“May the 4th” is right around the corner, and in honor of this fantastic holiday, Disney and Lucasfilm decided to please Star Wars fans around the world and re-release George Lucas’ 2005 film “Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith,” just in time for the film’s 20th anniversary. Since the film came out, opinions have changed drastically, going from pure hatred to ecstatic love. With this most recent screening, it became clear to me that “Revenge of the Sith” is one of the greatest cinematic blockbusters ever made.
The best place to start when discussing not just “Revenge of the Sith,” but Lucas’ entire prequel trilogy, is the ground-breaking special effects done by Lucas’ visual effects studio Industrial Light & Magic and the impressive production value seen on screen.
Before “The Phantom Menace” was released in 1999, digital environments and characters — a technique we frequently see in movies today — were very uncommon. “Attack of the Clones” (2002) was the first major film to be shot mainly with digital cameras. Lucas pioneered such techniques in his movies, and since their release, the Star Wars prequel trilogy quickly became the gold standard for blending practical and visual effects, a standard only recently surpassed by the “Dune” films, in my opinion. “Revenge of the Sith” benefits the most from this new era of CGI, with characters like General Grievous and Yoda looking just as real and lifelike today as they were in 2005.
The performances in “Revenge of the Sith” are also by far the best in the trilogy. Ewan McGregor, Hayden Christensen and Natalie Portman all give their best, bringing nuance and emotion to their characters, something which lacked in the prior two installments. Ian McDiarmid, however, is the real star of the film. Brilliantly deceptive and evil as Emperor Palpatine, McDiarmid properly returns to the role he made famous in 1983’s “Return of the Jedi.” Lastly, I particularly love seeing one of my favorite characters from “The West Wing” — my favorite show — in these movies. Jimmy Smits, who plays Senator Bail Organa, also played Congressman Matthew Santos in seasons 6-7 of “The West Wing” from 2004-05.
John Williams returns to do the music for “Revenge of the Sith” and is as masterful as ever. He effortlessly brings back familiar themes and leitmotifs while incorporating new, beautiful and powerful music. Costume designer Trisha Biggar creates gorgeous and elegant costumes for each and every character and alien race or culture in the film. Academy Award-winning sound designer Ben Burtt also returns, making this Star Wars movie sound as unique and otherworldly as the rest.
“Revenge of the Sith” wraps up an innovative and inspiring film trilogy that has tragic and heartbreaking storytelling mixed with rousing action and heroic characters. Getting the opportunity to watch the film on the big screen was an incredible experience, making me, for the first time in a while, feel like a little kid again. “Revenge of the Sith” has made over $25 million at the box office during its re-release window.
Rating: 4.5/5
