This is arguably the most frustrating Star Wars film to watch, right next to The Last Jedi. There are aspects that on paper could be really exciting. There are aspects in this movie that if polished could have been phenomenal. But there is always something holding this film back from being the amazing masterpiece people claim it to be.
Palpatine is probably the closest to perfect in this film. Sidious is a bit hard to take seriously towards the end but he still works as an over-the-top evil character. He's evil and he loves being evil. That is always a treat to watch and Ian Mc Diarmid does a great job. The music is also pretty damn close to perfect and you can tell that John Williams went all out. Problem is the sound editing and mixing of soundtracks leaves something to be desired as you can tell he has to make awkward edits to accommodate the poor pacing. Why George couldn't ensure that it is his scenes that sync to the music as opposed to making John have to do this is baffling. Lastly the effects, while dated, aren't the worst for a 2005 movie and at times you get a cool background. The actors are also really trying to make this terrible script work. Hayden especially is trying to make this work and I feel bad for the guy.
The faults with this film is for the fact that it comes across as a bit anti-climactic. This is supposed to be the epic finale to the Clone Wars and a horrible tragedy, but Anakin's motivations are incredibly suspect and his decisions don't add up. If we pretend that the Clone Wars TV series didn't happen, and went just off these movies, you are left confused, annoyed and irritated at how Anakin doesn't seem to have agency in his decisions nor is his fall paced out well. This makes certain events like the betrayal of the Jedi, turning against Padme and Obi-Wan and joining Palpatine feel lacking. This also extends to how the scenes seem to lack energy as characters are talking with flat tones and how they seem to just walk around in every scene. Everything looks dull with the CGI backgrounds and the longer you watch it the more tedious this feels. There is a difference between being slow-paced and being sluggishly-paced and unfortunately I can't help but feel that this film is in the later category. And then a bunch of Jedi get killed in Order 66, and we know nothing about any of these people, and suddenly a bunch of stuff happens.
Revenge of the Sith feels like an inconsistent movie. I can see the elements of tragedy in the story and this could be really heartbreaking if given better writing. But the plot for that story is mishandled and it is both trying to be too dark while also not dark enough. The emotional beats are afterthoughts, and all the emphasis is on the effects and exposition dependent script. And the narrative is also both too short and too long, and it could have been polished into being one or the other instead of haphazardly being both. This film is frustrating to think about and when I see the good I can't help but also see the bad. It feels incomplete.
An Incomplete Epic that wants to be a tragedy
This is arguably the most frustrating Star Wars film to watch, right next to The Last Jedi. There are aspects that on paper could be really exciting. There are aspects in this movie that if polished could have been phenomenal. But there is always something holding this film back from being the amazing masterpiece people claim it to be.
Palpatine is probably the closest to perfect in this film. Sidious is a bit hard to take seriously towards the end but he still works as an over-the-top evil character. He's evil and he loves being evil. That is always a treat to watch and Ian Mc Diarmid does a great job. The music is also pretty damn close to perfect and you can tell that John Williams went all out. Problem is the sound editing and mixing of soundtracks leaves something to be desired as you can tell he has to make awkward edits to accommodate the poor pacing. Why George couldn't ensure that it is his scenes that sync to the music as opposed to making John have to do this is baffling. Lastly the effects, while dated, aren't the worst for a 2005 movie and at times you get a cool background. The actors are also really trying to make this terrible script work. Hayden especially is trying to make this work and I feel bad for the guy.
The faults with this film is for the fact that it comes across as a bit anti-climactic. This is supposed to be the epic finale to the Clone Wars and a horrible tragedy, but Anakin's motivations are incredibly suspect and his decisions don't add up. If we pretend that the Clone Wars TV series didn't happen, and went just off these movies, you are left confused, annoyed and irritated at how Anakin doesn't seem to have agency in his decisions nor is his fall paced out well. This makes certain events like the betrayal of the Jedi, turning against Padme and Obi-Wan and joining Palpatine feel lacking. This also extends to how the scenes seem to lack energy as characters are talking with flat tones and how they seem to just walk around in every scene. Everything looks dull with the CGI backgrounds and the longer you watch it the more tedious this feels. There is a difference between being slow-paced and being sluggishly-paced and unfortunately I can't help but feel that this film is in the later category. And then a bunch of Jedi get killed in Order 66, and we know nothing about any of these people, and suddenly a bunch of stuff happens.
Revenge of the Sith feels like an inconsistent movie. I can see the elements of tragedy in the story and this could be really heartbreaking if given better writing. But the plot for that story is mishandled and it is both trying to be too dark while also not dark enough. The emotional beats are afterthoughts, and all the emphasis is on the effects and exposition dependent script. And the narrative is also both too short and too long, and it could have been polished into being one or the other instead of haphazardly being both. This film is frustrating to think about and when I see the good I can't help but also see the bad. It feels incomplete.