You know how I said that Attack of the Clones was an improvement over The Phantom Menace? Well, this one kicks both their asses and is the best of the prequels for sure. Like I have said in the other two, it's nowhere near as good as anything in the original trilogy, but its still an awesome entertaining finale to probably the best science fiction series of all time. Just when you thought that George Lucas had sold out completely and was just milking the franchise for all it was worth, he gives us this. It wasn't a perfect movie, but it was really great and the only one that is even similar in tone to the original trilogy.
Revenge of the Sith takes place essentially at the most intense part of the Clone War. It also shows the downfall of Anakin Skywalker/ the rise of Darth Vader, and the reveal of Chancellor Palpatine's true nature. There's also the issue that Padme is expecting children, the stars of the original trilogy and Anakin's turn to the dark side put his friendship with Obi-Wan and his marriage to Padme at risk. The first half of the film shows the actual clone war, but the underlying theme that is prevalent in the second half is the inner war with Anakin and his final surrender to the dark side.
The story, well, the story has the best tone out of the prequels and carries the most similarities to the original films. It's almost as if George Lucas & Co. sat down, watched all three of the original films and reworked the mistakes of the first two prequels to make a truly incredible finale to a truly incredible series. The first two films were okay, but nothing spectacular. This was spectacular. Also, the ending had the same effect on me as Return of the King. In fact, this movie pretty much had the same effect on me as Return of the King. Its nowhere near as good as ROTK, but it still had that effect. I was completely floored by this, but I only think this deserves a 90%, because it was kind of ruined by one scene, which I will talk about later. Otherwise, I think this was a pretty much perfect film, although some may not agree with me.
The performances are much better in this one, and even Hayden and Natalie have improved. This may seem strange, but I think that Hayden and Natalie have more chemistry as a married couple then they do as a dating couple, despite the fact that they both look about sixteen and look like they've been about sixteen (except for Jake Lloyd obviously) for the whole series. Ewan MacGregor continues to be the most awesome actor in the movie and I always find myself to be very emotionally invested in the characters he plays, he's just that good an actor.
The special effects were wonderful, but they were wonderful in the second film too, so that really isn't worth remarking upon, so I shall get to the one thing that pissed me off. The ending in relation to Darth really did piss me off. It takes place after his surgery and he's become Darth Vader, the villain we all know and love. However, the first thing that he says in his new voice is "Where's Padme, is she all right?" when she has already died in childbirth. When Palpatine told him that he (Anakin) had killed Padme, he just yells "NOOOOO". That was pretty much the only problem with this movie for me.
All in all, Revenge of the Sith is the best of the prequels and the only of the prequels on the level with the other films. It isn't on the level with A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back, but its pretty much on the level of Return of the Jedi. If you want to watch this movie, I would encourage you to watch the first two prequels just to familiarize yourself with the story arc, then watch the original trilogy because it is awesome. This had the same effect on me as Return of the King did, and it was a truly remarkable finale to a truly remarkable science fiction series.
