Time does a great number of things to a film’s reputation. In many cases, distance is not kind to the source. It can often mute the initial enthusiasm that an audience had coming out of the theater, as the scrutiny of multiple viewings can surface flaws that were not initially evident when swept up in the details and emotion of the story. Other times, a movie’s reputation grows, often once the full impact of the direction’s vision permeates the public consciousness. Then there’s a third bucket, when the nostalgic younger generation channels screams so loud about a film that it makes it feel like the sentiment has been elevated. 

Twenty years is a lifetime in the history of a movie. I still remember being nine years old, seated at a packed Sunday night screening of Star Wars: Episode III-Revenge of the Sith. George Lucas’s prequel trilogy capper, which at the time was thought to possibly be the last ever live-action Star Wars movie, was met with positive reviews and positive audience reception, though not overwhelming praise. It certainly always looked much better when you compared it to its two predecessors, as Anakin Skywalker’s turn to evil lent Revenge of the Sith a more epic and dark tone that benefited it immensely. 

Like many people my age, Revenge of the Sith will always have a special place in my heart. It meant to me what the original trilogy meant to fans that were my parents’ age, and what I’m sure The Force Awakens and The Mandalorian will mean to people who are tweens and teens right now. But how much of my own admiration of Revenge of the Sith, plus the attempts of a loud faction of people my age to claim the film as an unheralded masterpiece, is rooted in reality? Obviously given the subjective nature of film, that’s a question that will never have a concrete answer. But at nearly 30 years old, I’m reevaluating Revenge of the Sith and working through whether the defenses of these movies, many of which I’ve recently seen on various social media posts, are FACT or FICTION. 

FACT OR FICTION: REVENGE OF THE SITH’S STORY HAS TIMELY QUALITIES AND HOLDS UP TO MODERN PARALLELS 

Though Anakin’s personal turn to the dark side is obviously at the center of Revenge of the Sith, the film (and the prequel trilogy itself) is very much about the degradation of democracy from the rot and corruption within it. Even with all of the other problems of the prequels, this is something that the three films outlined very well. Palpatine pulled the strings within the government, pitted the Separatists and the Senate against each other to run interference that distracted from his growing power, and threw the Jedi in the middle of the conflict to make them easy scapegoats and leave them vulnerable for Order 66. Without getting too much into specific politics, Revenge of the Sith’s parallels to U.S. politics and the Iraq War in the early 2000’s was notable, but the film still feels somewhat relevant to the controversies of today’s governance. This is something that this middle section of Star Wars does really well. The run of Revenge of the Sith, Andor and Rogue One captures how, as Padmé famously puts it, liberty can die with thunderous applause. 

VERDICT: FACT 

FACT OR FICTION: REVENGE OF THE SITH’S STORY ISN’T RUSHED 

As just covered, the themes of corruption and power are really potent in the film, but that doesn’t always necessarily mean that the beats the film takes to get there are the smoothest. There’s a new meme going around the internet where Anakin compliments Palpatine on how fast he pulls his new “Darth Vader” name out of thin air (the exact phrasing Anakin uses in the meme is “Bro, you just came up with that off the dome?”). That’s a minor example of a movie that is certainly feeling the pressure of the clock to take its main character from Jedi chosen one to evil monster in just a few days time. There is a lot packed into this movie, and while most of it is impactful, one wonders what another 20 minutes could’ve done to help flesh things out. As it is, this is a very dense plot, and one that struggles to find the space for character moments. It’s a shame, because some of the best scenes in the film–the Darth Plagueis story, Padmé telling Anakin she’s pregnant, Anakin and Obi-Wan’s final goodbye before everything goes to hell–are character rich. 

VERDICT: FICTION 

FACT OR FICTION: REVENGE OF THE SITH HAS THE BEST ACTION SCENES OF THE FRANCHISE 

The opening 20 minutes of Revenge of the SIth are simply breathtaking. The opening shot, as Anakin and Obi-Wan descend down upon General Grievous’s ship, remains a masterwork of modern CG. Some of the other effects haven’t held up as well, as Lucas’s overreliance on green screen is really noticeable in some moments, particularly when Obi-Wan goes to hunt down General Grievous on Utapau. But for a 20-year-old movie, Revenge of the Sith still looks pretty epic, and the various duels match that scale. Some think the lightsaber duels are overchoreographed, but I disagree with that. The final fight between Obi-Wan and Anakin does go on for a long time, but it is so memorable and accurately represents the equal skill that these two masters of the Force possess. The cross-cutting between that fight and the terrific battle between Palpatine and Yoda in the Senate is hard to top in the franchise, maybe only matched on pure action terms by Phantom Menace’s three-way duel and the final fight between Luke and Vader in Return of the Jedi.

VERDICT: FACT

FACT OR FICTION: THE ROMANCE BETWEEN ANAKIN AND PADMÉ HAS AGED WELL. 

Natalie Portman has won an Academy Award and has threatened multiple times to win a second one, and yet if you just watched these movies, you would think she’s never acted a day in her life. It’s no secret that Lucas has trouble with dialogue, particularly making emotive dialogue feel natural. He also is not a good enough director to help his actors rise above his own bad writing. It is shocking how stilted all of the Anakin and Padmé material remains, particularly in the first act of the film. At least you have a little more that works in the tragedy of the second half, though it still is more awkward than you would hope for it to play. It all is flat, particularly when you consider it in the context of a series that also has the iconic and sizzling romance between Han Solo and Leia Organa/Skywalker.

VERDICT: FICTION 

FACT OR FICTION: HAYDEN CHRISTENSEN’S PERFORMANCE AS ANAKIN/DARTH VADER IS “MISUNDERSTOOD”

This is a really difficult one. Christensen is the person involved with the prequels who has benefited the most from the passage of time. I think a lot of people understand the burden that he carried as a relatively inexperienced actor shouldering this crucial arc of some of the most anticipated movies of all-time. He has since had a chance to redeem himself, and has performed admirably, in Disney+ originals like Ahsoka and Obi-Wan Kenobi (by the way, Ewan McGregor is the best thing about the prequels–just couldn’t find an organic place to say that on record). In Revenge of the Sith, I’m of two minds about Christensen. On one hand, he is the actor who is eaten alive the most by Lucas’s writing, and he was not good enough to make any of these exchanges feel even remotely natural. On the other, he has such an expressive face, particularly in his eyes, that you can feel pure evil sizzling from him. If you break it down, I would say he gets 50 percent of the way there. 

VERDICT: INCONCLUSIVE 

FACT OR FICTION: REVENGE OF THE SITH HAS A TOP THREE JOHN WILLIAMS “STAR WARS” SCORE

This is a bit of a stupid prompt, because no one actually says this or talks about this score in this way. It just gave me a chance to give props to John Williams, who never can be given too much praise. All of the most iconic themes are from the original trilogy, but there are so many memorable music moments in the prequels and the sequels. Rey’s theme is exceedingly memorable, as is “Duel of the Fates” from Phantom Menace. There’s no one singular moment like that in Revenge of the Sith, but the totality of the music is incredibly epic from start to finish, particularly in the Mustafar showdown. Imagine watching that scene with any other music–you quite literally cannot. 

VERDICT: FACT