2K Replay: STAR WARS EPISODE III: REVENGE OF THE SITH

 by Adam Riske

Nominated for “Best Menu Design” at the DVD Exclusive Awards. It lost to The Incredibles.

• Best Scene/Moment: “You were the chosen one! It was said that you would destroy the Sith, not join them! Bring balance to the Force, not leave it in darkness!” That’s some real shit right there and Ewan McGregor sells it big time.

• Best Song: “A New Hope and End Credits” by John Williams and the London Symphony Orchestra. “Anakin vs. Obi-Wan” is also very good.

• Best Merch: “Revenge of the Sith 20th Anniversary Collection - Crocs…” for $79.99. These are ugly shoes. Yet, I kinda like them. The lightsaber battle design is neat. I just wish it didn’t look like you’re putting your feet into two slices of carnival pizza.

• Director Grade: Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith was directed by George Lucas.
Great Movies: American Graffiti, Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope
Good Movies: Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
OK Movies: Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones
Bad Movies: N/A
Unseen By Me: THX 1138
Overall Grade: A-

• Double It with This 2005 Movie: The Island

• Year 2005 Movies to Trailer Before Them: Robots, Serenity, XXX: State of the Union

• Never Talk to Strangers or Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith? Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith

• Mall Movie? Nope. Star Wars would start at the big, fancy theater in town. It might play at the mall near the end of its run.

• Only in 2005: General Grievous. I’ve never heard anyone bring up General Grievous since 2005 and when Revenge of the Sith came out the movie was like “C’mon, you guys know General Grievous. He’s been around this entire time.”

• Scene Stealer: Ian McDiarmid.

• I Miss: Star Wars feeling special. Now even the Star Wars movies I really like feel a bit watered down.

• I Don’t Miss (tie): The Anakin-Padme love story. I’m a defender of the prequels but I can’t defend their dialogue in the romance scenes. Also, Mace Windu. I like Samuel L. Jackson, but Windu’s a real pain in the ass. I understand why Anakin was so annoyed with him.

• 2005 Crush: Natalie Portman.

• 2025 Crush: Natalie Portman.

• What I Thought in 2005: I really liked Revenge of the Sith (especially the second half) and didn’t understand why people treated it like it was only as good as The Phantom Menace or Attack of the Clones. I thought they completely stuck the landing and Sith retroactively made the first two prequels better.

• What I Think in 2025: It’s still good! I don’t have as much enthusiasm for Revenge of the Sith as I used to because of general Star Wars fatigue, but I still think Sith is one of the better trilogy finales among blockbuster franchises. I appreciate Hayden Christensen’s performance more than most, I assume, because I think he gets the brattiness and entitlement of Anakin and that’s more interesting than if he was a big bad with gravitas (i.e. Darth Vadar) all along. Plus, Ewan McGregor is great in this. I really feel his devastation and that’s the heartbeat of the movie and trilogy altogether.