star Wars Celebration last month. It all sounds like a complete rejection of the prequels, although they will still be considered canon. They have to be. You can’t just pretend that three movies that made zillions of dollars from 1999 to 2005 don’t exist.
While Revenge of the Sith might be the best prequel, it has that title only be default. Like The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones, it is a flawed film, lifted only by the performances of Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi. Natalie Portman recently told The Hollywood Reporter that she felt she was too young at the time and it shows. Hayden Christensen’s post-Star Wars career trajectory tells you everything you need to know about his performances in AOTC and ROTS.
All three prequels often feel like just lists of events playing out with little structure. AOTC’s lack of structure is more visible than the other two’s, but ROTS still has it. Lucas is burdened by a checklist of things he needs to do in order for events in the Original Trilogy to “make sense” (even though they made sense to us before the prequels) and it shows. ROTS’s never-ending montage at the end could put the end of Lord of the Rings: Return of the King to shame.
What actually does make ROTS a good - or at least decent - movie? It’s the brilliantly choreographed action set-pieces. The film opens with a glorious space battle between big ships, something we’d never seen in Star Wars before (Return of the Jedi’s Battle of Endor space battle comes close, but the Empire only had one big ship). Obi-Wan’s epic chase scene with random baddie General Grievous is thrilling.
And then the final duel between Obi-Wan and Anakin is probably the second-best lightsaber duel after Luke’s fight with Darth Vader in The Empire Strikes Back. That fight is filled with such emotion and - holy crap! Is Hayden Christensen acting?
But, like all of the prequels, it is still filled with bone-headed decisions by Lucas. He’s got to figure out some way for the Jedi to lose to Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid), which is pretty hard after he built them up to be so powerful. So suddenly, the Jedi have to look weak. Yoda loses his lightsaber, so he can’t go back after Palpatine. Mace Windu (Samuel L. Jackson) and other Jedi have to be dispensed with quickly. Count Dooku (Christopher Lee) has to be killed right away, rather than be the villain Obi-Wan chases on Utapau. (Seriously, why did Grievous need to exist? To sell toys? You bet.)
ROTS is also a mournful experience. We know Anakin has to become Vader and it is going to get dark ... like holy sh*t, Anakin is now killing children dark. Therefore, it’s just not as fun as the original trilogy or even as fun as Phantom Menace. Even Empire doesn’t get as dark as ROTS.
ROTS wound up grossing $848.7 million in 2005, so just imagine how big The Force Awakens will be. It’s hard to believe, as someone who grew up as the prequels were coming out that it has been 10 years since ROTS came out. I rarely watch the prequels, but when I do, I always think of the missed opportunities, the boring politics and over-use of CGI. But ROTS is always an engrossing end to the prequels, even if it feels more like fan service than actually trying to tell a story.
And it’s also important to remember that the prequels did to Star Wars pretty much the same thing that The Force Awakens did. They reinvigorated the franchise and even led to Lucasfilm creating the Celebration conventions. I can remember the drive from Boston to Indianapolis in 2005 like it was yesterday. The weather sucked, but it was the first time I got to meet Star Wars fans who were just like me outside of my family. So, thanks George for the prequels, even if that’s the best I got out of them.
screenshot from Star Wars YouTube video