Starring: Ewan McGregor, Hayden Christensen, Natalie Portman
Director: George Lucas
Rated: M15+
YES, it is a pleasure to say that I found the newest episode of the Star Wars epic worked perfectly.
After living in the memory of the Star Wars films of the 1970s and 1980s, I found The Phantom Menace to be a huge disappointment.
Director George Lucas had come back with a lumbering, too often corny Episode I in 1999.
It was a relief in 2002 when Episode 2, Attack of the Clones, was better, but it seemed an interim piece. There were hints of how Anakin would go over to the Dark Side, but it was not clear just how he would become Darth Vader.
Now, all the questions are answered. At the end of Revenge of the Sith, there is a really strongly felt urge to see the Luke Skywalker episodes again. And, it is worth congratulating George Lucas in bringing his epic to a satisfying conclusion.
The first young audience for Star Wars is now in its 40s.
They will really enjoy this episode answering questions they have had for years. The new fans will like it too, though it is worth remembering that Star Wars was never intended for small children.
Revenge of the Sith moves right into action. There is quite a lot of “whizz whizz bang bang” in the opening battles. Special effects are much bigger and better than they were.
We then move into the personal drama — Padme is pregnant and Anakin in happy anticipation of being a father.
The other aspect of the drama is that Obi-Wan Kenobi is finding Anakin restlessly ambitious, still repeating the Jedi code, but increasingly resentful that, though he is a member of the Council, he is not permitted to be a Master.
The Jedi rescue Chancellor Palpatine and he soon reveals his true self as he fulfils his ambition to be emperor of the Galaxy.
In a more convincing psychological screenplay than for the previous films, Lucas is able to show how the Chancellor introduces Anakin to the Dark Side, the temptation of power.
Shrewdly, he promises that Padme will not die in child birth. He promises that when Annakin destroys the Jedi and the separatists in the outer boundaries of the galaxy, he will have achieved peace. This means that Anakin does the wrong thing for the right reasons.
The consequences are devastating for the Jedi, especially Windu and Yoda. The consequences are also devastating for Anakin. His cruelty foreshadows his evil as Darth Vader.
As anticipated, there is a climactic duel between Anakin and Obi-Wan Kenobi, leaving Anakin burnt and disfigured. We watch him being reconstructed and the now well known mask fitted over his face (and the audience literally cheered).
For decades, many religious education teachers have been able to alert students to the deeper meanings in these replays of myths of chivalry.
In this episode, they can explore the nature of evil, of how democracy can turn into despotism. (There is more than a touch of Manicheism, the theory of two equal sources of good and of evil — in the explanation of The Force, having its good side and its dark side, but the film does dramatise selfless and selfish decisions and responsibilities.)
With the birth of Luke and Leia, with Obi-Wan leaving to train Luke, we are back at the beginning. We now know how situations and characters came into being, not only the evil Emperor but R2D2, C3PO and Chewbacca.
Ewan McGregor continues as Obi-Wan Kenobi. Hayden Christensen does very well as Anakin and makes his choices for evil and his transformation believable.
This time Ian McDiarmid, as the Chancellor become Emperor, has a much bigger and more important role.
The effects are very effective and John Williams’ musical score is as rousing as ever.
