I can remember it like it was yesterday: my dad drove me and my friend Ralph to downtown Ridgewood, where we ate dinner at Renato’s Pizza (I had two slices of Sicilian and a Yoo-hoo) before we walked up the street to the local movie theater where, for my 12th birthday, we watched Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. This was the biggest movie release of my lifetime where I was the target demographic (although Pokémon: The First Movie was a pretty massive deal as well) and I couldn’t have been more excited for it. To this day, it is still one of the most vivid memories I have from my childhood, and certainly one of the most memorable movie-going experiences of my lifetime. In April of 2025, the film was re-released for its 20th anniversary, and I had no doubt in my mind that I needed to go see it once again on the big screen and let me tell you…this movie is still a banger.
Originally released in May of 2005, it was the higly anticpated conclusion to the prequel trilogy of Star Wars films that, to that point, were highly maligned for their poor screenplays, subpar acting, and needless focus on politics and trade wars (sound familiar?). Episode III was always going to be different though – no matter how robotic the dialogue or poor the acting, we knew we were still in store for the ultimate heel turn of Anakin Skywalker going to the dark side and turning into Darth Vader (the greatest movie villain of all time). As a twelve-year-old, acting and screenplays and plot devices weren’t on my mind; I just wanted to see cool lightsaber battles, huge starships, and find out why Anakin turned to the dark side of the force – and Revenge of the Sith did just that. We get one of the best lightsaber duels of the entire franchise, John Williams is still firmly in his bag for the soundtrack, and we get a crystal-clear explanation of why Anakin was driven to destroy the Jedi for good.
You may still run into some Star Wars purists to the this day who still despise the prequels, including Episode III, and say they are all trash and nobody liked them; but that just isn’t true. The film got mostly positive reviews from critics, who liked its more mature themes, darker tone, emotional depth, and the cast’s performances. It broke a bunch of box office records during its first week and made $850 million worldwide, making it the second-highest-grossing Star Wars film at the time. In 2005, it was the biggest movie in the U.S. and the second biggest around the world. It also set a Thursday opening-day record with $50 million. Say what you will, but people wanted to see this movie quite a bit, and most of them really enjoyed it. In the 6 days that the re-release was in theaters, it made just shy of $50 million worldwide and was the #2 movie in the box office for that weekend – that’s insane! As mentioned earlier though, the film wasn’t without its flaws.
There are two major issues that people take with Revenge of the Sith; George Lucas’ screenplay (more specifically the dialogue), and Hayden Christensen’s performance as Anakin Skywalker. Let’s take a look at the former, because I believe it informs the latter quite a bit. Back in 1977, George Lucas wrote and directed the first Star Wars film, which was a surprising box office success and a cultural phenomenon. It was an epic space opera film that was released in a small number of theaters with low prospects – it was $3 million over budget and majority of the cast and crew thought it would be a failure. It went on to blow up and expand to be a much wider release, leading to it making over $400 million in the box office and briefly becoming the highest-grossing film of all time. Lucas followed that up in 1980 with The Empire Strikes Back, where he handed all of the reins over to other people due to the stress of working on A New Hope. Irvin Kershner directed, with Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan writing, with Lucas’ only credit being for the story. Episode V would go on to be known as the best film of the entire franchise, a cornerstone of the sci-fi genre, and one of the greatest films of all time. The same flowers were given to Return of the Jedi after its 1983 release, where Richard Marquand took on the role of director while Lucas shared screenwriting credit with Lawrence Kasdan. I bring all of this up, because in 1999 when Lucas decided to reboot the franchise and create a trilogy of prequel films, he took it upon himself to write and direct all three. Do you see where I’m going with this? Lucas created the idea and story behind Star Wars, but largely handed off the writing and directing of the best films of the franchise to other people, but the much maligned prequels had his fingerprints all over it.
While I may be a defender of Episode III (and maybe even Episode I if you catch me on the right day), I cannot and will not ever defend the god-awful writing of George Lucas. Give him all the credit for creating the massive universe of Star Wars and the story that we follow throughout the Skywalker Saga, but the dialogue and nitty gritty that he got into were so hard to get through. Anakin is introduced in The Phantom Menace as an obnoxious and whiny nine-year-old who immediately falls in love with (and basically seduces??) a fourteen-year-old Queen Amidala which creates a whole host of its own issues. In the same movie we also get the incredibly grating character of Jar Jar Binks, who most fans viewed as nothing more than a merchandising opportunity and a poor excuse for comic relief. Drew Grant of Salon noted, “Perhaps the absolute creative freedom director George Lucas enjoyed while dreaming up the flick’s ‘comic’ relief—with no studio execs and not many an independently minded actor involved—is a path to the dark side.”1 Let us not forget that the entire driving force of this movie is a trade war that nobody really understood or cared about, which also led to quite a bit of exposition that was hard to sit through. This all continued through Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith as well, with specific regard to Anakin Skywalker’s character and his interactions with Padmé Amidala coming across as whiny and wooden. This led to quite a number of people disparaging Hayden Christensen’s performance, but there is where I disagree.
Oftentimes when you watch a movie and say to yourself, “wow this is really bad”, the blame almost instantly always goes to the actors involved. They’re the ones on screen after all, so it is up to them to get us to lose ourselves in the story they are telling and get us to believe we are watching something real unfold right before our eyes. And sometimes, this is absolutely the case. Other times, though, it requires looking past the screen to see what happened behind the scenes that could have caused such a mess. I encountered this several times throughout my watch through of Matt Damon’s entire acting catalogue, where he was quite a few duds. Some people were quick to blame Damon for a bad performance and move on, but that doesn’t sit right with me – he is a heavily lauded actor and more often than not, his performances are the best thing about the movies he stars in, so are we saying he just forgot how to act for a year when making, say, All the Pretty Horses? No: if you do some quick research, you can see that it was a troubled production from the start where notable scumbag Harvey Weinstein got too involved and turned the movie into something it wasn’t ever intended to be. The same goes here for all of the Star Wars prequels movies, but here I am specifically referring to Revenge of the Sith. The movie has a star-studded cast that includes Ewan McGregor, Christopher Lee, Samuel L. Jackson and Natalie Portman. Hayden Christensen came from a stage background, so he certainly wasn’t lacking in dramatic acting experience. But when you put him in the leading role, one with such massive stakes and ramifications for modern filmmaking (yes, Darth Vader really does have that much of an impact on film) and pair him with the guy who thought “Meesa Jar Jar Binks” and “I don’t like sand. It’s coarse and rough and irritating, and it gets everywhere” were good lines to keep in these movies, you might start to shift your blame a little bit. For twenty years I have been a staunch defender of Christensen, and I will continue to do so until my dying days. I felt so strongly about this that a little over a year ago I decided to watch Shattered Glass to see what Christensen could offer in a non-Star Wars, non-sci-fi movie; it blew me away so much that I wrote about it on this very blog. To me, that is proof positive that Christensen is indeed a very talented actor, and he gets wrongly accused of ruining these movies when the blame really ought to go towards George Lucas more than anyone else.
With that being said, let’s say “Hello there!” to some categories!
By the Numbers
- Release date: May 19, 2005
- Budget: $113 million
- Box office: $893.2 million
- Run time: 140 minutes (2 hours, 20 minutes)
- Letterboxd rating: 3.9 ★
- My Letterboxd rating: 4.5 ★
- Rotten Tomatoes: 79% (Certified Fresh 🍅)
- Accolades: 64 total nominations, 29 total wins
- 1 Academy Award nomination, 0 wins (Best Achievement in Makeup)
- After the release of Revenge of the Sith, George Lucas was presented with the 33rd American Film Institute Lifetime Achievement Award
- Six: This was George Lucas’ sixth feature film that he directed
Best Scene
- Count Dooku vs. Anakin and Obi-Wan: Full disclosure, this list is probably going to exclusively be made up on different battles or duels that happen throughout the film. Our first entry here is the first lightsaber battle we get as Anakin and Obi-Wan are attempting to rescue Chancellor Palpatine from General Grievous’ ship. They are met by Count Dooku, who had previously escaped them in Attack of the Clones, but they decide to work together to keep him at bay and finish him once and for all. Obi-Wan is taken out of the fight fairly quickly, so we get a showdown between Dooku and Anakin, with Palpatine practically licking his chops at the idea of Anakin finally besting Dooku. It’s a great fight scene with some solid undertones throughout – Anakin’s desire for revenge mixed with the Jedi way of not killing innocent and unarmed people, Palpatine’s drive to give Anakin just a small taste of the ways of the dark side without him realizing it, and the (for now) unflinching bond that Anakin has to Obi-Wan as his mentor and friend.
- Obi-Wan vs. General Grievous: Hello there! Other than giving us arguably the second most iconic line in the entire franchise, this is another excellent fight scene. Up until this point we’ve seen people wield one lightsaber, a double-edged lightsaber, and very briefly two lightsabers at once. But now we get Grievous wielding FOUR at once, and doing so to horrible effect. Anyways, we get some cool dueling, a mini chase scene, and some fun usage of the set. Grievous does what he does best here, which is to immediately lose the upper hand in the fight and then run away like a coward. Classic.
- Anakin Turns to the Dark Side: This scene is mostly focused on Mace Windu vs. Palpatine, but the big takeaway is Anakin killing Mace Windu and turning to the Dark Side, officially. It is one of the more emotionally charged scenes of the movie, and we get some really solid acting here from Christensen showing the real agony and conflict that Anakin has in whether to chose Palpatine or Mace Windu. His passions and selfishness (keynote characteristics of the Sith) win over in the end and Darth Vader is officially born!
- Execute Order 66: This is the scene that honestly hits the hardest for me. Palpatine finally calls in Order 66, which sets off the mass extermination of all Jedi across the galaxy. We basically get a huge montage then of all the clones turning on the Jedi they were helping in the war, including the infamous scene of Anakin killing all of the young Padawans and Knights in the Jedi Temple. It’s heartbreaking to watch and is when the film really turns it up to 11 for the rest of the way.
- Anakin vs. Obi-Wan: Here it is folks. The best scene of the film (obviously), and for my money, the best lightsaber duel in the entire Star Wars film franchise.2 I don’t remember if Mustafar existed in the universe before this movie or not, but they could not have chosen a better setting for this duel to take place. It is a fiery lava planet that fully encapsulates the vitriol and rage inside of Anakin while his former self completely melts away as he chokes out his pregnant wife. He (literally) breaks her heart and takes away any reason for her to want to live (WHICH IS INSANE, but like I totally get where Padmé is coming from), and attempts to take out his former friend and master, Obi-Wan Kenobi. Just as a quick aside here, Obi-Wan was always my favorite Jedi – he was funny, caring, a good mentor, went by the book but wasn’t afraid to bend some rules now and again, and was just a stand up guy. Poster boy for the Jedi way in the best way possible. Anyways this scene rules and will forever be etched in my mind from the first time I saw it twenty years ago.
What’s Aged the Best
Every single lightsaber duel. They were choreographed really well, they all had the right amount of tension and build to them, and none of them over-stayed their welcome. Anakin has his short bit with Dooku at the beginning, Obi-Wan has his stint with Grievous, but it’s all being saved for the final battle between Master and Apprentice. John Williams’ scores will never not age well, and Revenge of the Sith is no exception; “Anakin vs. Obi-Wan” alone should have won a Grammy or an Oscar or something but whatever, John Williams was already nominated for Best Original Score for two other films that year so I guess it wasn’t fair for him get more than half of the nominations for one award. The CGI holds up surprisingly well, given the fact that this movie is now twenty years old and still looks better than some of the garbage that Marvel has pumped out in the last few years. I will say, I think that the general consensus around not only Christensen’s performance, but Revenge of the Sith on a whole has come to be widely accepted and loved by the general public. I think pop culture thought it was really cool to be anti Star Wars and the prequels at the time so everyone just jumped on the bandwagon without really thinking for themselves. It legitimately felt (for a while there) that it was actually crazy to have enjoyed anything about any of the prequel films. I guess time (and some pretty bad Disney sequels) heal all wounds after all.
What’s Aged the Worst
The younglings thing still kinda doesn’t sit great with me – I get it, Anakin is full on Sith Lord now and is just going all gas no brakes until every Jedi is dead. It’s a darker toned movie in general and is much more mature than the first two prequels, but it’s still just as shocking every time it happens and it bums me out. Obviously we’ve already hit on George Lucas’ writing and directing throughout here, so I won’t spend any more time on it but just know that I firmly stand on the fact that George should have left the screenplay and directing to somebody else. Like has he ever seen, or heard, anyone in a romantic relationship talk to one another? Even once? He’s been married twice and has 4 kids, how does he not understand how somebody talks to their partner?? Okay sorry moving on.
The Jason Clarke Award (What’s Their Name Again?)
This is a tough and legitimate three-way race for me. You who are reading this might know some of these actors better than I do, which I will try to take into consideration, but I can only guess as to how well-known these people are in the general population. Our first nominee is Ian McDiarmid, who plays Supreme Chancellor Palpatine in this movie. Known mostly for his work as Palpatine throughout the Star Wars universe, he was also a theater director for many years, including a stint as Joint Artistic Director of London’s Almeida Theatre in Islington. I can safely say that I only know McDiarmid as “that guy who plays Emperor Palpatine in the Star Wars movies.” Next up is Jimmy Smits, who plays Senator Bail Organa. I was tempted to leave Smits off of the list given the acting resume that he boasts, but for the longest time I honestly only ever knew him as Senator Organa, and more recently as Amy Santiago’s dad in Brooklyn Nine-Nine. You might also recognize him from his work on NYPD Blue, In the Heights, Sons of Anarchy, or The West Wing. I’ll go ahead and chalk this one up to me just not having seen a lot of what he has acted in, and that more people know him as Jimmy Smits than as Senator Organa. Finally we have Temuera Morrison, who plays Commander Cody. My guess is that most people only know him as Commander Cody or, more likely, Boba Fett and Jango Fett. He has also appeared in Moana, Aquaman, Shortland Street3, and The Book of Boba Fett. This is a tough decision, but I think it kinda comes down to who you ask – if they’re British, they probably know Ian McDiarmid by name, if they like to watch police procedural shows, they probably know Jimmy Smits by name and if they are from New Zealand or are a die hard Star Wars fan, they probably know Temuera Morrison by name. I think due to the sheer niche-ness of what he has appeared in from my point of view, I have to give this one to the latter. Congrats, Temuera!
The Jack Nicholson Award (Big Impact, Small Role)
Padmé, Palpatine and Mace Windu are all in the movie too much to qualify for this one. Senator Organa, C-3PO, R2D2, Yoda, and Chewbacca all don’t have a big enough impact on screen in their roles to qualify either (no offense to any of them, but none of their performances really jump off the screen). You may be thinking to yourself – maybe it’s Christopher Lee for his performance as Count Dooku? Or the aforementioned Temuera Morrison as Commander Cody? Or perhaps even the dark horse candidate of Joel Edgerton as Uncle Owen? Those are all great guesses, but you’re missing the most obvious one. It’s such a small performance, but it stays with you forever. You’ll never forget it. As soon as you read who it is, you’re going to be kicking yourself for not guessing it. The answer is Ross Beadman for his performance as Sors Bandeam. Who even is that, you might ask? Take a look below. Congrats, Ross!
The Roger Deakins Award (Best Cinematography)
I’ve already covered this a number of times here so I’ll try not to bore you, but it’s the final duel between Anakin and Obi-Wan. The choreography and score are out of this world and lend a heavy hand to this scene being so iconic, but the cinematography deserves its flowers as well. Go back and re-watch that scene and try to focus more on the cinematography than anything, and you’ll probably notice a handful of things that you hadn’t before. In order to not repeat myself anymore, here are two fun facts about that scene. One: To this day, that is still the longest sword fight in the history of cinema. That’s pretty rad. Two: That is a very real, very active volcano in the background. Obviously the actors were filmed in front of a green screen and CGI’ed on top of it, but they sent a crew to an actual volcano to get the footage so that it felt as real and intense as possible. That’s also pretty rad.
Trivial Pursuit
- The original cut of this movie was almost four hours long, with the opening battle and rescue mission taking up over an hour.
- Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen trained in fencing for over three months in preparation for their final duel together. This allowed them to film all of the lightsaber sequences in real time and not have to digitally alter or speed them up at all.
- As mentioned earlier, the footage of Mustafar is of Mount Etna in Italy, which was erupting as production was occurring on Revenge of the Sith.
- George Lucas intentionally made the suit for Darth Vader top-heavy, so that Christensen would walk abnormally in it to show that Vader was not used to all of the equipment now required to keep him alive.
- The strategy that Emperor Palpatine employs to keep himself in power is an actual political strategy referred to as Perpetual War. He comes to power through conflict with the Trade Federation, gains greater privileges through the Clone War, and solidifies his position through war on the Jedi.
- Steven Spielberg was brought in as a “guest director” for the climax of the film, making art-design suggestions for the Order 66 montage and Mustafar duel.
Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon
- Ewan McGregor: 2 (McGregor appeared in Big Fish with Alison Lohman, who appeared in Where the Truth Lies with Kevin Bacon)
- Hayden Christensen: 2 (Christensen appeared in Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith with Joel Edgerton, who appeared in Black Mass with Kevin Bacon)
- Natalie Portman: 2 (Portman appeared in I’m Still Here with Jack Nicholson, who appeared in A Few Good Men with Kevin Bacon)
- I checked all the major acting credits for this movie, and the highest number was two. The theory lives!
Would My Mom Like This Movie?
In a word: meh. She would certainly prefer it over any of the Lord of the Rings movies (she’s said as much directly to me and my brother and my dad), but sci-fi really isn’t her thing. She would go more for A New Hope or maybe one of the others from the original trilogy for pure nostalgia and knowing who Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford are, but I think there would just be too many “wait who is that guy?” moments for her. And to her credit, if you’re not keyed in on the lore and the universe, any of the Star Wars films in a vacuum can be pretty dang hard to follow.
Conclusion
I love this movie. There, I said it. I think it’s the best of the prequels, a top-three of the entire franchise, and is my favorite Star Wars movie. I really don’t think that is such a hot take when you think about the reason so many (older) people love the original trilogy so much; it’s the same principal behind what you think is the best SNL cast of all time – it’s all about what you grew up with, and what you watched in your formative years. Episode III came out the day after my 12th birthday, and my favorite SNL cast is the one with Fred Armisen, Andy Samberg, Maya Rudolph, and Amy Poehler. In the same vein, I bet that my dad’s favorite Star Wars movie is either A New Hope or The Empire Strikes Back, and I bet his favorite SNL cast was one that featured Phil Hartman, Dana Carvey, Dennis Miller, and Jan Hooks. Regardless, I think this movie is really fun, has a lot of great action set pieces, a fantastic score, solid acting from the whole cast, and is responsible for filling in some of the biggest questions that Star Wars fans had in how Anakin Skywalker turned into Darth Vader. Cheers to twenty years of Revenge of the Sith, and cheers to going back to the theater to relive a formative installment in one’s movie-watching lifetime.
- https://www.salon.com/1999/06/08/jarjar/ ↩︎
- I haven’t seen any of the animated series so I can’t speak to those. ↩︎
- Never heard of Shortland Street? Me neither. But I looked it up doing the research for this, and it is a medical drama show from New Zealand, in which Morrison has appeared in over five hundred episodes of, and is a show that has been running consistently since 1992. I think it’s basically the General Hospital of New Zealand. ↩︎
