Why is ‘Star Wars Episode III’ the best movie in the series?

After the premiere of Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker , the galactic world created by George Lucas came to an end… at least in the original story . The annual celebration of World Star Wars Day on May 4 (May the 4th be with you) shows us that the franchise is more alive than ever.

This year also marks 16 years since the launch of Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, released on May 19, 2005. This film showed us a completely tragic story, with a dark tone that we had not seen until that moment. within the previous installments, although it was conditioned by being part of the prequels, highly criticized at the time.

Although many people have the idea that all the prequels are "the worst of the saga", the reality is that they provide a very important context to the original story. What's more: we could say that, if we analyze it in detail, the third part of this nine-part story is the best of all, since many epic events occur that will later be fundamental for the future of the plot.

Why is the third episode of Star Wars the best of the saga?

On a first reading, many people might not agree with this view. However, we must contextualize it. The first thing we can say is that, according to the ComputerHoy website, George Lucas was not clear about who would direct the prequels of the original saga, although he eventually ended up being him, since he was the creator of the movie universe and he had to explain the origins of this story.

So the first thing to evaluate is that the original episodes are spectacular and revolutionary in cinematic terms, but they left a lot of potholes that they couldn't understand the story. Questions such as Darth Vader's true identity, his conversion to the dark side, the appearance of an Emperor and an Empire, and even the very concept of the Force had not been explored.

Knowing all this, the idea of the prequels allowed all of these things to deepen. Of course, not everything was perfect: Episode I and II , despite their licenses, tried to explain all these ends, more or less satisfactorily (although, compared to the sequels, there are far fewer holes in the plot).

However, it is in the third installment where everything explodes, where everything is understood … and in an incredible way. The first thing we observe is that, according to what the Espinof website mentions, Episode III has a "splendid closing". In other words, a very deep link is generated with the original story (the first film in the saga, Episode IV , which came out in 1977).

For example, the final scene of Obi-Wan Kenobi leaving Luke on Tatooine, with the binary suns setting in the background, immediately takes us back to the beginning of the saga and is a very nostalgic closing for the franchise. However, this not all. Anakin Skywalker's transformation to the dark side is very painful. Every time we see that installment again, we dream that the young Padawan does not betray the Jedi Order.

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At the time, the film was accused of making a very abrupt transformation and without much argument. Actually, the passage to the dark side has an explanation: the character is impulsive, since he gave in to the darkness in the face of whims misunderstood by his peers. Palpatine's proposed seduction is fantastic, as it touches on a topic that will later be addressed in the recent sequels: how to save lives.

Although the concept, which is explained in the spectacular theater scene, had not been so approached, everything begins to make sense when we see that the plan to lure Anakin to the side of the Sith was always in front of everyone's nose. The idea of defeating death to save loved ones, which is the main motivation of the protagonist after seeing his mother die and dreaming that Padmé would die, is understood in context.

All that, of course, not to mention some epic scenes from the saga. The battle of the most powerful beings in the galaxy, that is, Yoda and Palpatine, does not let us slow down for a second. At the same time, the final fight between Obi-Wan and Anakin, in addition to having a choreography never seen and never equaled, has completely emotional moments, which made more than one cry and quickly became iconic scenes.

Finally, something very important: all the political conflict that seemed to saturate in the previous installments here acquires a total meaning. It is well understood why the destroyer Order 66 was activated, which explains why the clone troopers have “switched sides”: they were programmed to defend the Republic. If the Jedi were seen as the "enemies" of this, it was logical that they confront them.

Ultimately, this date may be the perfect opportunity to give Episode III a new chance. If we abstract it from the prequels and think of it as individual work, we will realize that it has absolutely everything that fans expect from a Star Wars installment. May the force be with you!