Examining Revenge of the Sith

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away....

The Republic is in mortal peril. After a thousand years of relative peace and democratic rule, the galaxy is now torn in two as the Clone Wars continue to bring death and destruction to countless worlds.

In spite of the best efforts of the Jedi Order to win the war against Count Dooku and his nefarious ally General Grievous, their ranks shrink with each passing battle. Many Knights are killed, while others fall to the Dark Side.

Worse still, the identity of the mysterious Darth Sidious continues to elude the Jedi Council. If the Sith Lord isn't discovered and stopped in time, the Republic is doomed to fall....

Forget, if you can, the disappointment you probably felt with the sometimes ponderous political scheming (and the often exasperating antics of Jar Jar Binks) of Episode I: The Phantom Menace or the somewhat less-than-impressive rebel-without-a-cause (and sometimes wooden) portrayal of Anakin Skywalker in Episode II: Attack of the Clones.

And forget them you will, as Yoda would say, for Episode III: Revenge of the Sith is the prequel that comes closest to recapturing the spirit of George Lucas' Classic Star Wars Trilogy. Epic in scale and at the same time intensely poignant, Sith closes the Prequel Trilogy the way most fans imagined it would, full of dogfights, ground battles, lightsaber duels, and the tragic conversion of Anakin Skywalker, Jedi Knight, into Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith.

Revenge of the Sith's opening scene (following the traditional card of a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.... and the opening crawl underscored by John Williams' Star Wars Main Title) depicts a dizzying space battle over Coruscant. General Grievous and Count Dooku (Christopher Lee) have imprisoned Chancellor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) aboard the Separatists' huge flagship; it's up to Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) and his former Padawan Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) to fly through clouds of enemy fighters and force their way aboard Grievous' ship to rescue the leader of the Galactic Senate. And in a series of cliffhanger-styled sequences