May the 4th Be With You! On this international day of Star Wars, I am working the entire day on SWD: Revenge of the Sith. “Hold on to your butts!” – Lando Calrissian.
Having somewhat dubiously saved the day, Anakin spends a troublesome night with his wife, and the focal point of the plot is revealed. These ten minutes mostly focus on Anakin and Padme, but in the middle there is a short scene with General Grievous. I will discuss that first, and then move on the heart of the segment.
Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith (00.24.52-00.33.17)
Grievous, having apparently escaped from Coruscant, lands on an unidentified planet, Utapau, and immediately makes contact with Darth Sidious. All of the imagery and set dressing here is meant to foreshadow the way Darth Vader interacts with the Emperor, and as I have already talked about that at length, I won’t elaborate here.
Immediately Sidious tells Grievous to move the Separatist leaders to Mustafar. This is said as if it has meaning, but because the audience doesn’t really know the Separatist leaders, or care about them, and don’t know where or what Mustafar is, or why it matters that they be moved, this statement is meaningless to the audience. In fact, the only reason the Separatist leaders need to move to Mustafar is because Palpatine is about to have Kenobi and his Clones descend on Utapau and doesn’t want the leaders caught in the crossfire. So, why not already have them on Mustafar and avoid an unnecessary communication? Why not have Sidious chew Grievous out for letting the Chancellor escape and at least let the audience have a laugh because they all know that Sidious is Palpatine? It is even unclear why Grievous wasn’t in on the plot to kill Dooku (making Grievous’ confusion here amusing). Nothing is said that wasn’t already obvious or unnecessary. In my opinion, all dialogue must be relevant and plot related and absolutely necessary, and this dialogue is none of those things, which makes this a wasted and pointless scene.
Meanwhile, back on Coruscant…Palpatine is explaining to Mace Windu why the war must go on. This dialogue is entirely exposition and is entirely for the audience’s benefit, and thus it is very boring. While all movies have to handle exposition at some point, this movie handles it badly, because the trick is to make the exposition interesting and not coma inducing. Think of Ocean’s 11, when Danny Ocean is explaining how impossible it is to get into Terry Benedict’s casino vaults. That scene is pure exposition, but what makes it interesting are all the visuals on the screen, the sound of George Clooney’s voice, and the revelation that the entire heist seems impossible. The audience has something to look at while all this exposition is going on, and at the same time they are thinking that Steven Soderbergh (the director) has shot himself in the foot by creating an impossible robbery. In one fell stroke, Soderbergh explained a bunch of necessary information, and got the audience very invested in his movie by making them think that there is no way the caper can be pulled off.
None of that happens here. The audience of Revenge of the Sith just has to look at some old guy and some black guy and listen to them drone on about politics or war or something. Very boring.
But then Anakin disentangles himself from Bail Organa, having been largely ignored by the politicians for whom he was supposed to be a poster boy of Good Jedi Work (again: setup, but no payoff), and meets up with Padme in the shadows.
Padme looks so relieved because there were “whispers that [Anakin] had been killed” (00.26.12). Sigh. No, there weren’t. Anakin is supposed to be a hero, and as such, very visible to the galactic media. Also, Padme is a Senator, and his wife, and you can’t tell me that she hasn’t cultivated enough sources so as to be kept well informed about Anakin’s movements. There is no way she was worried that the whispers were true. It is just like no one thought about this dialogue at all.
And, there is more exposition here, which, as it is whispered amongst heavy breathing and between kisses, is absurd. I know I just said that exposition is best when something else is going on, but it has to be the right something else. No one talks with that many words about such mundane things in the first few moments of passionate greeting after years (?) of separation. I know, ’cause I am married. All the boring stuff waits for halfway through the ride home.
But, suddenly, Padme remembers that their relationship is secret (“No, not here” 00.26.26), and she objects to Anakin snogging her in such a public deserted shadow. Seriously, she is worried about being seen and there is literally no one around. They are even behind a pillar in a dark shadow and if anyone did see them, they aren’t really identifiable. Just one more laughable bit of bad writing.
Anakin responds with “I’m tired of all this deception; I don’t care if they know we are married” (00.26.31). Um, “all this deception”? What constant deception has there been? He has been off in war; she has been alone on Coruscant: neither has had to actively deceive much. I know that Lucas is trying, desperately, to set up big problems here, but as the problems don’t really exist, it is so much smoke and mirrors and the audience knows it. Believe me: an audience knows when it is being scammed.
And Padme reveals that she is pregnant. And Anakin responds by looking murderously blank. I don’t know if this is the acting or the directing, but nothing in what is said or emoted here makes me believe that Anakin is happy about the “happiest moment of [his] life” (00.27.27).
After the Grievous interlude, the action shifts back to Coruscant and Padme’s apartment, where she is being the stereotypical pregnant woman: super consumed with her baby and hormonally in love with her husband. The dialogue here is really cheesy, but I actually buy it because it sounds authentically like two young people in love: they say dumb and cheesy things that only they think are cute. The audience might be groaning, but at least they recognize two people in love. I honestly would prefer a bit more adult and romantic language here, but Lucas needs all the help he can get, so I will cut him a break and move on to the dream.
This whole thing with Padme’s pregnancy is a bit odd and ill conceived; it is introduced and handled in a very heavy handed way, and Anakin’s troubles are not adequately explored. He gets a very general dream about Padme giving birth. Lucas doesn’t reveal the whole picture here, because Anakin jumps right to Padme dying in childbirth when all that the audience has seen is what looks like a normal, physically tumultuous birth. He freaks out about it, and we are supposed to understand that this is why he eventually turns to the Dark Side, but really he just comes off as paranoid and a little nuts. And, since he is a confirmed psychopathic killer, the audience has trouble really caring. Padme comes off as the sensible one when she has a hard time herself taking Anakin seriously.
Padme finally speaks aloud the fear that she and Anakin both have: that when the baby is born, the Queen will make Padme step down as Senator and the Jedi Order will expel Anakin. Really? Since when would a legally married, duly elected Senator be unfit for public office if she is pregnant? I get that Anakin has a code that he is breaking, but is there some sort of no pregnancy clause in the Republic constitution? They are acting as if this whole thing will be one big scandal, but I don’t really see it, and for the audience to buy that this is a big enough deal for Anakin to turn evil over, then it really needs to be set up, and there is absolutely no set up at all.
Lastly, given the impossible situation that they have created for themselves, rational and level-headed Padme looks for solutions and thinks of the wise, mentor guy that they both know and respect: Obi-Wan Kenobi. Maybe he could help, but for some reason Anakin gets all scowl-y and declares “we don’t need his help” (00.33.08). For the love of the Force, why not? I know that Anakin and Obi-Wan’s relationship is supposed to be strained and whatever, but that has not been shown. Up to this point, Lucas has actually been going to great lengths to show that these guys are real pals. For Anakin to reject Obi-Wan at this point, and so strongly, makes no sense.
But, their baby is a blessing, and all evidence to the contrary, who’s to argue?
(00.33.17)
a simple man 