Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith turned 20 years old back in May, a movie I saw twice in theaters at the end of my junior year of high school. Though not the best Star Wars movie, this has long been my favorite of the prequels and something I still look back upon fondly. However, for as much good that is in this movie (I’ll admit, some of my favorite Star Wars moments are set in Revenge of the Sith), that one bad thing had me peeved back when I was 17.
I recently went back and watched it for the first time in well over a decade, and though I had a lot of fun watching Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi go from best friends to mortal enemies, that one thing I didn’t like then was still a problem this time around.
I Have Myriad Issues With Revenge Of The Sith, But My Main Gripe Is With Anakin Skywalker
There’s a lot to love when it comes to Revenge of the Sith. It has that incredible opening space battle in Coruscant’s orbit, it has some of the best lightsaber duels, and it has the execution of Order 66, one of the most emotional and terrifying moments on the Star Wars timeline. However, it also has a lot of bad. Not as much as Attack of the Clones three years earlier, but enough to sully it some.
Though the CGI that looked more like those awful Star Wars FMV games from the ‘90s, the scene where Padme dies of a broken heart (a deleted scene would have made it so much better), and questionable dialogue are all pretty terrible, my main gripe is with Anakin. I have nothing against Hayden Christensen, but the way his character is presented throughout this movie is awful, annoying, and ick, as the kids would say.
I Thought I'd See It Differently On A Rewatch, But That Wasn't The Case
Before rewatching Revenge of the Sith, I honestly thought that I would have a different experience when it comes to Anakin. I mean, it was heartwarming seeing Christensen reprise the character in the Obi-Wan Kenobi miniseries a few years ago, and I thought to myself that maybe the 2005 character would age better with time.
I was wrong. So, so wrong. Everything I didn’t like about him 20 years ago still made me mad, still annoyed me, and still made me wish George Lucas would have done something else with the character that made him seem more like an actual Sith and less like a petulant child. He was supposed to be in his 20s by the time the movie started, not a whiny teenager upset because he can’t play with the older kids.
Growing Up Before The Prequels, I Thought Anakin Would Be The Best And Brightest Jedi Before His Fall From Grace
I fell in love with Star Wars shortly before the Special Editions of A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi, and I was obsessed with the franchise at the time. Though the prequels were still a few years out at the time, my friends and I would talk about how cool it would be to see Anakin turn into Darth Vader and how wild it would be to watch his fall from grace unfold a few years later.
Going off what Obi-Wan said in the first movie all those years ago, plus further explorations of Vader in the expanded universe novels (now called Star Wars Legends), it seemed like Anakin was the best and brightest the Jedi had to offer before he was tempted and corrupted by the dark side. I mean, how could that not be the coolest thing ever, especially with all those stories about how he became a cybernetic Sith lord? Surely, things couldn’t go wrong, right?
But In Revenge Of The Sith, He's A Moody, Gullible Moron
Again, I admit that the duel on Mustafar is one of the highlights of the Star Wars movies, and Anakin wiping out those younglings at the Jedi Temple is one of the most emotionally charged moments in the franchise. However, both of those now iconic scenes take place during or after Anakin falls to the dark side. Before that, he’s just a moody, jealous, and gullible moron who’ll take Chancelor Palpatine’s word as gospel.
Seriously, I thought Anakin was supposed to be smart, heroic, and in tune with the force, not some man-child who discards everything his friends and loved ones say but falls for everything the bad guy throws his way. I get it, he’s under stress and Palpatine is taking advantage of his weakness, but the way the soon-to-be Sith lord eats it all up doesn’t make the fall all that heartbreaking.
Sure, He's Great In The Cockpit Or With A Lightsaber, But That's About It
Make no mistake, Anakin is unmatched as a pilot in the Star Wars universe. Whether he was building and piloting his own podracer, saving the day in a Nabooian starfighter as a kid, or pulling off some heroics in the Clone Wars as a teenager and young adult, Anakin is an ace in the sky, err, space. The same can be said about his skill with a lightsaber. Whether he was fighting Count Dooku multiple times, taking out droid after droid everywhere he goes, or fighting his friend-turned-enemy Obi-Wan on Mustafar in the Revenge of the Sith climax, he’s a deadly and formidable opponent.
However, We never see any of the other cool stuff Anakin does before his fall. That highlights one of my major problems with the prequels: We hear about his heroics, but we don’t get to see them. Instead of watching him do some cool stuff outside of piloting and fighting, we just hear about it and instead watch him mope around and be a child before he becomes one of the most evil characters.
Despite my issues with Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, watching this movie for the first time in forever was a lot of fun. If you feel the urge, you can check it out, along with all the other Star Wars movies and shows, with a Disney+ subscription.
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
