By Will 'Rhoam' Lally



This was it. This was the day. And it was going to be a good day, I could feel it. The crisp Seattle dawn saw pale sunlight filter through the overcast skies as the battle lines were drawn. Even at eight in the morning the rabid fans were dressed in their full regalia, prepared to watch their fate unfold. On the one side there were the stalwarts, the die-hard, the warriors of classic virtue who held to the tenets of the old testament. On the other, the new blood, the young bucks with their minds filled with the glory of the new testament. Yes, the were evenly divided between those who thought Empire Strikes Back is the pinnacle of the Star Wars anthology and those that believe Attack of the Clones is the definitive literary work of the franchise.

Yes, there were the Jawa and Wookies, the droids and sand people. There were also the Gungans, Padmes, and Anakins. But each held within them the one universal truth. They stank.



Yes, even though it was nearly eight in the morning, the costumes were still out in force. The Padme clones had rain streaked painted faces that portrayed this ghastly “mime from hell” appearance and the Wookies wreaked like a cheap wool sweater dipped in a stagnant pond. And while I personally can’t see waiting in line for longer than the running time of the movie, it was clear that some of them had been waiting for quite a while and many for the second time that day.

But the common thread that united us all, and filled me with calm bliss, was that this was the end. We, all us freaks, would be witness to the end. The end of an era. The end to the saga of the Skywalkers on the silver screen. No matter where George Lucas whores the franchise in the future, this thirty year odyssey has come to a close.



Revenge of the Sith is not a film about conclusions, after thirty years I think we’ve all figured out that Luke and Leia are the twin children of Anakin Skywalker who went over to the dark side and became Darth Vader. No, Revenge of the Sith is not a story of conclusions, but a story of transformations. Each act is punctuated by transformations both subtle and obvious.



Unfortunately to discuss these transformation in detail would be to spoil the greater part of the film and I just can’t bring myself to do that. The Dark Side hasn’t taken me just yet.

So let’s talk about everything but the story. Revenge of the Sith, unlike most other movies (Sky Captain being the obvious exception) was filmed entirely in studio before green screen. This is also the first time a Star Wars movie has not included a location shoot. What is really cool about this factoid is that most people will never notice. The green screen additions are so good and most of the actors are so used to working with the props and backdrops that the audience will never miss it. As far as we are concerned there really was a location shot on molten volcano planet.



And this is really what Revenge of the Sith is about as a piece of film. George Lucas has somehow managed to string together some bland dialog and malfunctioning plot devices and combine them with a pitifully few brilliant performances and a load of genius technology and make a damned enjoyable film.



Personally I am going to rank Revenge of Sith as number three in my list of Star Wars movies which means it falls between a New Hope and Return of the Jedi.

Truly Revenge of the Sith is a portrait of tragedies and triumphs. Ewan McGregor delivers a moving, stirring and brilliant performance as Alec Guiness…err Obi-Wan Kenobi. Seriously, McGregor commands and dominates every scene he is in and his portrayal really does raise the shade of Alec Guiness. The character of Obi-Wan is transformed from the struggling Padawan for the Phantom Menace and moved beyond the unsure Jedi of Attack of the Clones into a man who is in full control of himself and the force. A man who understands his nature and his place in the universe. A true Jedi Master with a soul of wit and whimsy.

On the other hand you have that stiff necked deadpan of and actor Hayden Christensen. In a movie about transformations, his utter lack of growth stands out in its own right. This is supposed to be a movie about passion, about emotions so strong that it would drive a man to utter evil. But Christensens portrayal of the powerful and confused young Jedi Anakin Skywalker is nothing short of pathetic. He is dominated in every scene, even the computer generated characters of Yoda and R2-D2 have more passion and personality. Even they dominate him in every scene. And when he is cast into a truly emotional scene opposite the always brilliant Natalie Portman it is just painful to watch. In my showing, there were three very distinct times when Chirstensen and Portman were playing a scene, and emotionally wracking scene that should be the foundation of both their character and the very fulcrum of the transformation of Anakin Skywalker, when the audience as a whole let out this massive, collective groan.

Great performances were also turned in by such venerable actors as Ian McDairmid as Chancellor Palpatine and he pulls off a really excellent transformation into the Emperor as we know him from the earlier films. Sam Jackson as Mace Windu was his usually excellent self throughout the film but especially good in one critical scene. Jimmy Smits did a fine job as Bail Organa. The whole cast, with the one noted exception, was really quite good despite the peanut butter dialog they had to work with.



But this isn’t about dialog, nor special effects, nor wookies or giant lizard mounts. It’s not about cyborg General or droid armies. Its about the transformation of Anakin Skywalker into Darth Vader. In short, its about the mask. That first breath of mechanical air. The first deep, rumbling of a baritone voice.

And this was nothing short of genius. The genius of this transformation isn’t in the special effects used, its in the fact that we all know what’s coming. How do you make something creepy and haunting when the audience already knows the outcome? That is what makes this transformation scene pure genius. In fact, it is so good that it even counteracts the grotesque amount of product placement and pathetic attempts to generate merchandising interest.



George Lucas stopped making movies after The Empire Strikes Back. Since then he has really just made feature length toy commercials. But thankfully they are commercials with enough brilliant actors and punctuated by some truly genius scenes, that it makes it worth the movie experience. I highly recommend anyone who likes a grand adventure, whether Star Wars fan or not, go and see this movie.



3 Stars