Order 66

Warning the following will contain spoilers so if you've not seen Episode III yet then I'd advise not reading on until you have done so.


So Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith was released on thursday May 19th and with it comes the end of the big screen Star Wars saga. It was a sad moment for sure but it was also joyous, for Lucas has delivered a movie that is in closer keeping with the original trilogy. After two disappointments we have a movie that will be considered a good addition. Whilst the other two did have highlights, overall they didn't hold up. Looking back on them now with the perspective of Sith, they still aren't what we would have wanted but they do make more sense within the story arc. Traits of some characters were warranted due to the story Lucas wanted to tell, even if we don't expect them from that character.

So anyway onto Sith itself (and I'll be defining this mainly by the lightsaber battles). From the very start your senses are dazzled with what is an amazing opening. You see a big space battle as Obi-Wan and Anakin fly through in their spaceship, the camera trailing them, in a shot that reminds me of the fight sequence in the Cowboy Bebop movie, very kinetic. The banter between the two starts here showing the friendship that has now developed between the two, over the roles of Master-Padawan they played in the last movie and it's all the more enjoyable for it. Showing this throughout makes the eventual duel between the two to carry some extra weight.

In an attempt to rescue Palpatine we get the two blazing their lightsabers on droids of all sorts as well as Dooku who meets his demise early on, before a quick encounter with Grievous and a crash landing.

Throughout the movie, we see the continued distrust from the Jedi Council in Anakin yet still wanting him to act as their lapdog, it's this that again counterbalances the scenes with Anakin and Palpatine which are great, especially the opera house sequence. Palpatine begins to play on the visions Anakin has of Padme dying during childbirth. Palpatine continues to confuse Anakin's mind telling the story of the great Sith Lord Darth Plagieus the Wise and how he had the power to save lives (and create life, possibly hinting at Anakin being a creation of a Sith Lord rather than of the Force).

This is about when the lightsaber duels start to go into overdrive.

Obi-Wan having reached Utapau sneaks his way to an area where Grievous has finished a briefing with the Trade Federation leaders. In a cool sequence, Obi-Wan seeing a mass of droids just jumps down with a grin and so starts on the General. In the end it leads to a chase whereby Obi-Wan defeats Grievous with a blaster where he quips something about the blaster being so uncivilised (echoing something mentioned in EpIV).

So that's lightsaber fight 2 out of the way (the first being Dooku versus the two Jedi).

Onto lightsaber duel 3, Mace vs Palpatine. Anakin gets told by Palpatine he is indeed Darth Sidious, he gets all confuzzled and goes to tell Mace. Mace leaves with three other Jedi and confronts Palpatine. The other three Jedi get killed very quickly, leaving Mace and Sidious. The duel is quite deliberate now, more reminscent of two samurai fighting or fencers (quick succession of strikes, then a period of setting the stance again). Anywho after a good duel Anakin arrives at the end of the battle with Mace standing over Palpatine who is now playing possum and begging for help. Seeing the lines blurred between what he thought was the the light side and the dark side, he goes and lops off Mace's arm and Palpatine/Sidious delivers the final blow.

Anakin plegdes his allegiance to Sidious and gets given the name Darth Vader. The first act he is given is to go to the Jedi Temple and destroy the Jedi there. As he marches there with the Clone army, Sidious enacts Order 66: the destruction of all Jedi. We see images of Jedi all over the galaxy being turned on by the Clone armies they were leading. It switches back to the Temple and Anakin. He enters the room where the Council sit to be confronted by the younglings hiding out. One comes up and asks him what they are to do, at which he lights his saber and we get a cut. Very dark scene but great, glad Lucas didn't wimp out of something as it might have affected the rating (granted it's only a 12A).

So onto lightsaber duel 4, Yoda gets back to Courscant after managing to escape Kashyyk meeting Obi-Wan and Bail Organa (who saw part of the Jedi Council massacre). The best bit about the meeting is that it's another nod back to the original trilogy, the blockade runner is retrofitted to look like the 1977 opening sequence.

So the duel, Yoda fights Sidious. Possibly the best bits are either just prior to the fight when Yoda knocks out the two Imperial Guards with a quick Force push and Sidious calls Yoda his "little green friend". Good to see Yoda kicking some arse but bad that he gives it up so easily. I know Yoda's faith was placed wholly in the Force and it had be shattered with the Jedi masscre but still you'd have expected him to at least result in some sort of double knockout, where both limp out.

Well it's not so bad as we get the final lightsaber duel showing what it is all about. Obi-Wan vs Darth Vader (Anakin). Now this is everything we had hoped for and more. The two go at it at a crazy speed with full force. My thoughts after the movie was "how much would it have hurt if either had missed getting their 'saber into position in time". There were great touches all through the fight and the end of it was real sad (I had hoped for more duelling). Obi-Wan's reaction at the end was great showing the anguish of losing a friend/brother after all they had gone through and all that he believed concerning the Prophecy.

Once this concludes we get about 10-15 minutes of tying up ends for Episode IV. We see the birth of the twins. A sequence where we see Darth Vader put together and the spine-tingling moment of his mask going on for the first time. I'm unsure on the whole "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" part, which made me wince.

There is a part where we're shown the construction of the Death Star with Vader, Sidious and a young Moff Tarkin standing (again the ship they're on is retrofitted to original trilogy stylings). We see Captain Antilles receiving the two droids with the condition Threepio's memory is erased.

A sequence before the splitting up of the twins where Yoda mentions to Obi-Wan that Qui-Gon has contacted Yoda and that he has training to do with him. Then we see Leia with Bail Organa and Obi-Wan delivering Luke to Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru. It ends on a scene recalling Episode IV with the two looking out on the sunset of Tatooine.

Overall I really enjoyed it, especially the duels and the things which hark back to the original trilogy. There were a few problems with it; the dialogue needs work, Natalie Portman hasn't seemed to have made the leap in this movie that the others seem to have done so (Ewan McGregor and Ian McDiarmid especially stealing the show), the romance again being very lame (thankfully it's kept short) and we see Mr Binks and he's not blown up or killed in some other painful way. He only talks once I believe so that's some consolation but that's still one too many times.

I would have liked to have seen Qui-Gon actually appear in the movie (as shown in the script rather than the movie we see). What better way to show what training to become one with the Force does and tie up Qui-Gon's vanishing death than him being there whilst Yoda pledging to take Qui-Gon as his teacher. It would have been nice to see a little touch with Obi-Wan having a moment with his former Master.

Regardless, Lucas has delivered a movie that is in keeping with the traditions of the original trilogy.