"Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith"

Title: "Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith"

Director: George Lucas
Producers: R. McCallum and G. Lucas
Editing: R. Barton and B. Burt
Composer: John Williams
Starring:
- Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi
- Natalie Portman as Queen Padme Amidala
- Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker
- Ian McDiamid as Palpatine/Darth Sidious
- Christopher Lee as Count Dooku
- Anthony Daniels as C-3PO
- Kenny Baker as RD-D2
- Frank Oz as 'The Voice Of' Yoda
- Samuel L. Jackson as Mace Windu
- Peter Mayhew as Chewbacca

Plot and Critical Review: The Galactic Republic is on the verge of collapse under the stress of the Clone Wars,which have been raging between the Republic and the Separatists. General Grievous, the cyborg commander of the Separatist Droid Army, kidnaps Supreme Chancellor Palpatine in a surprise attack on the capital and attempts to escape. Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi quickly respond in launching a mission to rescue the Chancellor. They confront the Sith Lord Count Dooku in a lightsaber fight which ends with Anakin decapitating Count Dooku in cold blood at Palpatine's urging. The Jedi free the Chancellor and attempt to escape but Grievous traps them inside of his spaceship and escapes. Anakin pilots the disintegrating flagship and manages a crash landing on Coruscant. There, Anakin reunites with his Padmé who reveals that she is pregnant. Anakin is overjoyed of the news of becoming a father but begins having nightmares of Padmé dying in childbirth. Anakin resolves to prevent these nightmares from becoming a reality.

Palpatine places Anakin on the Jedi Council as his representative. The Council, who fear that Palpatine is abusing his power, order Anakin to secretly monitor him, while denying the headstrong Jedi the rank of Master. Angered by the insult and instructions to commit what he believes to be treason, Anakin begins to lose faith in the Jedi. Concurrently, he becomes intrigued when Palpatine tells him the story of Darth Plagueis, a Sith Lord with the power to prevent death, an ability which is said to be only be gained through the dark side of the Force.

Obi-Wan is sent to the planet Utapau where he engages and kills General Grievous. Palpatine later reveals himself to Anakin as the Sith Lord Darth Sidious who has been controlling both sides of the war. Anakin reports Palpatine's treachery to Mace Windu who engages and subdues Palpatine in a lightsaber duel. During the duel, Windu deflects Palpatine's Force lightning back onto its source, deforming Palpatine's face. Anakin enters the room where this is taking place after the point at which he could have seen that it was Palpatine who initiated the attack on Windu. This predisposes Anakin to be on the side of Palpatine rather than the Jedi. Anakin intervenes and cut off Windu's dueling hand before he can execute Palpatine. Palpatine kills Windu. Realizing he has instantly alienated himself from the entire Jedi Order and the only one who can protect him is Palpatine, Anakin submits himself to Palpatine, kneels, and is named Darth Vader.

Palpatine orders the clone troopers throughout the galaxy to kill their Jedi Generals and sends Vader to the Jedi Temple to kill the Jedi there. Vader does as he is commanded then travels to Mustafar to assassinate the Separatist leaders. Meanwhile, in the Galactic Senate, Palpatine condemns the the duel with Mace Windu as an anti-democratic assassination attempt and tells the (very few) remaining Senators what this supposedly means — that the two-faced, self-betraying Republic has to be "reorganized" into a Galactic Empire for "peace" and for its own good. Palpatine declares himself the Emperor.

Obi-Wan and Jedi Master Yoda discover Anakin's transformation into Vader by watching the security tapes in the Jedi Temple. They split up to confront Vader and Palpatine. Obi-Wan talks with Padmé, who refuses to believe that her husband has turned to the dark side, and travels to Mustafar to confront him personally. Anakin resists her pleas to flee from Palpatine's grasp, saying that they can overthrow Palpatine and rule the galaxy themselves; a horrified Padmé realizes that Obi-Wan was right, that her husband is truly lost. When Vader sees Obi-Wan, who secretly stowed away on Padmé's ship, he uses the Force to choke her into unconsciousness, believing that Obi-Wan turned Padmé against him. Obi-Wan and Vader engage in a fierce lightsaber duel that nearly takes both their lives. Obi-Wan finally gaves the advantage of the higher ground and, when Vader attempts a challenging maneuver, cuts Vader down. Vader is immolated as his body slides too close to a lava flow. Obi-Wan takes Vader's lightsaber and leaves him to die.

Meanwhile, Yoda confronts and fights Palpatine, but is forced to escape when their duel ends in a stalemate. Padmé gives birth to twins, whom she names Luke and Leia. Having lost the will to live because of Anakin's betrayal, she passes away after the babies are safely delivered.

Palpatine rescues Vader and resuscitates his body with cybernetic limbs, black armor and a respirator. When Vader inquires about Padmé, Palpatine informs him that he killed her in his own anger. Palpatine's words break what remains of Anakin's spirit and he screams in torment, destroying objects around him with the Force. Anakin Skywalker has ended and only Darth Vader remains. Vader is last seen at Palpatine's side as the two witness the construction of the Death Star.

Since the Skywalker children are the last hope for the galaxy, Senator Organa adopts Leia and takes her to Alderaan, while Obi-Wan takes Luke to Tatooine and entrusts him to the care of his stepfamily, Owen and Beru Lars. The film closes with Owen and Beru holding Luke before a dazzling twin-sunset over the desert of Tatooine.

With Episode II behind him, George Lucas had one more chance to redeem himself and save the beloved "Star Wars" franchise. That's not to say it was in danger of being lost or forsaken by fans, for the universal popularity of the "original" trilogy could not be undone by a few poorly written prequel films. But there was a certain sort of tension surrounding "Revenge Of The Sith" that normally belongs to films which close a series. Even though the end of the story was already known, Episode III was the final piece of the puzzle. Would Lucas dare to let this one slide into mediocrity as he had Episode II? (Whether he "let it slide" is questionable, but I think we can agree that that's where Episode II ended up.)

Fortunately for us (and his own reputation) Lucas was able to deliver an acceptable science-fiction film. Episode III didn't come out perfectly, not by any means, but it was as close as Lucas got in the prequel trilogy to the feel of the original "Star Wars" films. I'd be in error if I went any further without mentioning John Williams' incredible contributions as "composer in residence" to the "Star Wars" universe. His epic scores and emotional melodies set a new standard for film composers in general.

Fans and critics alike generally embraced "Revenge..." as being the best of the three prequel films. But in spite of such claims you're hard pressed to find two "Star Wars" fans who can honestly agree upon which of the films (all 6) is the best. But that is no real surprise when considering the strong personal opinions surrounding this series of films.

My Rating: 7/10

Content to Caution:
V-3 - Sci-fi action and violence throughout. Many Jedi (including children) are killed. Death scenes are much bloodier than previous films, thus the PG-13 rating.
L-.5 - Almost nothing offensive to report.
DU-0 - No comment.
RT-0 - No comment.
H/S-2 - No comment.
CH-.5 - No comment.
S/N-.5 - A kiss or two.

The "Reel Revelation": "A Galaxy (Not So) Far, Far Away - Pt. 3"

"The Chosen One" turns to the Dark Side and it seems all hope is lost. And hope is lost, for the fate of the galaxy depended upon on Anakin bringing balance to The Force and restoring order and peace. We know that Anakin has become a Sith Lord, but we also know that he's become one not just for the sake of being a Sith Lord, but to learn how to save Padme from death. He's convinced himself that all of this is worthwhile for the sake of his wife and child. With such pure intentions, maybe he's right... In the beginning when he was but exploring the idea of the Dark Side with Chancellor Palpatine, his intentions were quite noble, indeed, but the nearer he got to the power of the Dark Side the more intoxicated he became with his newfound skills and capabilities. He testified to his desire to save his wife and child, but he probably only did so for the sake of public appearance, even though the inner transformation was obvious. When Anakin became Darth Vader, whatever purity he carried in his intentions was immediately swallowed up by greed, lust, and the unfulfillable desire for power and dominion. If he really cared about Padme and their child, those sentiments were quickly lost. He became a servant of the Dark Side and nothing more. Remember that he genuinely wanted to safe his wife and child (he didn't know until much later on that Padme had twins) in the beginning, but by the end he barely had any recollection of their existence.

Have you ever wanted something so badly you were willing to do anything to get it? We throw around one-liners like "I'd kill for that!" or "What i'd give to have that." Would you really kill? Are you really thinking about how far you'd go to get what you want? And if, after this desire had been building and building within you and an opportunity finally presented itself, would you be willing to commit an act of evil to fulfill your longing? I realize that we'll apply this in different ways for we all have desires specific to our person. For an example let's consider a man who desires a specific car and another man who desires a specific woman. The two men don't share the same desire, just as you and your neighbor probably don't. Even so, it's entirely possible that both men are willing to go the same distance to get what they want. Think it through...have you ever felt that way? There's no need to beat around the bush here...we're all capable of committing unthinkable acts to get what we want. If you think you aren't, you're committing one.

We manage to keep our distance from committing such acts by reminding ourselves that what God has given us is better and more fulfilling than anything we should desire when left to choose for ourselves. God knows that our eyes are lazy and our hearts weak to the lure of what the world can offer. To that end we do well to remind ourselves that God said "My grace is sufficient for you..." (2 Cor. 12:9), and that in walking with the Lord we "shall not want" for anything. (Psalm 23:1b)

Beyond a regiment of daily encouragement and profession of faith we do very well, indeed, to avoid any amount of slackening or compromise when it comes to sinful behavior, for we know that we do not sin for its own sake, but we do it to achieve what we want. C.S. Lewis offers these words on the topic at hand:

"You can be good for the mere sake of goodness: you cannot be bad for the mere sake of badness. You can do a kind action when you are not feeling kind and when it gives you no pleasure, simply because kindness is right; but no one ever did a cruel action simply because cruelty is wrong - only because cruelty was pleasant or useful to him." (C.S. Lewis - Mere Christianity, Book Two, Chapter 2)

A man does not carry a hammer around just to give the appearance that he is working on a project. He is probably working on a project!

A woman does not turn an oven on just to remind herself that she needs to bake a ham for Easter Supper. She's actually going to bake a ham!

We don't do those things for their own sake, and if we did people would think us quite out of our minds. Nor do we sin for its own sake. If you have ever committed a sinful act that brought you pleasure, pleasure was probably your goal. Or perhaps your goal was to receive recognition, praise, even assistance! Too easily do we fall back into our natural inclinations to "sin first and ask forgiveness later". Too easily do we look to our own resources (which lead to the flesh, which almost always leads to sin) to get what we want. Too easily do we turn our faces away from Heaven and ignore God's hand of providence and plenty.

"In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us." (Ephesians 1:7-8a)

Humble yourself ask God to "lavish" His love upon you. Drink deeply of the water He offers. Quench your thirst in His Word and feed upon His promises. May your boast be in the Lord, and your delight and desire in God alone.

See you tomorrow- E.T.