Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith is a 2005 American epic space opera film written and directed by George Lucas. The sequel to Attack of the Clones (2002), it is the sixth film in the Star Wars film series, the third installment in the Star Wars prequel trilogy, and the third chronological chapter of the "Skywalker Saga". The film stars Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Hayden Christensen, Ian McDiarmid, Samuel L. Jackson, Christopher Lee, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, and Frank Oz.
The film is set three years after the onset of the Clone Wars and depicts the rise of Darth Sidious and the Galactic Empire as well as Anakin Skywalker turning to the dark side of the Force, which has wide-ranging consequences in the galaxy that lead to the extermination of the Jedi.
Lucas began writing the script before production of Attack of the Clones ended, saying he wanted the end of the trilogy to be similar to a romantic tragedy, thus leading into Darth Vader's state at the beginning of the next film. Production of Revenge of the Sith started in June 2003, and filming took place in Australia, Thailand, Switzerland, China, Italy, and the United Kingdom.
Revenge of the Sith premiered on May 16, 2005, at the Cannes Film Festival, and was theatrically released in the United States on May 19. The film received mostly positive reviews from critics, with praise for the mature themes, darker tone, emotional depth, soundtrack and action sequences, although some criticism was reserved towards Lucas's screenplay; most considered it the best installment of the prequel trilogy. It broke several box-office records during its opening week and earned $850 million worldwide during its initial run, making it the second-highest-grossing film in the Star Wars franchise at the time. It was the highest-grossing film in the U.S. and the second-highest-grossing film worldwide in 2005. It also holds the record for the highest opening-day gross on a Thursday, at $50 million. It was the last Star Wars film distributed by 20th Century Fox, although the company (and, by extension, the film) was acquired by Disney several years after it acquired Lucasfilm. It also serves as Lucas' most recent directorial credit.
Plot
Three years after the start of the Clone Wars, Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi and Knight Anakin Skywalker lead a mission to rescue Supreme Chancellor Palpatine from the cyborg Separatist commander General Grievous. After infiltrating Grievous's flagship in Coruscant's orbit, Obi-Wan and Anakin battle the Sith Lord Count Dooku, whom Anakin disarms and then executes at Palpatine's insistence. Grievous escapes the damaged ship before Obi-Wan and Anakin crash-land it on Coruscant. Anakin reunites with his wife, Padmé Amidala, who tells him she is pregnant. Soon after, Anakin is haunted by visions of Padmé dying in childbirth, similar to the vision he had of his mother before her death.
Palpatine appoints Anakin to the Jedi Council as his representative. Distrusting Palpatine, the Council agrees but refuses to make Anakin a Jedi Master. They instead instruct him to spy on Palpatine, diminishing Anakin's faith in the Jedi. Meanwhile, on Utapau, Grievous relocates the Separatist leaders to the volcanic planet Mustafar. Obi-Wan travels to Utapau and battles Grievous, ultimately killing him.
Meanwhile, Palpatine tempts Anakin with the dark side of the Force, promising that it can save Padmé's life. Anakin deduces that Palpatine is the Sith Lord, Darth Sidious, and the one who orchestrated the Clone Wars. He reports this to Mace Windu, who confronts and subdues Palpatine. Desperate to save Padmé, Anakin maims Windu to prevent him from killing Sidious, allowing Sidious to kill Windu with his Force lightning. Despite being horrified by his actions, Anakin pledges himself to the Sith in return for Sidious' help in saving Padmé. Sidious christens Anakin, now known as Darth Vader. Sidious issues Order 66, which makes the obedience-conditioned clone troopers kill their commanding Jedi generals across the galaxy, while Vader commands a battalion of clone troopers to massacre the remaining Jedi in the Jedi Temple. Vader then assassinates the Separatist leaders on Mustafar, while Sidious publicly denounces the Jedi as traitors and declares himself Emperor before the Galactic Senate, transforming the Republic into the Galactic Empire.
Obi-Wan and Yoda survive Order 66 and learn that Anakin has turned to the dark side. On Coruscant, Yoda instructs Obi-Wan to confront Vader while he faces Sidious. Obi-Wan seeks out Padmé to learn Vader's whereabouts and to reveal his treachery. Padmé travels to Mustafarunaware that Obi-Wan has stowed aboard her shipand pleads with Vader to abandon the dark side. When Obi-Wan emerges, an enraged Vader believes Padmé has betrayed him and strangles her with the Force. Obi-Wan and Vader engage in a lightsaber duel, before Obi-Wan defeats Vader and severs his remaining limbs. Obi-Wan remorsefully denounces his former friend, who is then burned alive by a nearby lava flow. Obi-Wan retrieves Vader's lightsaber and leaves him for dead.
Meanwhile, Yoda battles Sidious on Coruscant, culminating in a stalemate. Yoda flees with Senator Bail Organa and regroups with Obi-Wan and Padmé on the planetoid Polis Massa. Padmé gives birth to twins, whom she names Luke and Leia. She dies soon after, still believing there is good in Anakin. Sidious recovers the barely-alive Vader. On Coruscant, Vader's mutilated body is treated and encased in a black, armored life-support suit. When he inquires about Padmé, Sidious claims Vader killed her out of rage, leaving Vader devastated.
Obi-Wan and Yoda conceal the twins' birth from the Sith and retreat into exile until the Empire can be challenged. As Padmé's funeral is underway on Naboo, Palpatine and Vader supervise the construction of the Death Star. Bail takes Leia to Alderaan to raise her as his daughter. Obi-Wan delivers Luke to his step-uncle and step-aunt, Owen and Beru Lars, on Tatooine. Obi-Wan settles nearby as a recluse while watching over young Luke.
Cast
Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi, a Jedi Master, general of the Galactic Republic and Anakin's best friend and mentor. Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker / Darth Vader, a Jedi Knight, hero of the Clone Wars and former Padawan of Obi-Wan and Padmé's secret husband who turns to the dark side of the Force and becomes a Sith Lord. Christensen also plays Vader in his suit. James Earl Jones reprises his role as the voice of Vader from previous Star Wars media in an uncredited cameo. Natalie Portman as Padmé Amidala, a senator of Naboo who is secretly Anakin's wife and pregnant with their children. Ian McDiarmid as Palpatine / Darth Sidious, the Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic who is secretly a Sith Lord, and later the Emperor of the Galactic Empire. He takes advantage of Anakin's distrust of the Jedi and fear of Padmé dying to turn him towards the dark side, becoming Vader's master. Samuel L. Jackson as Mace Windu, a Jedi Master and senior member of the Jedi Council. Jimmy Smits as Bail Organa, a senator from Alderaan. Anthony Daniels as C-3PO, Anakin and Padmé's personal protocol droid that Anakin created as a child. Kenny Baker as R2-D2, Anakin's astromech droid. Frank Oz as Yoda, a Jedi Grandmaster and the leader of the Jedi Council. Christopher Lee as Count Dooku / Darth Tyranus, Sidious' Sith apprentice and the leader of the Separatists.
Peter Mayhew, Ahmed Best, and Silas Carson reprise their roles as Chewbacca, Jar Jar Binks, and Nute Gunray and Ki-Adi-Mundi, respectively, from the previous films. Joel Edgerton and Bonnie Piesse also make cameo appearances, reprising their roles as Owen and Beru Lars respectively from Attack of the Clones. Sound engineer Matthew Wood provides the voice of General Grievous, the fearsome cyborg commander of the Separatists' droid army, who had been trained in wielding a lightsaber by Count Dooku. Wood took over the role, after Gary Oldman was originally cast in the role, but had to drop out of the production due to scheduling conflicts; Oldman had completed some voice-over work. Temuera Morrison portrays Commander Cody and the rest of the clone troopers. Bruce Spence portrays Tion Medon, local administrator of Utapau. At Padmé's funeral on Naboo, Keisha Castle-Hughes briefly appears as Queen Apailana alongside Oliver Ford Davies reprising his role as Sio Bibble. Jeremy Bulloch (who played Boba Fett in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi) appears as Captain Colton, the pilot of the CR70 corvette Tantive III. Genevieve O'Reilly portrays senator Mon Mothma, though her speaking scene was ultimately cut. Rohan Nichol portrays Captain Raymus Antilles.
Wayne Pygram appears as a young Wilhuff Tarkin, and stunt coordinator Nick Gillard appears as a Jedi named Cin Drallig (his name spelled backward, without the 'k'). Editor Roger Barton's son Aidan Barton portrays Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa as infants.
Director and Star Wars creator George Lucas has a cameo as Baron Papanoida, a blue-faced alien in attendance at the Coruscant opera house. Lucas' son Jett portrays Zett Jukassa, a young Jedi-in-training. One of Lucas' daughters, Amanda, appears as Terr Taneel, seen in a security hologram, while his other daughter Katie plays a blue-skinned Pantoran named Chi Eekway, visible when Palpatine arrives at the Senate after being saved by the Jedi and talking to Baron Papanoida at the opera house. Christian Simpson appeared as a stunt double for Hayden Christensen.
Production
Writing George Lucas said he conceived the Star Wars saga's story in the form of a plot outline in 1973. However, he later clarified that, at the time of the saga's conception, he had not fully realized the details—only major plot points.Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith DVD commentary featuring George Lucas, Rick McCallum, Rob Coleman, John Knoll and Roger Guyett, The film's climactic duel has its basis in the Return of the Jedi novelization, in which Obi-Wan recounts his battle with Vader that ended with the latter falling "into a molten pit".. Lucas began working on the screenplay for Episode III before the previous film, Attack of the Clones, was released, proposing to concept artists that the film would open with a montage of seven battles on seven planets.. In The Secret History of Star Wars, Michael Kaminski surmises that Lucas found flaws with Anakin's fall to the dark side and radically reorganized the plot. For example, instead of opening the film with a montage of Clone War battles, Lucas decided to focus on Anakin, ending the first act with him killing Count Dooku, an action that signals his turn to the dark side..
A significant number of fans speculated online about the episode title for the film with rumored titles including Rise of the Empire, The Creeping Fear (which was also named as the film's title on the official website on April Fool's 2004), and Birth of the Empire. Eventually, Revenge of the Sith also became a title guessed by fans that George Lucas would indirectly confirm. The title is a reference to Revenge of the Jedi, the original title of Return of the Jedi; Lucas changed the title scant weeks before the premiere of Return of the Jedi, declaring that a true Jedi could never seek revenge.Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy Star Wars Trilogy Box Set DVD documentary, .