Release Date: 19 May 2005
Runtime: 140 Minutes
IMDb Synopsis: Three years into the Clone Wars, the Jedi rescue Palpatine from Count Dooku. As Obi-Wan pursues a new threat, Anakin acts as a double agent between the Jedi Council and Palpatine and is lured into a sinister plan to rule the galaxy.
Again, I am reminded of a made-for-TV movie. Was it the end of the world like most true fans want us to believe? No. It was not great though. The effects seemed off. The acting was not Star Wars worthy. I do not regret watching it. But, like with Clones, I won’t seek it out to watch it again.
The original cut of this movie ran nearly four hours. The opening battle/Palpatine rescue alone ran over an hour. The extra footage of the Palpatine rescue scene is shown in the video game for this movie, however.
Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen trained for two months in fencing and fitness in preparation for their epic battle. As a result of their practice, the speed at which Kenobi and Vader engage the duel (in the completed movie) is the speed in which it was filmed, and was not digitally accelerated.
George Lucas allowed his friend Steven Spielberg to help design some sequences during pre-production. This was partly because Spielberg wanted the experience of using the pre-visualization techniques pioneered by Industrial Light & Magic, as he was going to use them for War of the Worlds (2005). It was also because Lucas felt that his roles as writer, director, executive producer, and financier were taking up too much of his time and he needed another director to bounce ideas off. Spielberg’s main contribution was in the climactic lightsaber duel between Obi-Wan and Darth Vader.
In the opening sequence when the second Separatist ship is destroyed, a piece of debris flies into the clone Star Destroyer that shot it. That piece of debris is a kitchen sink. It was put in there by Industrial Light & Magic as a joke from someone saying, “We’re throwing everything in the sequence, including the kitchen sink.”
Liam Neeson has said that he recorded a cameo as Qui-Gon Jinn, which was to feature in a scene with Yoda, further explaining the concept of a Jedi communicating from beyond the grave. In the script, the dialogue (in which Qui-Gon is heard, not seen) appeared in the scene in which Yoda is meditating on the secret asteroid base, just before Bail Organa informs him of Obi-Wan’s return with Padmé. The scene does not appear in the deleted scenes section of the DVD; however, an unfinished version was included in the Blu-ray release box set.
The final scene on Tatooine, where Obi-Wan Kenobi delivers the infant Luke to his aunt and uncle, is often referred to as the “Harry Potter scene”. Composer John Williams included a small eleven-tone musical cue in the scene reminiscent of his score for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001). It can be heard when Obi-Wan arrives at Owen and Beru’s house.
A short clip of Yoda arriving with his ship on the planet Dagobah for his self-imposed exile was filmed, but not included in the final scene. According to producer Rick McCallum, he liked the shot very much, and he practically begged George Lucas to include it. However, Lucas preferred to keep the focus of the epilogue on the members of the Skywalker family (in order: Padmé, Anakin, Leia, and Luke). Yoda’s deleted scene is included as a bonus on the DVD release of the movie.
This movie marks the first time that we see two light-sabers of the same color fight and hit each other.
Aiden Barton, the toddler who portrayed the infants Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa, is the son of crew member Roger Barton.
George Lucas’ decision to make General Grevious a cyborg was so that it foreshadowed Darth Vader’s transformation into the infamous biomechanical suit that he needs to wear at the end of the movie.
Samuel L. Jackson (Mace Windu) said he knew that he must die in this movie, so he told George Lucas he would only do the movie if Mace Windu goes out in a blaze of glory, and not “like some sucka”. On an American late-night talk show, he confirmed that he did indeed have a meaningful death scene, and he does not go out like “some punk”.
When Darth Vader is first revealed wearing his infamous biomechanical suit, everything around it is black except white smoke in the middle of the scene. This reverses when the audience first sees Darth Vader in Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977), where everything around him is white, except black smoke in the middle of the scene.
When it cuts back to Darth Vader after Obi-Wan puts his light-saber away after the battle, you can see Vader’s eyes turn yellow, signalling his complete turn to the dark side. Although, his yellow eyes did show up earlier after he had killed the Separatist leaders.
The deaths of Padmé and Anakin (emotionally, that is) are the end of one trilogy while the emergence of Darth Vader plus births of Luke and Leia are the start of another.
Starring:
| Ewan McGregor | Obi-Wan Kenobi |
| Natalie Portman | Padmé |
| Hayden Christensen | Anakin Skywalker |
| Ian McDiarmid | Supreme Chancellor Palpatine |
| Samuel L. Jackson | Mace Windu |
| Jimmy Smits | Senator Bail Organa |
| Frank Oz | Yoda (voice) |
| Anthony Daniels | C-3PO |
| Christopher Lee | Count Dooku |
| Keisha Castle-Hughes | Queen of Naboo |
| Silas Carson | Ki-Adi-Mundi / Nute Gunray |
| Jay Laga’aia | Captain Typho |
| Bruce Spence | Tion Medon |
| Wayne Pygram | Governor Tarkin |
| Temuera Morrison | Commander Cody |
IMDb Plot Breakdown:
The opening crawl reveals that the galaxy is in the midst of the war. Chancellor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) has been kidnapped by the Separatists’ second-in-command, General Grievous. Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) and Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) lead a mission to rescue him. After killing Count Dooku (Christopher Lee) and freeing the Chancellor, the Jedi attempt to escape, but are captured by General Grievous. Anakin and Obi-Wan manage to break free, but Grievous escapes and traps the Jedi and the Chancellor inside the severely damaged cruiser. Anakin is forced to crash-land the ship on one of Coruscant’s landing tracks.
Upon his return, Anakin is reunited with his wife, Padmé Amidala (Natalie Portman), who tells him that she is pregnant. Despite Padmé’s worries over their secret marriage, Anakin is overjoyed at this news, and the couple makes plans to raise their child. However, Anakin is troubled by visions of Padmé dying in childbirth, visions similar to those he had of his mother just before she died. Later, Obi-Wan privately tells Anakin that the Council wants him to spy on the Chancellor because they believe him to be corrupt, an order Anakin resents since the Chancellor has become a mentor to him. As the Chancellor’s bodyguard, Anakin develops a close friendship with Palpatine, who subtly manipulates Anakin in their discussions, making him distrust the Jedi. Palpatine claims to know of an ability to prevent death.
Obi-Wan is sent to Utapau, where he engages and kills General Grievous. Meanwhile, back on Coruscant, Palpatine reveals himself to Anakin as the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, who has been controlling the Republic and the Separatist movement. Anakin leaves to expose him to the Jedi Council. Mace Windu (Samuel L. Jackson) arrives at the Chancellor’s office shortly thereafter and eventually subdues Palpatine through a lightsaber duel. Just as Anakin arrives, Windu is about to slay the Chancellor. Anakin quickly disarms Windu, believing the Chancellor holds the only way to save his wife. Windu is consumed by Sidious’ torrents of force lightning, forcing him out a window and to his death. Darth Sidious takes Anakin as his Sith apprentice and gives him the name Darth Vader. He then orders Vader to kill all Jedi within the Jedi Temple, then to go to the Mustafar system and eliminate the Separatist leaders.
Darth Sidious orders clone troopers across the galaxy to turn against their Jedi Generals by enacting a pre-programmed directive, Order 66. Numerous Jedi across the galaxy are seen being exterminated, although both Yoda and Obi-Wan survive. Darth Vader slaughters all the children in the Jedi Temple. Afterwards, he goes to Padmé and tells her the Jedi have attempted to take over the Republic and leaves for Mustafar, where he slaughters the Separatist leaders. Senator Bail Organa (Jimmy Smits) rescues Obi-Wan and Yoda (Frank Oz), and brings them to the Jedi Temple before heading to the Senate building. Palpatine informs the Senate of a Jedi plot to overthrow the Republic. As a result, he announces that the Republic will be reorganized into the Galactic Empire. In the Jedi Temple, Obi-Wan and Yoda stand in shock over the bodies of the younglings and reconfigure a signal to warn all Jedi to keep away. Obi-Wan looks into the security recordings and, to his horror, sees a hologram of Vader carrying out the orders of Darth Sidious and kneeling to him. Though he initially refuses, Obi-Wan eventually agrees to find and kill Vader, and Yoda decides to fight the Emperor. Obi-Wan then meets with Padmé, who refuses to believe his claims about Anakin’s fall to the dark side. When she departs for Mustafar, Obi-Wan secretly stows away onboard.
Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader fight on Mustafar.When the couple is reunited, Padmé pleads with Vader to leave public life with her, but he refuses, believing that he can overthrow Palpatine so that he and Padmé can rule the galaxy together. Vader sees Obi-Wan emerge from Padmé’s ship, and suspects her of betraying him. Enraged, he uses the Force to choke Padmé into unconsciousness. Obi-Wan and Vader break into a vicious lightsaber duel.
Back on Coruscant, Yoda confronts the Emperor, who unleashes force lightning on the ancient Jedi. Yoda, in return, throws the Sith Lord across his Senate office. The two most powerful practitioners of the Force engage in a fierce duel inside the Senate Chamber itself. When it appears that Yoda has the upper hand, Sidious unleashes the Force to the point that Yoda is forced to retreat, and decides that his failure has led him to go into exile. As his troops search for the Jedi, Darth Sidious decides to go to Mustafar saying, “I sense Lord Vader is in danger.”
Back on Mustafar, the former Jedi friends are now bitter enemies. The duel brings them out of the facility to unprotected areas of the volcano planet. Obi-Wan eventually gains the advantage of higher ground, and when Vader attempts to attack again, Obi-Wan slices off both of his legs and his left arm in two swift cuts. Vader tumbles down the embankment and rolls to a stop at the edge of the lava. He catches on fire, sustaining near-fatal third-degree burns and severe lung damage. Obi-Wan leaves Mustafar with the hurt Padmé and Anakin’s lightsaber. Darth Sidious arrives on Mustafar a short time later and rescues Vader from the brink of death.
Padmé is given medical assistance, and although she is physically intact, her will-to-live is gone. She delivers twins, a boy and a girl and gives them the names “Luke” and “Leia”. Just as Padme tells Obi-Wan that there is still good in Anakin, she dies. On Coruscant, Vader’s missing limbs and damaged body parts are replaced by cybernetic prostheses and implants. Vader is put into a full suit of black armor and is sealed in a respirator mask, which will allow him to survive his injuries. When Vader asks Sidious about Padmé’s condition, he tells Vader that, in his anger, Vader himself killed Padmé. Vader unleashes a furious scream of mournful rage and destroys droids and equipment throughout the room with the Force while Sidious looks on with an evil grin. Aboard the Tantive IV, Obi-Wan, Yoda, and Bail Organa agree to keep the children hidden and separated. Obi-Wan and Yoda will watch and wait until the time is ready for the Skywalker children to do their part in the battle against the Sith. Leia is taken to Alderaan to live with the Queen and Bail Organa, and Luke is transferred to Tatooine to live with Owen and Beru. The film concludes with Owen and Beru holding Luke while staring out over the desert at Tatooine’s twin suns.
Thoughts and Ponderances 