Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005)

Film and Plot Synopsis

With the Clone Wars consuming the galaxy, Anakin Skywalker returns home to learn that his wife, Padmé, is pregnant. With their marriage still a secret, Anakin fears for her safety as he becomes embroiled in the political stalemate between the Jedi and Senate. However, the dark side tempts Anakin, and after visions of Padmé’s death, he makes a fateful choice that leaves the galaxy forever changed.

‘Revenge of the Sith’ Movie Summary

Revenge of the Sith begins three years after Attack of the Clones. Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi and Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker are on a mission to rescue Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. The Separatist’s cyborg commander, General Grievous, took him hostage during a battle over Coruscant.

After infiltrating Grievous’s dreadnought, the Invisible Hand, the two duel Count Dooku. Once Dooku knocks out Obi-wan, Anakin takes him on alone; cutting off both his hands in the process. Now defenseless from Anakin’s lightsabers, Palpatine cons Anakin into killing Dooku, and he slices Dooku’s head clean off.

Grievous manages to escape the ship, but the Invisible Hand is now out of control, and on a collision course with the surface of Coruscant. Anakin successfully crashes it, and then reunites with Padmé Amidala; his secret wife. She reveals to him that she is pregnant with his child, and it’s totally not Obi-wan’s. Anakin is thrilled, but he soon has visions of Padmé dying in childbirth, and you know how Anakin gets when he loses loved ones!

Palpatine, now needing a new Darth since Anakin chopped up the old one, demands the Jedi appoint Anakin to their little Jedi Council as his special representative and personal informant. They agree to add Anakin to it, but do not grant him the rank of Jedi Master (very unfairzees). They then order him to spy on Palpatine, whom they sense might possibly be some small sort of threat…they’re still not sure really. This causes Anakin’s loss in faith in the Jedi to rapidly decline, but at least he still has Padmé.

Palpatine soon reveals to Anakin his knowledge of a dark side of the Force through the tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise that gives one the power to prevent death. That would come in handy if anything ever bad happened to Padmé, which wouldn’t happen in a million years.

Yoda sends Obi-Wan to Utapau where Grievous is reportedly hold up, and take him out. After Ki-Adi-Mundi nags Yoda about the Droid attack on the Wookiees, Yoda travels to Kashyyyk to help them defend their planet from invasion.

Palpatine is finally ready for his big reveal! So he lets Anakin in on his little secret that HE is the Sith Lord the Jedi are after. He also claims knows how to save Padmé if anything bad were to ever happen to her, so Anakin should join him and rule the galaxy together.

Instead, Anakin returns to the Jedi Council, and tattles on Palpatine to Mace Windu. Mace immediately takes a few Jedi with him to arrest the Sith Lord. Sidious quickly takes them all out but Mace who quite possibly defeats Sidious…it depends on your perspective. As Mace blocks Sidious’ force lightening, the confrontation permanently disfigures Sidious’ face.

Anakin shows up, even though Mace told him to stay home. Still fearing that he’s going to lose Padmé, he cuts off Mace’s hand that he uses to hold his lightsaber while he’s distracted with Sidious. Now with unlimited power, Sidious use force lightening to toss Mace out the window and to his death, or at least as dead as a sliced in half Darth Maul.

With anger consuming him, and nowhere to go, Anakin dedicates himself to his new master, Darth Sidious. Sidious promptly names Anakin Darth Vader, and orders him to kill all the younglings in the Jedi Temple. Palpatine then orders the clone troopers to execute Order 66; killing their commanding Jedi officers.

Fresh off his first set of dark side killings, Darth Vader heads to the volcanic planet of Mustafar to kill the Separatist leaders. Palpatine then declares himself Emperor before the Galactic Senate. The Republic is now dead. Long live the Galactic Empire.

Obi-Wan and Yoda survive the Order 66 betrayal, and return to Coruscant where they learn of Anakin’s fall, and Vader’s rise. Obi-Wan lets Padmé know Anakin has fallen to the dark side, and that he’s off to confront him on Mustafar.

Obviously, Padmé is a bit distraught over this news, and she sneaks on board Obi-Wan’s ship to help persuade her hubby to return to the light side. Sneaks on board? Really, how could Obi-wan not sense her presence on his ship?

Once Anakin/Vader sees Obi-Wan and Padmé together, he thinks the two are conspiring together to kill him. Vader angrily force chokes Padmé. Obi-Wan whips out his lightsaber, and the two engage in their legendary duel to the death.

After a lengthy battle, Obi-wan takes the high ground, and tells Anakin it’s over. Always thinking Obi-wan underestimates his power, Anakin attacks him. Obi-wan swiftly chops off his arms and legs; leaving him helpless on the banks of a lava flow to burn to death.

Meanwhile, back on Coruscant, Yoda and Palpatine duel to a stalemate, but after Yoda falls, Palpatine has the high ground. Yoda’s no dummy, and he flees the scene with Bail Organa. Palpatine doesn’t pursue him though. He senses that Lord Vader is in danger, and he rushes off to Mustafar.

Obi-Wan meets up with Yoda on the asteroid Polis Massa where Padmé lies on a medical table in great pain. We cut to Mustafar where Palpatine finds Vader quite angry but alive. He brings him back to Coruscant. As Vader too lies on a medical table in great pain, we cut back and forth between various droids attending to him and Padmé. At one location, the Vader we know, encased in his black armor/life support system, is born, and the other where Padmé gives birth to twins Luke and Leia.

As Vader rises, Padmé dies. The medical droids say that Padmé lost the will to live, but that smile on Sidious’ face as he informs Vader of her death says otherwise. Most likely, Sidious knew Darth Plagueis’ secrets to life and death, and he used that knowledge to siphon the Living Force from Padmé, and give it to his new apprentice to save him.

(Sideous himself said that, Darth Plagueis possessed the knowledge to “keep the ones he cared about from dying.” Whom did Sidious care about living, and whom did he care about dying? With that in mind, it’s no coincidence that Padmé died at the exact same time Vader’s procedure finishes up, but I digress.)

Yoda and Obi-wan decide to hide the twins from Vader and Sidious, and then go into hiding to let the twins grow up. Yoda exiles himself to Dagobah once he takes Leia to Alderaan where Bail Organa and his wife adopt her as their own.

As the Emperor, Vader, and Moff Tarkin look out to the Death Star under construction, Obi-Wan delivers Luke to his Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru on Tatooine. He then heads into exile himself on the planet to watch over Luke until the Jedi’s new hope is old enough.

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