{"id":18841,"date":"2015-12-16T22:24:54","date_gmt":"2015-12-16T12:24:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/?p=18841"},"modified":"2015-12-16T22:24:54","modified_gmt":"2015-12-16T12:24:54","slug":"star-wars-episode-iii-revenge-of-the-sith-2005","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/?p=18841","title":{"rendered":"Star Wars Episode III – Revenge of the Sith [2005]"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"tagfilm\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"revengeofthesithposter\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Director: \u00a0<\/strong>George Lucas
\nWriter: \u00a0<\/strong>George Lucas
\nCast: \u00a0<\/strong>Hayden Christensen, Natalie Portman, Ewan McGregor<\/p>\nB<\/span>y the time audiences went in to see Revenge of the Sith<\/em>, a strange and strained relationship had developed between Star Wars<\/em> fans and George Lucas.<\/p>\n

The first two films in the New Trilogy were a major disappointment.\u00a0 Not only that, for any fan hoping to wash out the sour after taste of The Phantom Menace<\/em> and Attack of the Clones<\/em> by viewing the Original Trilogy on DVD were in for a rude shock.<\/p>\n

The only copies that Lucas would make available for the home video market were updated \u2018Special Editions\u2019 that awkwardly shoe-horned new\u00a0computer effects into the Original Trilogy.\u00a0 There were a raft of unwanted creative changes such as Greedo shooting Han Solo first and a dodgy CGI \u2018pasting\u2019 of Ghost Hayden Christensen into the final scene of Return of the Jedi<\/em>.\u00a0 To this day, it is extremely difficult for any fan to purchase an untouched copy of the Original Trilogy. \u00a0Even the American Film Institute, which declared the original Star Wars<\/em> film of 1977 to be one of the greatest American films of all time wasn\u2019t sent an original copy of the film.\u00a0 They were lumped with the inferior \u2018Special Edition\u2019 like everyone else. \u00a0The decision to restrict access to an untampered Original Trilogy felt like spite on Lucas’ behalf.<\/p>\n

It was in this climate that we got The Revenge of the Sith<\/em>, the final chapter in the story of how Anakin Skywalker turned to the Dark Side.<\/p>\n

\"revengeofthesith\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The film was a noticeable step up in quality from Attack of the Clones <\/em>and The Phantom Menace<\/em>.\u00a0 If nothing else, it provided a great spectacle with exciting light sabre fights and entertainingly chaotic battles in space.\u00a0 Thematically, it is comparable to the much loved Empire Strikes Back<\/em> as the\u00a0heroes have their backs against the wall and the villains, consumed by the Dark Side and assuming control of the galaxy, have their moment in the spotlight.<\/p>\n

Hayden Christensen delivers a slightly improved performance here over his turn in Attack of the Clones<\/em>.\u00a0 The lines that he\u2019s given are still pretty cheesy but the broader narrative of a despairing hero becoming corrupted by the Force is still compelling to watch.\u00a0 Unfortunately, at the very last moment when his transformation into Darth Vader is complete \u2013 Anakin learns of Padme\u2019s death and he drops to his knees and cries out \u2018NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO\u2019 in one of the most unintentionally funny scenes ever to grace the silver screen.\u00a0 Christensen never had another leading role in a blockbuster film again.<\/p>\n

It’s been ten years since the New Trilogy. \u00a0Much has been written and discussed about its short comings compared to the Original Trilogy. \u00a0In many ways, I feel for Lucas because he is clearly aware of the backlash these films received from critics and fans alike. \u00a0With the Original Trilogy, Lucas provided the overall vision but it was then largely left to others to pen the screenplay and direct the films. \u00a0With the New Trilogy, Lucas became significantly more hands on with both the writing and directing duties and it felt like the films were worse off<\/em> as a result. \u00a0That must be incredibly bruising to the ego and difficult to come to terms with. \u00a0Stars Wars<\/em>\u00a0became a story set in a universe that had a legion of fans who wanted the series to continue but wanted the creator to step away.<\/p>\n

In 2012, George Lucas obliged and he sold the rights for\u00a0Star Wars<\/em> over to Disney. \u00a0When the project for Episode Seven begun, the producers declined to have Lucas’ involvement, despite his offers to help.<\/p>\n

His services were no longer required.<\/p>\n

Although I believe it was the right call, it doesn’t make it any less sad.<\/p>\n

At least with\u00a0Revenge of the Sith<\/em>, he went out on a high note. \u00a0The film isn’t a patch on the quality of the Original Trilogy but it is a far, far better film than\u00a0Phantom Menace<\/em> or\u00a0Attack of the Clones<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Director: \u00a0George Lucas Writer: \u00a0George Lucas Cast: \u00a0Hayden Christensen, Natalie Portman, Ewan McGregor By the time audiences went in to see Revenge of the Sith, a strange and strained relationship had developed between Star Wars fans and George Lucas. The first two films in the New Trilogy were a major disappointment.\u00a0 Not only that, for …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":18843,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1036,2360,767,2166,779],"class_list":["post-18841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-films","tag-george-lucas","tag-hayden-christensen","tag-natalie-portman","tag-samuel-l-jackson","tag-star-wars"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18841"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18841\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18851,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18841\/revisions\/18851"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}