Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith

It is not often that I go into a theater with high expectations and come out with those expectations not only met, but blown away.

But that's exactly what happened in the wee hours of the morning as I forsook all mandates of sleep and common sense and attended the midnight premiere of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Simply put, it is the overall best Star Wars movie ever. Oh yes, I said ever. More thrilling than A New Hope, more emotionally engaging than The Empire Strikes Back, more satisfying than Return of the Jedi, and better written and acted than the first two prequels, Revenge of the Sith is the film by which all other Star Wars episodes must now be judged.

Bold words, I know. Even now the Jedi faithful are probably drawing their plastic lightsabers and moving in to silence this heretic in their midst. A few days ago, if I had walked up to the assembled throngs of costume-clad fans standing vigil at the ticket line and loudly proclaimed my belief that one of the much-maligned prequels would go down in history as better than the original trilogy, they would have looked at me as if I had just spit on Yoda's grave. But once Revenge of the Sith is watched and rewatched, and once its merits are endlessly debated in Star Wars chat rooms for years to come, I believe it will gain acceptance among fans and critics alike as the best of the entire series, supplanting even the current consensus favorite, Empire. Remember, you heard it hear first.

I won't delve too deeply into the plot, partly because it is already well-known (anyone going into the theater wondering what will ultimately happen to Anakin probably also went into the theater wondering what would happen to the Titanic), but mostly because the true greatness of the film lies not in its plot (although it is quite good), but in its pervasive, haunting tone and unexpectedly profound emotional depth. Anakin (Hayden Christensen) does not dive whole-heartedly into the dark side, instead, he is subtly and cunningly enticed by the manipulative Emperor (Ian McDiarmid, in a particularly strong showing), who positively oozes evil.

The most powerful and tragic relationship in the movie is between Anakin and Obi-Wan (Ewan McGregor, who may actually be the film's star). In Attack of the Clones, theirs was a strict, hierchal relationship; here, they are comrades whose close bond has been forged in the horrors of war. When Anakin's betrayal of the Jedi is complete, and as he and Obi-Wan battle in a spectacular, epic lightsaber duel on a hellish nightmare of a world, in one final desperate appeal Obi-Wan cries out to his corrupted friend, "I loved you, Anakin; you were a brother to me!" By adding to Anakin's already immeasurable loss, it is the film's most powerful and emotional moment, and it adds another layer of depth to the rivalry between Vader and Obi-Wan in the original trilogy.

Revenge of the Sith is by far the darkest, most brooding entry in the series. It stands in stark contrast to the other five films, which seemed to be marketed almost entirely to young children. The scene in which Mace Windu (Samuel L. Jackson) and a band of Jedi come to arrest the Emperor is particularly creepy, even disturbing. The underlying darkness, that delicious, ubiquitous sense of foreboding, permeates the film from beginning to end. And yet, even though we already know the outcome, we are still gripped in suspense as Anakin fulfills his destiny, one painful, tragic step at a time.

The writing of Episode III is much improved over the earlier prequels, although some movie critics still sniffily deride the dialogue as an affront to the English language, as if the the critically-acclaimed original trilogy was penned by Shakespeare. This is Star Wars, for goodness sake, not Casablanca. The story takes precedence here, enhanced by truly wondrous special effects.

And what a story it is.