“I'm not the Jedi I should be. I want more. And I know I shouldn't.”

Set three years after Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith is set during the pinnacle of the Clone Wars, where the threat of the Separatists and the Sith is at its peak. Chancellor Palpatine has been captured by General Grievous, the commander of the Droid Army, and Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker have been sent on a mission to rescue him. However, as soon as the Clone Wars seemed to be coming to an end in favor of the Republic, a new threat emerges.

And without a doubt, this is easily the biggest Star Wars movie in importance to the overall lore, I would say. If there ever was a movie set in this franchise that could be classified as an epic, it would certainly be this one, as simply just the scale of it is huge. It has the most lightsaber duels, the biggest battles, all while setting up an entire trilogy that had already been made almost perfectly, because in my opinion, this is one of (and sometimes it is) my favorite Star Wars movies. I think that this is easily the movie that I go back to and revisit the most.

First off, I just love the story, mainly due to its size and importance. I know that the lore of these movies is pretty much common knowledge at this point, but, as I do with all of my reviews, I want to make this one as spoiler-free as possible, just in case. Anyways, I think the way that George Lucas tied this story into the different revelations that happened during the original trilogy is just fantastic, and work for me on every single level. The original trilogy could have just been it as far as Star Wars movies go, but just the little references and hints at what happened in the past fully warranted telling this story, and both the answers and scenes that we get from those are almost entirely satisfying to me.

This is also the most emotionally deep Star Wars movie. This was the first film in the franchise to get the PG-13 rating, and for very good reason. It goes to some surprisingly dark places for a series that George Lucas seemingly targeted towards kids (which I could honestly make a debate against, but that’s a whole different thing). In fact, one of my favorite parts of the entire film is a scene where two characters are just staring off into the distance, clearly hurt by what is going on, and you see the conflict particularly in one of them, as this fantastic, haunting music plays.

But without further ado, let’s talk about the stuff that people always say makes this film so great, and that is the action. Without a doubt, and really no question, it’s pretty much universally agreed on that this is the Star Wars movie with the best lightsaber duels, even for people who aren’t fans of the prequels. Not only does it have the most lightsaber duels, but the choreography, and, again, scale of not only the actual size but the importance of each of them is easily at the top of the list when it comes to the duels in this franchise.

Adding to that, the visual effects are absolutely incredible if you ask me. I said this in my review of Attack of the Clones; I know that there is a big debate around the heavy usage of CGI and green screen for the prequels (mainly the last two), but I still think, to this day, that the green screen and CGI are integrated into these movies, and particularly Revenge of the Sith, so well, that it doesn’t bother me one bit. The advancement of technology that these movies were able to achieve was nothing short of incredible. I think that this is in heavy competition with The Empire Strikes Back and The Last Jedi for the best cinematography as well. I mean, just everything on Mustafar would make it qualify for that.

Another thing that Revenge of the Sith competes against Empire with is the score. I always go back and forth with these two movies on not only which is my favorite Star Wars movie, but which has the better score. I still can’t really decide on the score, but what I can say is that it is easily top-tier John Williams, and that is obviously saying something. The ability of this film to invoke an emotional response and feeling out of me, not only with the story, but also with the score, is incredible. There are several tracks that simply give me chills every single time, with “The Immolation Scene” probably being the one that impacts me the most.

Really, the only thing that bothers me about this movie, and to be honest, it’s become less and less of an issue for me the more I’ve rewatched it, is Anakin’s character arc. There are certainly aspects to it that don’t quite feel right or believable, and it was also certainly a little bit on the rushed side. Now, where it goes and how it ends is about as impactful as a character arc can get, so that’s why it’s not really all that big of a problem for me anymore. I definitely see why people criticize this film for that, however, which is why it’s worth at least mentioning or talking about.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith is and will always be one of the most nostalgic movies of all time for me, and I love it every bit now as I did as a kid.