Preamble

I’ve made no bones about the fact that Revenge of the Sith is my second favourite Star Wars film. Even with its flaws, the film is a beautifully tragic and enthralling end to George Lucas’s original six-picture saga. In fact, the 2005 effort has grown in my esteem over the years. But there’s one thing that I’ve wanted to discuss about it, and that’s what this blog post is about. Did you get a chance to see the re-release this weekend? Let me know in the comments below.

One Great Shot

In the twenty years since the release of Revenge of the Sith, there’s one aspect that I’ve come to appreciate about it. This comes in its use of emotional choreography. Simply put, it’s the acting beats between the lightsaber swings. In the Original Trilogy, it felt as though the laser sword bashing punctuated long-stated sentiments. However, in the Prequels (particularly ROTS), this is confined to silent acting moments. Lucas’ camera is surprisingly intimate whether it’s dueling close-ups between Obi-Wan and General Grievous or Mace Windu’s disgruntled expression when bearing down on Palpatine.

However, the concept really has lift off in the Obi-Wan and Anakin confrontation. There’s a stretch of the struggle where the pair are attacking each other without lightsabers. And Anakin’s anger and hatred are really expressed well when he strangles his former master before laying him down on the table (the one great shot in question).

The surprisingly intimate moment gives rise to Revenge of the Sith feeling the most like a silent movie where music and acting combine to create a purely visual experience. Even the words that Anakin seemingly utters under his breath as he attacks Obi feel like it is oddly missing a reel with an intertitle.

Although quite incidental in the grand scheme of things, Revenge of the Sith’s one great shot unlocks the saga’s cinematic potential. In so doing, it illustrates what appeals to me about some of the saga’s best lightsaber battles. They can be grandiose with galactic stakes but also intimate and humble in their filmmaking.