An Appreciation of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

WARNING: SPOILERS FOLLOW

2005—with the release of Revenge of the Sith, a circle was finally completed. There seemed to be a lot of space between where Attack of the Clones left off and where A New Hope would pick up decades later. And yet, the third prequel film filled in all the gaps it needed to with huge amounts of excitement and pizzazz.

At the time of the film’s release, the hype was palpable—maybe not to the same extent as The Phantom Menace, but the theater was jam-packed and full of enthusiastic, cheering fans. I distinctly remember sitting in the front-most row (in retrospect, probably not ideal for the neck, having to look straight up at the screen). Before the movie, I noticed a kid sitting next to me in a Superman costume, and he kept saying “I will destroy Lex Luthor!” This still amuses me to this day.

I came out of the feel feeling satisfied, and on rewatches I feel the film holds up okay. A lot better than the last two films, in fact. I suspect over time George Lucas put some more effort into the writing and direction, and it shows in the final product. It could be that this is the part of the trilogy he was most excited for, so of course the movie itself becomes the most exciting and complete one.

Can’t say it’s completely above reproach, however. Janky dialogue, wooden performances, quirky sound design, and tension-less action are still problems. They’re just less glaring, and perhaps forgivable in light of the overall story. We may have come to Star Wars thirsting for action, spaceships, and lightsaber fights, but we keep going back for the story and characters. We all knew Anakin Skywalker would make his transformation into a full-blown villain. This would be a grim, heart-breaking experience (enough to warrant a PG-13 rating for a change). Darkness would prevail.

Try spinning. That's a neat trick.

Nooooooooooooooooo!

As it is with the prequel trilogy in general, there are weaknesses to the film that makes it a little less than perfect. Some might disagree, especially since Revenge of the Sith has less issues than the last two episodes. Still, there are a few things that bug me, and those things are:

• The dialogue and acting—I gotta say, I feel like it’s a step up from the last two movies, even to the point where I don’t have a problem with Hayden Christensen’s performance. Or anybody else’s. The only cringey thing I despise is the exchange between Anakin and Padme, where they’re all like “you are so beautiful” “It’s only because I’m so in love” “No it’s because I’m so in love with you.” Ugh. There are other crazy lines that are mocked all the time (such as “only a Sith deals in absolutes,” “Anakin, you’re breaking my heart,” “you were the chosen one!” "I have the high ground!" and so on). Writing is far from perfect, but the camp (seeming intentional at times) makes it a hoot.
• Some of the quirky, silly, low-brow humor persists. Thank God, Jar Jar Binks has zero lines in this movie. We still have to put up with the lame battle droids (one of which shows attitude—how, even?) There’s a Wookie that gives a Tarzan yell (second time in the series—come on, it wasn’t funny in Return of the Jedi, it’s not funny here either).
• There are many instances where animals and droids give off goofy noises that rob the soundscape of its gravitas—what hurts more is that most sound effects are repetitive at this point, and many new sounds (especially Obi-Wan’s giant iguana) are repeated to an annoying degree. The last couple of movies sounded really punchy and unique, but it wears thin by this episode.
• I’d hate to complain about the action and battle scenes, but it is an issue with the prequels (and modern blockbusters in general) that there’s often many long action scenes done for show, with less tension. In Revenge of the Sith, this happens with the final duel—we know Anakin and Obi-Wan won’t actually kill each other, so they go on and on in a scene that’s less about life or death and more of a choreographed dance. And this might be intentional, but I can see how it drags for some viewers given that it drags out the narrative momentum in favor of spectacle. What drags the film out even more is that it’s padded with a lot of other impromptu sequences—all the shenanigans on the Confederate flagship, Obi-Wan vs General Grievious on Upatau, the Battle of Kashyyk, Yoda vs Palpatine. Yeah, these are cool and all, but many of them could have been cut down, or cut out, without affecting the story.
• Even with all this epic action, the movie still sags quite a bit after the Battle of Coruscant (itself, a half an hour of screen time). We spend a fair amount of time watching Anakin walk back and forth between meetings (Palpatine, the Jedi Council, his secret wife, the Blob Opera). It is important to see how the different sides push and pull on him, but these talky scenes come off as pretty stiff and slow.
• The story picks up in media res—literally, in the middle of a battle. And it’s an awesome sequence and an awesome way to immerse us in the world with the characters. But it’s hard to see how this connects with the ending for Attack of the Clones…unless you’ve seen the Clone Wars cartoon from 2003, which shows precisely how Palpatine was kidnapped (and even why General Grievious was coughing in the movie). I feel as though these are important pieces to set up, and it’s a little strange that the movie jumps right into the middle of all of this with Palpatine already captured and the battle already underway. The movie would have been more complete if it moved the timeline back just a tad, to show Palpatine’s capture. It would have been exciting in live-action, and I’m still not sure why that part of the plot was relegated to a cartoon.
• For whatever odd reason, I never expected Palpatine to undergo a physical transformation (much less while fighting Mace Windu). Watching the original trilogy I just always assumed the Emperor’s ugliness was a combination of age and Dark Side corruption, slow and gradual. Revenge of the Sith reveals that it happened in one instance. Fine, sure, whatever. But not everything needs an explanation and I would have been just as happy if the film didn’t even address this at all.
• Similarly, I find the christening of Darth Vader to be a little jarring too. I like how Anakin kneels before Palpatine, but with the way the scene plays out it seems as though Palpatine makes up the name Vader out of thin air. It’s the kind of thing you do when naming a pet. It’s very brief, fast, and unceremonious for a persona that is ultimately treated as Anakin’s alter ego. I think it deserved more gravitas.

Let the Wookies Lose

Yoda on a typical house-hunting trip.

A tiny part of the movie is dedicated to the Battle of Kashyyk, which feels like it should be a big deal because it’s the first (and by far the only) time in the series that we see the Wookie homeworld. These scenes look great and all, but it serves no real purpose in the film’s story. It might serve a purpose in the Clone War, and it’s mentioned explicitly but without any specific detail—all we’re told (and not shown!) is that Kashyyk is important. How, exactly? Is it the resources it provides? The location of the system? The film doesn’t say—it’s left so vague that it feels like the script just wants to move Yoda away from Coruscant while the Order 66 scenes happen. Moreover, this is also an excuse to show Chewbacca in some scenes, but he ultimately does nothing but scratch the nostalgia itch.

The Kashyyk scenes have started to rub me the wrong way precisely because I feel like if you were to skip them, or remove them from the movie, nothing would even change. Yoda goes back to Coruscant all the same to handle the fallout from Order 66—if he stayed on Coruscant the whole movie it would actually have been one less piece of the story to move back and forth.

The bigger issue I see is in how the movies handle the war. Revenge of the Sith is really the only prequel movie that takes place in a full-blown war—The Phantom Menace was a crisis, and Attack of the Clones was a bunch of stuff that happened leading up the Clone Wars breaking out. It’s left up to the Clone Wars cartoon(s) to show individual battles in the larger conflict. That’s fine and all, but I wonder if this series would have benefited from shifting some of the major battles across movies. What if the Clone Wars was declared earlier in Attack of the Clones, allowing more screen-time for more of these major conflicts—like, say, Kashyyk? If it is such an important system to control, then maybe it’d be a more vital (and more interesting) setpiece than the Battle of Genosis, which held no real value to the Republic (other than driving out the Confederacy, but they all escaped anyway). Geonosis could have been a good turning point half-way through the movie, and the exploding conflict could have bled to other systems. Then, there’d be more scenes involved that would contribute to the story.

As it is, the Kashyyk scenes are weightless, precisely because we’re “told” that the system is important but not shown how or why. One can’t really care about a battle where the goals and stakes aren’t defined—we just see a few passing minutes of Wookies blowing droids up. It could have been more.

Did You Ever Hear the Tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise?

Is it over when the fat blob sings?

Despite all the drag that happens on Coruscant, there is one scene that shifts the story into its inevitable direction. I call it the Blob Opera scene, because that’s exactly where it takes place in—Palpatine and Anakin attending an opera where giant blobs are floating around (you can barely see something jumping or floating between the blobs, and these might be the things that sing, I dunno). Even though this scene is all talking, I do appreciate it for the following reasons:

• It connects an idea most fans hated (the midichlorians) with a concept of the Force that was previously never mentioned (the ability to bring the dead back to life). Is the tale of Darth Plagueis for real? We never even really find out. Plagueis could have resurrected the dead, and Palpatine’s brief explanation makes it sound plausible given the rules of the Force (although I’d argue that these “rules” are pretty fast and loose anyway). This all has the effect of expanding and deeping the established lore of the Force. And really, it’s the payoff for the setup established in The Phantom Menace.
• This is the carrot on the stick that Palpatine offers to Anakin that lures him to the Dark Side. Given the dramatic irony, we all know what’s coming, and it’s all the more tragic to see and understand how it all unfolds. It makes Anakin and his motivations sympathetic. Understanding Anakin is a venture into a complicated nest of love, hate, hormones, disillusionment, conflicting desires, unfulfilled dreams, and a maddening desire to realize his full potential as the “chosen one.” But it all becomes unified under the one thing he cares about the most: Padme. The film sets up his fall arc by putting her in danger, and Palpatine offers the solution. This is all made even more tragic (and ironic) given that it’s Anakin’s fault that Padme dies in the end. But none of it would have happened if it wasn’t for Palpatine’s initial hint bomb at the Blob Opera.
• It’s not like Palpatine drops this information right away—it’s strategically placed when his first piece of bait fails. This whole conversation starts when Palpatine accuses the Jedi of being selfish. Anakin has every reason to agree with him, given that they’ve denied him certain privileges throughout the movies and treated him as an inferior pupil (not to mention the sh*t that happened to his apprentice, Ahsoka, in the Clone Wars CGI cartoon). Despite all this, Anakin still defends the Jedi Order and insists that they’re selfless. It shows that there’s still a desire for him to remain good and loyal. This is something that helps deepen Anakin’s character, and it throws a wrench in Palpatine’s conversation (thus prompting the Darth Plagueis story—if Palps can’t lure Anakin in with vengeance, then he does so by offering the one thing he wants the most).

Everything Is Proceeding Exactly As We’ve Foreseen

Something familiar about these walls...

Prequels—when you go into one, there’s always an expectation that certain pieces have to align to match up with their counterparts. Star Wars has a lot of moving parts and relationships that require some attention, and in lesser hands some pieces could have been mis-aligned or dropped. Fortunately, Episode III does cover a lot of detail that become important for Episode IV and beyond. It is inherently satisfying to see these checkboxes marked—if they weren’t it’d be unsatisfactory. By nature, viewers want things to make sense.

• One detail that would have driven me nuts is R2-D2’s and C-3PO’s knowledge of the prequel events. Since they appear in Episode IV as the catalysts for the next adventure, it wouldn’t really make any sense for them to roll up to the Lars homestead, and Obi-Wan, and not recognize anything. R2 probably does, but will slyly keep things to himself. It’ll even give more background to the mention of a “secret mission” that C-3PO is oblivious to. By necessity, C-3PO had to have his memory erased in Episode III, and thankfully that happens with just a few passing lines. Smooth move Lucas—in just a few seconds, you’ve patched up a potential gap.
• It’s a given that Padme gives birth to Luke and Leia and they’re split up at birth. I really wish Bail Organa had more screen time—we actually do see him in Attack of the Clones, but I don’t even think he’s called by name so you never really know it’s him until he takes possession of Leia. There is potential here to have given him a bigger part of the story—maybe even a bigger arc to show why he wants to adopt a daughter, but as it is the film procedurally has him whisk Leia away to Alderaan. Like many things in the prequels, it’s something that feels like it has to happen because events demand it, but not because the characters do. In the same vein, Luke is whisked to Tatooine to live with his literal uncle and aunt.
• I am happy to see the Tantive IV used as the  central location for Bail, Obi-Wan, and Yoda to escape the Coruscant upheaval and figure things out. This is the ship that'll eventually be captured in the beginning of A New Hope (and it's also shown in Rogue One to show explicitly how Leia acquired the Death Star plans, although I question why a princess had to be involved with that battle). It also makes sense that C-3PO being on the ship would eventually result in him (and R2 supposedly) becoming Captain Antilles' property.
• Death Star construction. I mean, I don't think it's necessary to see it happen, but the film shows it all the same.
• Ship designs. There are occasional throwbacks with things like Darth Maul's ship, but in Revenge of the Sith we can see more clearly how the Republic cruisers become more and more similar to Imperial Star Destroyers. It's not much of a stretch to picture the clone troopers being retired in favor of similarly-armored stormtroopers.
• When Obi-Wan defeats General Greivious with a blaster, he tosses the weapon aside and remarks, "So uncivilized!" A clear callback to Obi-Wan's lines in A New Hope, in which he describes the lightsaber as having a "civilized edge." I always liked this connection—smooth move Lucas.
• Force ghosts become a possibility. We never actually see them throughout any of the prequels, but by the end of Revenge of the Sith Yoda reveals that Qui-Gon has found a way to communicate from beyond the grave, and Obi-Wan will go on to learn the same skill. This sets things up for their respective appearances in Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, and The Last Jedi. I still feel as though the afterlife and its role in Force lore is weakly explored in the movies, but for the intent of substantiating the appearances of ghosts, this passing exposition is just fine.

A Hero Falls

He's got that crazy look in his eyes again...

The biggest checkbox that the film must check is the one that stipulates how exactly Anakin Skywalker turned into Darth Vader. This is a checkbox that took three whole movies to tell, but most of the legwork is accomplished in Revenge of the Sith. The best that can be said about The Phantom Menace is that it introduced the characters, but that's about it. Attack of the Clones brought Anakin and Padme together, and it scooched Anakin a little closer to the Dark Side, but that's it.

Revenge of the Sith paints Anakin in a more convincing light by removing most of the whining he exhibited in the last movie. He still pouts a little when he's denied his Jedi Master status, but who wouldn't? Anakin becomes a puppet for a short time, first being asked to spy on Palpatine for the Jedi, then asked by Palpatine to spy on the Jedi. What's a guy to do, especially with children on the way from a secret wife who might be in danger? The political and situational stress makes Anakin's turn interesting. His decisions have weight, and we understand why he makes the calls he does. The motivators—love, family, destiny—are pretty compelling, even when it amounts to him trying too hard to control too much. Inevitably, lines are crossed and his deeds become worse and worse until he lands himself on a world that reflects his own hell—with lava and everything.

In the end, this is all the stuff that I admire the most about the prequel movies and Revenge of the Sith delivered a solid payoff. The last couple of movies had their ups and downs, but in this last film it plays out fairly organically and compelling enough to make the experience memorable and insightful. Folks might still complain about how whiny Anakin was, but I appreciate the depth and antiheroic characteristics that would eventually transform into one of the most iconic villains of cinema.

We've always known that the Star Wars prequels would go this route—to tell a villain's origin story rather than a typical good-vs-evil fable, which is what the original trilogy is. As the controversy around the upcoming Joker film proves, telling a villain's story is not as easy as describing evil deeds. Even when said deeds are shown in an appropriately horrifying light, people can still look up to villains if they're shown to be cool, charismatic, iconic, or if they embody ideals that people connect to. Plenty of people will dress up as Alex DeLarge or quote Tyler Durden because they seemed cool and their stories drew sympathy for underscoring the failings of the societies they inhabit (which can either be a reflection of our world, or a possible future). And yet, I've never seen anybody put Anakin up on a pedestal or use Revenge of the Sith as an inspiration for shootings or other such crimes. I've never even seen the classic Vader image invoked in such a way. I suspect Star Wars never draws this kind of negative attention because of the following reasons:

• It's a fantasy. Clear as day, we can all see that the Star Wars universe is a goofy, colorful place with magic, made-up societies, aliens, and the like. Other movies strike so close to reality that the line blurs more and people can connect to villains easier. Vader is too far displaced from reality for audiences to connect to in that manner.
• I have the impression that Lucas was well aware of his intentions in telling a villain's story, going so far as having this film rated PG-13. Anakin's crimes are treated as grim. Despite all the movie's camp, nobody laughs it off or disrupts the gravitas. The cinematography and music ensure that we feel the weight of his deeds. Even though Padme claims there's still good in Anakin, nobody makes excuses for his actions, and Obi-Wan goes to lengths to hold him accountable. The villain is not treated as a hero here, and he is not glorified.
• In that same vein, nothing Anakin does leads to anything particularly good. He doesn't become wealthy, powerful, handsome, or even free. He's deformed, burned alive, and doomed to a life in a life-support suit serving the Emperor. Vader's soul is full of shame, anger, and dead dreams. People may look up to Tony Montana for the whole "world is yours" theme, and people watch Scarface to experience wish fulfillment, but nobody does this to Vader. Nobody wants to live his life.
• Anakin may be the film's protagonist, but he's not the sole character. Obi-Wan is the real hero of this story, and he works with other good people (like Yoda, Bail, Padme) to withstand the Emperor's takeover. The line between good and evil is still pretty clear, even if Anakin's morality remains gray. It helps that the film maintains an objective stance thanks to its multiple points of view and Lucas' penchant for wider camera angles. From a distance, we can see what's coming for Anakin and we can't help but to shake our heads as he crosses lines, passes points of no return, and succumbs to evil.

There Is Good

I’ve written quite a few nitpicks, which might make the film sound more like a chore and a bore than it really is. In truth, I can overlook many of these issues to get to the good stuff. I do think there’s room for improvement, but here are some reasons why I still love the film:

• The Battle of Coruscant is one of my favorite battle scenes in the series. I still feel chills when the camera pans down after the opening crawl and we hear drums as a Republic ship floats in view. It’s inherently awesome how the camera follows Anakin and Obi-Wan into the heart of battle—that moment when their fighters bank and the camera turns with them to show the first glimpse of the fighting is a jaw-dropping move that really makes you, the viewer, feel as though you could plummet into the atmosphere and into combat. The tracking shot continues between ships and through explosions—even when the first cuts happen, the sequence is packed with so much detail that it’s consistently fantastic to watch.
• The visuals alone aren’t what makes the battle so great through. For well over forty minutes, we’re glued to watching Anakin and Obi-Wan storm the Invisible Hand in an ongoing sequence of events that is basically one problem after another. Precisely the same pattern that made the original trilogy engaging. This even extends to some amusing scenes where R2 trolls some battle droids—hardly necessary, but at least it’s a payoff for introducing the leg rockets in the last episode. But the most interesting scenes are the ones in which Obi-Wan and Anakin confront Count Dooku, and inevitably face General Grievious. 
• Last time we saw Jedi storming a starship (in the Phantom Menace), they were dang near invincible. On the Invisible Hand, they are put to the test further as they are captured by ray shields, and their lightsabers are matched by guards with electric staffs (and can fight without their heads). 
• What I found most impressive is how the film seamlessly segues into one last massive problem—the ship is crashing, and without escape pods to use their only solution is to take control of the ship itself and hope to control its descent. This is the first time in the series we see a ship of this size crash into a planet, so it does seem like a big-scale problem that would have seemed impossible for any other set of heroes. The fact that Anakin pulls it off is another epic feat that helps build up the legend he represents. Not to mention, having the massive ship skid to a halt is a heck of a way to end the battle (and I love how the camera remains still as the ship moves towards it, and the heroes come into view through the bridge windows). 
• Above all, when Anakin has Dooku at the tip of the lightsabers, I love the way Palpatine says "DEW IT!" 

Anakin very much enjoying the slaughter of battle.

• Even though it often feels like these prequel movies throw in everything and the kitchen sink in every scene, I do admire how unabashedly the films flaunt their imaginative concepts and designs around. In Revenge of the Sith, I was quite enamored by: 
• General Grievious—love his design, love how he can turn into a walking blender with lightsabers, and I find it interesting that he has living organs beneath his plating. I actually wish there could have been more background to that, because this pretty much classifies him as a cyborg, and he remains the only one we see in the movies.
• Obi-Wan riding a giant lizard. Need we say any more? 
• During the Order 66 scene, we see a montage of awesome worlds where terrible things happen. A battle over giant bridges in the sky. A Jedi gunned down on a colorful jungle planet (take that Avatar). Jedis on speeder bikes in the rain. In a matter of minutes, we see enough to understand how limitless the environments of the Star Wars galaxy is (and this also extends to the few shots we see of Alderaan, which looks really nice. And Kashyyk). 
• Mustafar—the volcano planet. Holy crap, that place is wicked.
• Naboo ships with their chrome finish are still pretty cool. 
• There are a few shots in Revenge of the Sith that goes above-and-beyond normal cinematic conventions and elicit thought and feeling through pure imagery. Some of the shots that I find most compelling are: 
• The long tracking shot that opens the film, following the two fighters into the heart of battle.
• During Obi-Wan's duel with General Grievious, there are two shots where the camera pushes in on an extreme close-up of both characters' eyes. This is the first (and I think the only) time a Star Wars film does this. I have a feeling it's an effect directly lifted from Sergio Leone's The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly, which had many shots like this to create tension during its dueling scenes. In Revenge of the Sith, it's a very brief cut that seems to underscore the intensity of the two characters' fight. I love it for the same reason I love the western-inspired shots in The Matrix (you know, the bit where Neo and Smith stand-off and a newspaper passes between them like a tumbleweed)—in both cases, the movies are using a common cinematic cliche to quickly and wordlessly convey a specific idea or emotion, and in both cases it works.
• There is a scene where Anakin and Padme are separated by some distance, but they both stare out windows at the Coruscant cityscape. Visually, it’s extraordinary in the sense that the movie uses subjective camera angles to show us what they’re seeing—Anakin sees the building Padme’s in, and she sees the Jedi Temple in the distance. The city shots are great, but it’s not the pretty view we’re seeing—it’s the longing between them, and it’s Anakin’s affirmation that he must do what he has to do save Padme. All of this, coupled with the eerie music, ratchets up the tension and gives weight behind his final decision (which leads to him intervening in Palpatine’s arrest). In fact, the music is the only sound we hear—in a series that's mostly noise and dialogue, this is one of the very few scenes where silence underscores an important scene. Of all the scenes in the prequels, this brief moment hits me hard because it is a turning point. 
• When Anakin storms the Jedi Temple, the scene in which he murders the younglings consists only of him framed to the side igniting his lightsaber. Then it cuts away. That’s all that’s needed, and it’s a tasteful way of showing a dark, unforgivable atrocity. 
• Once Palpatine announces the creation of the Galactic Empire, he is shown raising his hands up in front of the whole senate. Coupled with Padme’s “this is how democracy dies” line, it’s just ominous and chilling. 
• The Order 66 scene is crammed full of awesome shots showcasing awesome worlds and awesome things. However, it’s also a montage of horrible murders across the galaxy, and thanks to the way the sound fades and the music score, it does strike a sorrowful tone. 
• After Anakin murders everybody gathered at Mustafar, there are at least a couple of shots where he looks at (or close to) the camera and we can see his eyes turning yellow. It’s a little jarring, but I can appreciate it as a theatrical way of showing his corruption and downfall. I also feel for him when he’s shown crying.
• When Obi-Wan first confronts Anakin, the staging and framing of these shots are generally okay, but there is one neat shot showing both their heads in frame, both facing the camera, with Mustafar’s hellscape behind them. 
• During the Obi-Wan / Anakin duel, there’s an epic moment when the two lunge at each other with lava blasting in the background and the music score swells. Holy crap, that hits right in the feels.
• Near the end, scenes of Vader's operation and Padme giving birth are intercut, and it is pretty smart how the two scenes run parallel. On one hand, Padme is giving life and ultimately dies doing so. On the other, the life Anakin knew is gone and he's reborn as Vader. The two threads have some visual parallels (both characters on operating tables), and there are are a few visual motifs (such as Vader's table resembling the Imperial symbol).
• The scene where Vader’s helmet lowers onto his scarred face—it’s spot-on. 
• The movie’s last shot—a Tatooine sunset—very nicely mirrors the Binary Sunset shot from A New Hope. And really, this movie ends with the promise that a new hope is literally coming with the next generation. It’s not exactly a scene that wallops me, because I always knew the film would end this way, but it is nicely-composed. It’s also a refreshing break from all the other movies that show the heroes lined up in a composed manner—this is just Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru staring into the sunset, acting naturally, but still positioned in an invoking way.
• John Williams' music score is on-point as usual. The "Battle of the Heroes" is the highlight piece here and like the movie scenes it's grand, dark, and operatic.

The biggest thing to love is the story, plain and simple. Lucas spent two whole films setting up characters, events, and entire worlds for this specific moment in which Anakin becomes Darth Vader. The payoff is satisfying—not only because it's so action-packed, but because the motivations and reasoning behind the character is explored with enough detail for him to make sense. By definition, this is decent storytelling.

Darth Vader...Rise

Here it comes...the last helmet you'll ever wear.

On its own, Revenge of the Sith can be seen as a downer. Its focus is primarily on a man's downfall—the climax of a long string of morally-confusing circumstances that forces him to make wrong decisions and commit evil deeds to achieve things that wind up slipping from his fingers. A tragedy to the end.

But it does end with the promise of hope—literally, leading into A New Hope as Luke is dropped off with his aunt and uncle on Tatooine. Obi-Wan will be there to watch him grow up from a distance. C-3PO and R2-D2 will hang around the Tantive IV, which will surely appear again in the midst of battle. Leia will become a princess of Alderaan. Yoda will hang out in the swamp. All pieces scattered throughout the galaxy that will become the path of a new generation of heroes, who may succeed where Anakin previously failed.

Perhaps in this respect, Revenge of the Sith can't really be seen on its own merits, but as a supplement to the original trilogy. This is what would make the machete order appealing (that is, to watch the movies in the order of episodes 4, 5, 1, 2, 3, 6, so the prequels become a sort of extended flashback). It's both the culmination of the prequel movies and a bridge to the originals. Even though it feels complete in how it arranges its pieces, it's still something that hinges on the success of previously told stories.

However, I still think it's a good story told fairly well, despite all the quirks and camp. It might not be as triumphant as Luke's arc, but the tragedy of Darth Vader is a compelling tale that I can appreciate on many viewings.