Fixing the Revenge of the Sith

Over the past few days, I have managed to watch the original Star Wars trilogy and Revenge of the Sith. One thing I noticed was that Revenge could have been pretty awesome. Do not get me wrong, it was the best of the prequels, but it definitely had some shitty moments.

The big downfall for me was Anakin’s fall. The prequels wanted us to feel like his fall was a big tragedy. The idea that he turns to the dark side to protect Padme just seemed too swift and too “good” of a reason. However, there was a moment in the movie where you could see his anger: the execution of Count Dooku. And before anyone says anything, yes there were hints of his anger and darkness in the previous movie.

If you remember, Anakin and Obi-Wan rescue Palpatine from Dooku. In the previous movie, Dooku gave them a beat down, but it has been a few years and Anakin is much more powerful. Dooku knocks Obi-Wan out, but then Anakin cuts his arms off and has him prisoner. At the urging of Palpatine, Anakin cuts Dooku’s head off.

This is where I would have changed things. Obi-Wan should have witnessed the execution. He could have went back to the Jedi Council and informed them of what Anakin did.  After much consideration, the Council decides to boot him from the Jedi Order all together. This would leave an opening for Palpatine to bring Anakin on as his personal guard or advisor. This would also work nicely with Palpatine sending Anakin to the Jedi Council as his ambassador to the Jedi.

The seduction to the dark side of Anakin would be more subtle. Palpatine could easily push his imperial agenda into Skywalker’s mind. This would cause a split between Anakin and Padme, as she disagrees with overthrowing democracy. At some point, Palpatine could reveal himself as Darth Sideous, perhaps by showing Anakin that there is another way. Anakin would obviously be pissed at the Jedi, so here would be a great chance for someone to use that anger. Maybe he just keeps nudging him. Once he falls to Palpatine, I would again make a slight change. The battle with Mace Windu. I liked how it was in the movie, but I think when they attack the Chancellor, it would work better if Anakin has already fallen. Perhaps as Mace and Palpatine battle, there comes a moment where it looks like Mace will win and then Anakin comes in (the music plays Vader’s theme, maybe very minor or just a snippet), Master Windu thinks he has help, but quickly realizes that Anakin has come to kill him for attacking his master. This is when we see the full fury of Anakin as he cuts down Mace Windu. This is when Palpatine dubs him Darth Vader.

I would definitely keep Order 66 and Anakin slaughtering the younglings. However, the big change would be with Padme. Instead of having her go after him, if they have already had a bit of a split, maybe she discovers what planet he is on and she actually brings Obi-Wan to help try and bring Anakin back to the light. Seeing the two of them together enrages Anakin and he attacks Kenobi (cut out all the stupid whining and emo shit). In fact, the battle between them should have almost no talking from Anakin, just rage, whereas Obi-Wan is trying to reason with his friend.

At least something like that. It all starts with the execution. It could have been a totally different movie if they focused on Anakin Skywalker’s inner rage.

Author: Ngewo

2 thoughts on “Fixing the Revenge of the Sith

  1. Similarly, have you seen “MovieBob”‘s videos on YouTube? He’s got some good stuff. I just watched one on how to fix the Terminator series and one on how best to introduce the Fantastic Four into the MCU.

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