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The cars never stop flying inRevenge of the Sith.
Evil frogcroaks a victory cackle.
And outside the window, air traffic flows on peaceful through the starlight city.
Where are all these people driving, anyway?
Dont they know theres a star war on?
The screenplay byGeorge Lucaskeeps insisting that youre watching very important things happen.
Coups clash against countercoups.
So this is how liberty dies, Padme Amidala (Natalie Portman) claims, With thunderous applause.
One unexpected attribute of this final prequel, though, is how uncaring this cinematic universe seems to be.
Not much applause, really, and no sorrow either.
The effect is palpable, probably an accident.
Does Mace Windu ever even touchanythingin this whole trilogy?
How many characters spend their onscreen life patrolling digital nonspace, staring blank at computerized nothing?
But how many of us walk down the street looking into our smartphones?
Credit to Palpatine, who does complete his plan to officially rule what he already unofficially dominates.
What a rare darkwizard in the long history of fiction.
He achieves demonic omniscience, and then spends a few decades gradually increasing the power of the executive branch.
This is a rigid parliamentary focus is part ofSiths weird power.
The bad guy in this movie can braincloud the communal sixth sense of the Jedi magi caste.
He can sizzle-finger lighting rays out of his hands.
Its very possible that he has created an emotionally malformed Space Christ using midichlorian lifejuice.
And his boldest inciting move the single most destructive plot point inStar Warshistory!
is his controversial appointment of a personal representative to the Jedi Council.
This devil buries himself deep in the details.
Hes a bureaucratic nightmare.
Meanwhile, some of the digital effects have weight, for a change.
But sometimes the worst thing a movie can be is coherent.
The Republic is a boring society without much obvious culture or inspiration, dominated by stratas of elitism.
Its a Jet Age contrivance, like zeppelin docks on skyscrapers.
Nothing remotely modern about the fashion, though.
The future Emperor keeps claiming that the Jedi are doing the bad things hes doing.
All the best moments inSithare Emperor-adjacent.
He fires electricity at Windu, which gets lightsabered right back at him.
McDiarmids performance is flirtatious even as he turns lizardly.
The actor clearly relishes playing 4D chess all over the Jedi Orders dopey mental checkerboard.
In one vivid scene, Palpatine tells Anakin the tale of Darth Plagueis.
It could merely be a very cool bad-guy-reveals-himself scene.
Unless, that is, you think theres a coded message being delivered.
The Dark Side, apparently, allowed Plagueis and his nameless apprentice to create life.
An interesting thing to tell a young man conceived of virgin birth!
Are we meant to read subtext: I Am Your Father, redux?
It would be so unlike anything else in the George Lucas filmography, where everything obvious requires explanation.
Did the Emperor create Anakin?
Or rather: Did he impregnate Anakins mom without her realizing it?
Thats dark matter for a wholeStar Warsrevision.
Most blockbuster movies offer happy endings.
Even bittersweet fantasies tend to be reassuring, promising self-sacrifice or new beginnings for noble survivors.
So there will always be a place forRevenge of the Sithin every conversation about whatStar Warscan be.
Is it fun to watch?
That sounds too sour.
I have an odd respect for the prequels.
The aesthetic is somehow blandandweird: sashcapes and muumuucore, columns next to sofa circles.
There are some cool action scenes inSiththat fail to have anything to do with anything.
Yoda hangs out with Wookies and then stops hanging out with Wookies.
Grievous rides an awesomely ludicrous personal speeder that is a giant wheel with legs.
The fanciest grandees in Coruscant watch giant undulating bubbles in an opera house.
There is one single shot fromRevenge of the Siththat fascinates me.
Its a random crosscut in the middle of the Windu-Palpatine battle.
Anakin has been racing to rescue the Dark Lord.
The physical production design looks even faker, uncomfortable sofas next to rivets.
The whole room orbits the midpoint, because this universe watches holograms instead of television.
InSith, Anakin wants to save his family.
Padme is pregnant; hes seeing visions of her death.
Its a vintageTwilight Zonearc, the hero creating his own dark fate.
It could be the most vivid piece of biographical storytelling that Lucas offered his wholeStar Warsseries.
The filmmaker was a family man: Single father to three children, who all appear briefly inSith.
His son, Jett, plays a youngling killed by Clone Troopers.
Cool cameo for your kid, maybe or a dramatization of the precise fear motivating Anakin toward ruination.
I dont think Lucas conceived this second trilogy in terms of self-expression, though.
Is there a place that feels familiar in this mega-city, after three movies?
Is Anakin a tragic figure?
I think hes a compelling dummy.
He claims hes doing everything for love, but relationship he cares most about is the mentorship of Palpatine.
The soon-to-be-Emperor fawns over Anakins heroism, while the Jedi scorn his egomania.
The love of a powerful man turns the young Knight against his closest allies.
Youre sounding like a Separatist!
You think of husbands in totalitarian regimes who turn in their wives for crimes against the state.
He uses his Dark Side powers to become the first Jedi Knight on record to perform Force-mediated spousal abuse.
He declares that he has brought peace, freedom, justice and security to my new empire.
Theres a version of this story where he comes off as dangerously cool.
Pick your bold young director circa 2005 who couldve turned Anakin Skywalker into a moody aspirational badass.
The limp dialogue and flat performance works a moral purpose.Sithreduces Anakins grandiosity to grasping pointlessness.
Hes a patsy who thinks hes a freedom fighter.
This moment of sorrow is the trilogys victory lap.
Here he is, viewer, your favorite character!
(This scene even played in the first teaser.)
Dont underrate the deflating effects ofSith, though.
Turns out that even Darth Vader was just a dope in a Darth Vader costume.
[Next:The Force Awakens]
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