Star Wars Music Revenge Of The Sith

[Berenice Pretlow]

StarWars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith is a 2005 American epic space opera film written and directed by George Lucas. It is the sixth film released in the Star Wars saga and the third in terms of the series' chronology.

The film takes place three years after the onset of the Clone Wars. The Jedi Knights are spread out across the galaxy leading a massive clone army in the war against the Separatists. The Jedi Council dispatches Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi to eliminate the evil General Grievous, leader of the Separatist Army. Meanwhile, Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker, separated from Kenobi, his former master, grows close to Palpatine, the Chancellor of the Galactic Republic and, unknown to the public, a Sith Lord. Their deepening friendship proves dangerous for the Jedi Order, the Republic, and Anakin himself who inevitably succumbs to the dark side of the Force and becomes Darth Vader, changing the fate of the galaxy forever.

Lucas began writing the script before production of Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones began. Filming took place in Australia with additional locations in Thailand and Italy, and lasted over three months. The film was released in theatres on May 19, 2005, and received generally positive reviews from critics, especially in contrast to the previous two prequels.

It broke several box office records during its opening week and went on to earn over $848 million worldwide,[1] making it the second-highest-grossing film in the Star Wars franchise (not adjusting for inflation). It was the highest grossing film of 2005 in the U.S., and the second highest-grossing film of 2005 worldwide behind Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.[1]

The film opens with an opening crawl explaining that the Galactic Republic has suffered major setbacks against the Separatists during the Clone Wars. Jedi Knights Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi infiltrate the flagship of Separatist commander General Grievous to rescue the abducted Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. However, they are confronted by Count Dooku, who engages the Jedi in a lightsaber duel. After Dooku knocks Obi-Wan unconscious, Anakin fights and kills Dooku at Palpatine's urging. Following a skirmish with Grievous, who then flees, the Jedi crash-land the ship on the planet Coruscant. There, Anakin reunites with his wife, Padm Amidala, who reveals she is pregnant. Initially excited, Anakin begins to have premonitions of Padm dying in childbirth.

Palpatine places Anakin on the Jedi Council as his representative, but Anakin is denied the rank of Jedi Master and ordered to secretly monitor the Chancellor. Frustrated at being excluded from the Council, Anakin begins to lose faith in the Jedi and becomes more attached to Palpatine, who tells him that the dark side of the Force holds the power to prevent death. On the planet Utapau, Obi-Wan engages and kills Grievous. When Palpatine reveals himself as the Sith lord Darth Sidious, Anakin reports his treachery to Jedi Master Mace Windu. In the ensuing lightsaber duel, Windu subdues Sidious by deflecting his opponent's Force Lightning back at him. Anakin intervenes on Sidious's behalf, allowing the Sith Lord to kill Windu. Desperate to save Padm, Anakin becomes Sidious's apprentice and is rechristened Darth Vader.

Sidious orders the Clone Troopers to kill their Jedi masters, and sends Vader and a legion of clone troopers to kill everyone in the Jedi Temple. Vader then travels to the volcanic planet Mustafar to assassinate the Separatist leaders hiding there. Sidious addresses the Senate and reforms the Republic into the Galactic Empire, declaring himself Emperor.

Discovering Anakin's treachery, Obi-Wan and Jedi Master Yoda split up to confront Vader and Sidious. Unable to convince Padm that Anakin has turned to the dark side, Obi-Wan stows away on her ship when she travels to Mustafar. When Padm discovers what Anakin has done, she tries to take him back, but Anakin accuses her of betraying him and uses the Force to choke her into unconsciousness. Anakin and Obi-Wan engage in a fierce duel that ends with Obi-Wan severing Anakin's legs and left arm. Anakin falls down to the volcanic river's edge and is immolated. Taking his former apprentice's lightsaber, Obi-Wan goes to help Padm. Meanwhile, Yoda confronts Sidious, but is forced to retreat when their duel reaches a stalemate.

On Polis Massa, Padm dies after giving birth to twins Luke and Leia. Meanwhile, Sidious finds Vader barely alive on Mustafar and brings him back to Coruscant, rebuilding his apprentice's ruined body with cybernetic limbs and a respirator. Tormented by the discovery of Padm's death at his own hands, Vader screams, the last vestige of humanity driven from him. As Vader supervises the Death Star's construction, a funeral is held for Padm, her body dressed to continue the illusion of pregnancy. Knowing that the twins must remain hidden from the Empire, Senator Bail Organa adopts Leia and takes her to Alderaan, while Luke is to be taken to his stepfamily on Tatooine. Organa allows the droids C-3PO and R2-D2 to remain aboard the Tantive IV and has C-3PO's memory erased. Yoda teaches Obi-Wan how to commune with the spirit of Qui-Gon Jinn before going into exile on Dagobah. The film closes showing Obi-Wan taking the infant Luke to Tatooine, where he intends to watch over him until the time is right to challenge the Empire.

It was announced in 2004 that Gary Oldman had been approached to provide the voice of General Grievous;[4] however, complications arose during contract negotiations after Oldman learned the film was to be made outside of the Screen Actors Guild, of which he is a member. He backed out of the role rather than violate the union's rules.[5] Matthew Wood, who ultimately voiced Grievous, disputed this story at Celebration III, held in Indianapolis. According to him, Oldman is a friend of Rick McCallum, producer of the Star Wars prequel trilogy, and recorded an audition as a favor to him, but was not chosen.[6] Wood, who was also the supervising sound editor, was in charge of the auditions and submitted his audition anonymously in the midst of 30 others, under the initials "A.S." for Alan Smithee.[7] Days later he received a phone call asking for the full name to the initials "A.S."[8] An internet hoax said John Rhys-Davies was considered for the role.[9]

Lucas makes an appearance at the Coruscant Opera House as a blue-faced being named Baron Papanoida; he can be seen outside Palpatine's box. It marks Lucas' only appearance in any of the Star Wars films. His three children also appear in cameos: his son, Jett, as a young Jedi-in-training named Zett Jukassa who is killed defending the Jedi Temple against clone troopers; his daughter, Amanda, as a character called Terr Taneel, seen in the security hologram; and daughter Katie as 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 (she also has a brief speaking role in one of the deleted scenes where Padm is meeting in secret with other senators). When Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Palpatine arrive via shuttle to the Senate docks after crash landing on Coruscant, the Millennium Falcon can be seen landing on one of the lower platforms as the shuttle approaches.[10]

Much of the crew also make cameos in the film. Nick Gillard, the stunt coordinator, plays a Jedi named Cin Drallig (his name spelled backward, without the k).[11] Jeremy Bulloch (who played Boba Fett in the original trilogy), appeared in a speaking role as Captain Colton, the pilot of the Rebel Blockade Runner Tantive IV.[12]

A significant number of fans speculated online about the film's subtitle; rumored titles included 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.[17] Eventually, Revenge of the Sith also became a "guessed title" that George Lucas would later announce to be true.[18] 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 Jedi do not seek revenge.[19]

Since Lucas refocused the film on Anakin, he had to sacrifice certain extraneous plot points relating to Attack of the Clones. Lucas had previously promised fans that he would explain the mystery behind the erasure of the planet Kamino from the Jedi Archives.[13] However, Lucas abandoned this plot thread in order to devote more time to Anakin's story, leaving the matter unresolved on film. As a compromise, Lucas permitted author James Luceno to explain the mystery of Kamino's erasure and the origins of the Clone army in his expanded universe novel Labyrinth of Evil.

Lucas had originally planned to include even more ties to the original trilogy, and wrote early drafts of the script in which a 10-year-old Han Solo appeared on Kashyyyk, but the role was not cast or shot. He also wrote a scene in which Palpatine reveals to Anakin that he created him from midichlorians, and is thus his "father," a clear parallel to Vader's revelation to Luke in The Empire Strikes Back, but Lucas ejected this scene as well.

After principal photography was complete in 2003, Lucas made even more changes in Anakin's character, sharpening Anakin's motivations for turning to the dark side. Lucas accomplished this "rewrite" through editing the principal footage and filming new scenes during pick-ups in 2004.[20] In the previous versions, Anakin had a myriad of reasons for turning to the dark side, one of which was his sincere belief that the Jedi were plotting to take over the Republic. Although this is still intact in the finished film, by revising and refilming many scenes, Lucas emphasized Anakin's desire to save Padm from death. Thus, in the version that made it to theatres, Anakin falls to the dark side primarily to save Padm.

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