Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith is an
American epic
space-opera film directed by
Taika Waititi, written by
Jon Favreau and Waititi from a story by
George and
Marcia Lucas and produced by George and Marcia Lucas. It stars
Ewan McGregor,
Zazie Beetz,
Adam Driver,
Ian McDiarmid,
Lupita Nyong’o,
Oscar Isaac and
Frank Oz, among others. It is the final installment in the
Star Wars prequel trilogy and the sixth Star Wars film to be released overall.
Revenge of the Sith is set three years after the events of the previous film,
Attack of the Clones. The Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems are continuing the vicious Clone Wars, with the Republic reeling under the attacks of the Confederate armies under the cyborg General Gideon and the former Jedi Count Dooku and Obi-Wan Kenobi, now known as Darth Tyranus and Darth Maul, respectively. Meanwhile, the Republic’s greatest hero, Anakin Skywalker, faces a crisis of confidence, haunted by visions of the death of his wife Padme Amidala and of the corruption of the Jedi Order. Behind the scenes, a mysterious force seeks to manipulate the tragedy on both sides to further its own grand plan.
Production of the film started in September 2017 and filming took place in the
United Kingdom with additional locations in
Thailand,
Switzerland,
China,
Italy and
Australia. The film premiered in May 2019, receiving positive reviews for its action sequences, score, visual effects and the performances of the central characters. It broke several box office records during its opening week and went on to earn over $2 billion worldwide, making it the highest-grossing film of 2019, the third highest-grossing film of all time (behind
Titanic and
The Phantom Menace) and the second highest-grossing film in the
Star Wars franchise.
CAST
- Adam Driver as Jedi Anakin Skywalker
- Ewan McGregor as Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi/Darth Maul
- Zazie Beetz as Padmé Amidala
- Ian McDiarmid as Commander-in-Chief Sheev Palpatine
- Frank Oz as Jedi Grand Master Yoda
- Oscar Isaac as Count Dooku
- Joel Edgerton as Admiral Owen Lars
- Laura Dern as Senator Breha Organa
- Lupita Nyong'o as Jedi Master Adi Gallia
- Giancarlo Esposito as General Gideon
In addition,
Anthony Daniels and
Kenny Baker reprise their roles as
C3PO and
R2-D2, respectively, from the original trilogy.
Mark Hamill,
Luke Skywalker in the
original trilogy, reprises his cameo as
Darth Bane from
Attack of the Clones.
Carrie Fisher,
Leia Organa from the original trilogy, was also in negotiation for a cameo but this was cut short by her death in 2016. Instead, her daughter
Billie Lourd took her role doing the voice and motion capture performance of
Darth Nihilus. In addition,
Michael K. Williams,
Tessa Thompson,
Donald Glover and
Danny Pudi reprise their roles from previous films.
PLOT
The film opens at a meeting between Republican political representatives, including Commander-in-Chief Sheev Palpatine and Senator Breha Organa, and senior Jedi, including Grand Master Yoda and Jedi Generals Anakin Skywalker and Adi Gallia. Palpatine explains that, in view of the deteriorating military situation, he will not be relinquishing the emergency powers granted to him by the Senate. He then orders Skywalker to lead his forces into battle against Tyranus and Maul on Anaxes. Yoda objects, citing Skywalker’s past relationship with Maul/Kenobi but is overruled. As the meeting breaks up, Yoda ruefully says to Organa that the Jedi had been wrong to wage war on the Republic’s behalf.
While travelling with the fleet to Anaxes, Anakin shares a private conversation with Padme via hologram. Padme reveals that she is pregnant with Anakin’s baby and the two of them resolve to raise the child in secret, as much as possible, and reaffirm their love for each other. Padme ruminates that she thinks the continuation of the war is a mistake and that Palpatine is gathering too much power around himself. However, Anakin grows angry and reminds her that Palpatine is his friend. After their conversation ends, Anakin walks to the bridge but is interrupted by a Force vision of a mysterious cloaked figure, who offers him the power to end the war if only he seizes it. Sensing the Dark Side, Anakin attempts to dispel the figure but is confronted by visions of Padme’s death, which the figure says is from the future. Anakin eventually manages to dispel the vision but is visibly shaken by the incident, although he doesn’t explain when Admiral Owen Lars notes this when he arrives on the bridge.
At the Confederate base on Anaxes, Maul and Dooku receive word from Darth Sidious that a Republic fleet is on the way. Maul reiterates his desire to destroy General Gideon in vengeance for the death of his lover Satine. Dooku, however, counsels him that, if all goes to plan, the forthcoming battle on Anaxes will enable him to destroy both Gideon and the Jedi. When the Republic’s fleet leaves light speed in Anaxes’ orbit, they are immediately set upon by a Confederate fleet that knew they were coming. Despite taking heavy damage, Anakin demands to go down to the surface with a small commando force, thinking that he may be able to destroy the control towers broadcasting orders to the droid army and fleet.
On Coruscant, Padme brings news that the battle has begun to Palpatine. She thinks that he looks too pleased at the prospect and confides in this to Organa. Organa, in turn, invites her to a secret meeting with some other disgruntled senators.
On Anaxes, Anakin’s forces are sorely overmatched when Dooku and Maul arrive. Anakin attempts to reason with his former mentor but Maul disarms him and knocks him unconscious. When Anakin comes to, he is being held prisoner and prepared for execution over a channel that will be broadcast around the galaxy. Anakin again attempts to reason with Maul, reminding him of their friendship and promising him that he will be able to find peace if he returns to the Light. Maul seems to ignore him.
At a makeshift arena on Anaxes, Anakin and the remaining commandos are taken out to be executed by Maul. However, when Maul ignites his lightsaber, the blade is revealed to have returned to its blue color, indicating his return to the Light. Obi-Wan frees the prisoners and together they stage a dramatic breakout, killing Gideon in the process. Anakin destroys the droid control node, allowing the Republican fleet to make its escape. Obi-Wan and Anakin, however, break off together in a two-person fighter, heading for Mandalore. There they visit Satine’s grave. Obi-Wan declares that he will return to the Jedi Order in the hope of changing it from within and Anakin says that he will help him reintegrate.
Back on Coruscant, Yoda welcomes Obi-Wan back into the Jedi fold and says that he will have to undergo trials to decide if he is clean of the Dark Side, with Anakin acting as his sponsor. Yoda informs him that, while he can never be fully redeemed for the evil he did as Darth Maul, he can return to the Light again.
While Obi-Wan undergoes his trials, Anakin experiences a series of increasingly apocalyptic visions, all of which depict Padme dying and the Republic crumbling. He finds Yoda’s advice - to release himself from earthly concerns - to be unsatisfying. During a shared meditation session, Anakin confesses his entire situation to Obi-Wan and expresses interest in using the Dark Side to halt this fate. However, Obi-Wan sadly informs him that no power can prevent those you love from dying eventually.
In one of his reintegration trials, Obi-Wan must travel through a portal underneath the Jedi Temple to the World Between World, where he will face a trial of his spirit. He is accompanied by Anakin, who is meant to act as his spirit guide. Once there, they are met by visions of Darth Bane and Darth Nihilus, who attack them. The two Sith apparitions tempt the Jedi with offers of untold power and the battle gradually separates into two duels: Bane against Obi-Wan and Nihilus against Anakin. The Bane vision transforms into an image of Satine and replays memories of Obi-Wan backing out of leaving the Jedi Order years ago. However, the reformed Jedi manages to resist temptation, asserting that the Dark Side offers only pain and that hope can only be found in the middle, cutting down the ancient Sith Lord. Nihilus also plagues his opponent with visions, this time of Padme dying and the mysterious hooded figure offering Anakin the power to save her. Stunned, Anakin drops his lightsaber and Nihilus begins to suck out his life force. He is only saved by the arrival of Obi-Wan, who manages to defeat and destroy the Nihilus vision.
Later, Anakin is having a drink with Palpatine in his office. The Commander-in-Chief hints at Dark Side powers which would enable him to prevent his loved ones from dying. When Anakin mentions Obi-Wan’s comments, Palpatine snorts and suggests that Darth Maul is either lying to protect his power or was not fully initiated in the Dark Side. Anakin’s increasing closeness to Palpatine causes a rift to grow between him and Padme, who is now secretly involved with covert Senate attempts to undermine Palpatine’s ever-growing powers.
Hidden in the outer rim, Dooku confers with Sidious. Sidious tells him to go to Mustafar with the Confederate leadership and launch diversionary attacks on Republican systems. Confederate Generals Gunray and Haako defect and arrive on Coruscant with news of planned Confederate assaults on the strategically vital system of Kessel. Yoda, Obi-Wan and Lars depart for the system with an army, leaving Adi Gallia and Anakin as the two most senior Jedi on Coruscant. Palpatine reveals to Anakin that he is the Sith Lord behind the war and promises Anakin the power to save Padme if he joins him. Anakin immediately leaves to tell Gallia and the two of them go to arrest the Commander-in-Chief. Following a vicious lightsaber duel, Palpatine is subdued. However, Gallia proposes to execute Palpatine unilaterally and, desperate to save Padme’s life, Anakin stabs her in the back. Realising that his lightsaber is bleeding, he pledges himself to the Sith and Palpatine dubs him “Darth Vader.”
Palpatine then declares that the Jedi’s treachery has been revealed and issues Order 66, which commands the clone troopers to kill their Jedi officers. Meanwhile, Vader and a battalion of clone troopers destroy the Jedi Temple, killing its inhabitants. Palpatine goes to the Senate, where he denounces the Jedi’s coup, declares himself the Emperor and transforms the Republic into the Galactic Empire. The pair then travel to Mustafar, where they attack Dooku and the surprised Separatist leaders. Vader disarms Dooku and then Palpatine finishes him off with Force lightning.
Lars, as a non-human and non-Jedi, is able to survive the chaos of Order 66 and rescue Yoda and Obi-Wan. They return to Coruscant where they link up with Padme and Organa and together they learn of Anakin’s turn to the Dark Side and the four of them travel to Mustafar in an attempt to defeat the two Sith Lords. Padme implores Anakin to return to the Light but, made paranoid by his turn, he thinks that Obi-Wan and Yoda concealed the true power of the Force from him and that Padme is now conspiring against him. He begins to Force-choke Padme, causing Yoda and Obi-Wan to spring into action (the former drawing his lightsaber for the first time on film), beginning a lengthy duel between the two Jedi and the two Sith.
The battle separates into two separate duels, between Yoda and Palpatine on the upper levels and Obi-Wan and Anakin on the lower ones. Obi-Wan repeatedly begs his former apprentice to repent, saying that the Dark Side cannot give him the peace and power he craves but Anakin rebuffs him every time. Anakin asserts that he cannot turn back now because he has gone too far but Obi-Wan claims that there is still good in him and he can return.
Meanwhile, Yoda succeeds in disarming Palpatine and looks to have him on the rocks but then Palpatine unleashes the full power of the Dark Side. He turns into a creature of pure Dark Force energy and begins blasting Yoda with Force lightning, forcing the Jedi into a desperate defence.
Meanwhile, seeing that his friend is fully lost, Obi-Wan opens his mind to the Dark Side once more and launches into an aggressive attack that surprises Anakin. Obi-Wan severs Anakin’s legs and arm, leaving him at the bank of a lava flow. Obi-Wan weeps by the body of his fallen friend, while Anakin angrily spits out his hate. He is about to give his friend a painless execution when an explosion from above alerts him to the danger Yoda is in. Obi-Wan joins the combat against Palpatine but even two Jedi are no match for the Dark Lord of the Sith, who defeats them both and prepares to suck out their life force before Lars’ arrival with a star ship allows Yoda and Obi-Wan to escape. However, in the escape Padme is hit by Palpatine’s Force lightning.
Regrouping on Polis Massa, Obi-Wan, Yoda, Lars and Organa muse on their failures. Alone in his quarters, Obi-Wan ignites his and Anakin’s lightsabers. When their blades are blue, he weeps in both despair and hope, knowing that there remains good in his friend but not knowing how to reach it. Padme gives birth to twins, named Luke and Leia, and then dies of her injuries. On Mustafar, Palpatine retrieves a barely alive Anakin and takes him to Coruscant, where his mutilated body is treated and covered in a black armoured suit. When Vader asks if Padme is safe, Palpatine says that he killed her in his anger, causing the junior Sith to lash out at him in rage. However, Palpatine subdues him with Force lightning, dropping Vader to his knees. Palpatine declares that Vader is now his servant and laughs.
Yoda muses on his failures and concludes to Obi-Wan that the dogmatic view he had propagated as Grand Master made the Jedi too inflexible to foresee or prevent Palpatine’s seizure of power. They are then joined by the Force ghost of Mace Windu, who explains to them that, through study of the Living Force, he has unlocked the secret to eternal spiritual life beyond physical death. The two living Jedi resolve to continue their study in exile, biding their time until it is right to build a new, better, generation of Jedi.
As Padme’s funeral takes place on her homeworld, Palpatine and Vader supervise the construction of the Death Star. Organa takes Leia to her homeworld of Alderaan, where she and her husband adopt her, while Yoda enters exile on Dagobah. Lars returns to his home planet of Tatooine with Luke and Obi-Wan enters exile on the Dune Sea, watching over the boy.