Revenge of the Sith is celebrating 15 years old

[Edmilson 4,984]

15 years ago, everywhere people was gathering to watch the newest and (at the time) last chapter on the Star Wars franchise: Revenge of the Sith!

 

Despite the lukewarm reception of the first two Episodes on the prequel trilogy, ROTS broke Spider-Man 2's record of biggest opening day at the American box office, earning $50 million. To this day, it's still the biggest opening day on a Thursday. On Sunday, the movie had earned almost $160m, and it ended its career on the US with $380m, a little more than Return of the King, but less than The Phantom Menace. Its worldwide box office was $850m, the second biggest that year behind Goblet of Fire.

 

The score was composed and conducted by John Williams and performed by the London Symphony Orchestra. To this day it's one of my favorite SW scores thanks to the epic choir during the most dramatic scenes.

 

These days, the movie is more of an internet meme thanks to the hilarious dialogues and performances, but it's still considered by some the best of the prequels.

 

Will you celebrate ROTS' fifteenth birthday re-watching it or listening to the score?

 

 

[Unlucky Bastard 7,771]

15 years old? Get off, it won't even be out for another three years.

[Fabulin 3,442]

Playing the prequel fanfare brings back childhood memories. When Grievous and Jar Jar and all others were just characters in a space story, and Star Wars belonged to some cool American guy named George Lucas.

 

I bought the LEGO Star Wars videogame (the coolest game I've seen at that point), and went to the cinema with my father and an uncle. I did not play the missions from the new episode on purpose, to see the film first.

 

When ROTS DVD came out on, my father bought a new (and the only we've ever had) hi-fi sound system, with large, towery loudspeekers. He used to always test new sound settings and TV screens with the opening of ROTS.

[Disco Stu 15,475]

I remember waiting in line with my best friend just to buy tickets in May 2005.  It came out the month I finished high school.  Lots of good memories.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,479]

41 minutes ago, Edmilson said:

The score was composed and conducted by John Williams and performed by the London Symphony Orchestra.

 

Really, I didn't know that. You are interesting. 

[Jay 32,102]

I went to the midnight premiere of this movie. The moment it ended was the moment my Star Wars fandom died

[Jurassic Shark 9,810]

You liked AotC?

[Bellosh 1,953]

First and only midnight showing I've ever been to.  I remember really liking it.  It felt pretty surreal at the time to see Darth Vader created on screen.

 

I don't believe I've watched it all the way through in full since then.

 

Love the score.

[Edmilson 4,984]

I didn't watch the movie in theaters, but I remember watching it at home when I was 12 and enjoying the final duel between Anakin and Obi-Wan.

 

These days, I can't think about the movie without remembering Backstroke of the West:

 

 

[MikeH 765]

Ah, the Backstroke of the West. Memories!

You two careful, he is a big. 
 

Mr. Speaker, we are for the big

[rough cut 1,470]

2 hours ago, Edmilson said:

It's still considered by some the best of the prequels.

 

That is some lukewarm accolades.

[Naïve Old Fart 7,991]

Fact: the O.T shits all over the S.T.

[Jurassic Shark 9,810]

Way to go stating the obvious.

[gkgyver 1,643]

Aged like stale piss in the afternoon sun. 

[Bilbo 3,706]

Has been my favourite Star Wars film since 2005 and that has never changed. I love it, warts an all. 

[Jurassic Shark 9,810]

4 minutes ago, Bilbo said:

Has been my favourite Star Wars film from 2005 and that has never changed. I love it, warts an all. 

 

It is the best SW film from 2005.

[Bilbo 3,706]

3 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

 

It is the best SW film from 2005.

🙃🙃

[Edmilson 4,984]

23 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

It is the best SW film from 2005.

 

Actually no, it isn't. The best SW from 2005 is the third season of Genndy Tartakovsky's Clone Wars:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars:_Clone_Wars_(2003_TV_series)#Season_3_(2005)

[mstrox 5,889]

I watched it fairly recently for the first time since maybe 2006.  The start is a little rocky and there are a few places where the special effects were a bit clunky (Obi-wan on Boga and floating on the lava platforms), but by and large I was impressed with how well it held up - the effects were better than I remembered, the acting actually got cooking once the emotions got heated near the end.  Order 66 was really effective, prticularly because we didn’t really know any of the characters.  It’s up there maybe tied with TPM for best prequel for me now.

 

...and it got dark.  We recently got through the OT with my kid, and ROTS - particularly the immolation - is the reason we didn’t jump right into the prequels yet.

[Bilbo 3,706]

43 minutes ago, Edmilson said:

 

Actually no, it isn't. The best SW from 2005 is the third season of Genndy Tartakovsky's Clone Wars:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars:_Clone_Wars_(2003_TV_series)#Season_3_(2005)

It isn’t a movie and even if it was it is the most overrated piece of Star Wars ever. 

[mstrox 5,889]

Gennedy’s Clone Wars was beautiful but so boring.

[Disco Stu 15,475]

Can’t possibly be more boring than the first few seasons of the Filoni Clone Wars

[Bellosh 1,953]

4 hours ago, Fabulin said:

I bought the LEGO Star Wars videogame (the coolest game I've seen at that point), and went to the cinema with my father and an uncle. I did not play the missions from the new episode on purpose, to see the film first.

 

Oh goodness yes.  Lego Star Wars + the hype of Episode III was top notch back then.

[Bespin 7,011]

The prelogy is one of my most disappointing memory of the 2k years.

 

Rick McCallum may you burn in hell for eternity.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,479]

3 hours ago, mstrox said:

Gennedy’s Clone Wars was beautiful but so boring.

 

I thought it was ugly but the episodes were short and fast paced.

[Bellosh 1,953]

1 hour ago, Bespin said:

The prelogy is one of my most disappointing memory of the 2k years.

 

You have a lived a fantastic life so far then, my dude. 

[Darth Porkins 53]

My 2nd favorite Star Wars movie. Just below A New Hope and just above Empire.

[Chen G. 3,216]

Of all three trilogy-capers it’s by far the most fulfilling.

[Arpy 4,090]

Wrote a post about it in the rating thread:

On 5/9/2020 at 11:03 PM, Arpy said:

Didn't know where to put this so found this old thread convenient:

 

Just rewatched this film after finishing Clone Wars - which is great considering the series retroactively gave this film a greater meaning and contextualizes a lot of motivations and characters the film never had time to explore. Revenge of the Sith has always been one of my favorite films in the franchise and rewatching it with the fuller scope of the spin-offs really made me accept some of its shortcomings (writing and some line delivery) and get over the Prequel-itis that plagued the internet and civil discourse for the last twenty something years. It was also an opportunity to hear the score in context once more and it never disappoints. The variety and ease at which Wiliams is able to shift, in mood and tone is downright masterful and adds a dimension to the film everything else can't conjure without. You feel Anakin's conflict, Obi-Wan and Padmé's grief, Palpatine's snake-like seduction and eventual triumph - it's all so delicately woven together that it all feels inevitable and integral to the story. It's probably my favorite Williams score joint with Prisoner of Azkaban.

 

What stands out fifteen years later is what I consider top-notch CGI that holds up relatively well considering the software and technology has come so far in such a short time; there's depth and spatial awareness to the animation that rivals many of today's CGI-heavy films. There's not one CG sequence that looks hastily slapped together and that leads me to the point that for all of Attack of the Clones' clearly heavy-handed use of CG, Revenge of the Sith makes that CG work in the film's favor without looking like it was trying too hard to work miracles. Yoda has a surprisingly realistic presence that I think was always chided around the time of the film's release but is really well done for the time - ILM were really raising the bar here. The film's art direction and design of the sets, planets, props, costumes etc. are stunning; it's not garish or out of place or silly. It works wonders with the CGI and the lighting which 90% of the time is CG.

 

 

As for Genndy's Clone Wars series - can't praise it enough, the episodes were brief, centred on the action and really brought an energy and sense of fun to the franchise making it, you know, feel adventurous. It was exactly the thing my friends and I snapped up at the time leading to the release of Sith and we savoured whatever we could get. I don't get @mstrox calling it 'boring' or @Bilbo saying it's overrated when the series is shorter than half of a feature film and concise, and when it's been pushed to the back of everything Star Wars ever since it was overshadowed by the CG series and the Sequel Trilogy.

 

One thing I loved about the series was how menacing they made General Grievous; his coughing and wheezing a result of Mace Windu crushing his chest in the general's escape from Coruscant. He was fast, relentless, freakishly dangerous and gave the Jedi someone to fear and he wasn't force sensitive, just a killer cyborg. The CG series chose to retcon this and made Grievous a coughing and bumbling lackey from the get go. Grievous became Team Rocket, blasting off again everytime his plans were foiled.

[Naïve Old Fart 7,991]

8 hours ago, Jurassic Shark said:

Way to go stating the obvious.

 

[Jurassic Shark 9,810]

2 hours ago, Chen G. said:

Of all three trilogy-capers it’s by far the most fulfilling.

 

I find barbecue parties much more fulfilling, not to say yummy!

[Bilbo 3,706]

I dunno if boring is the right word for the Gendy series. But it is certainly fatiguing to watch. I think the whole series is barely two hours long but I find it impassible to sit through in one go. 
 

There are some serious WTF moments too. Anakin eating bugs, 3PO practically flashing Anakin and Padmé...

 

it has its moments but they’re all moments I’d rather see re-done in the Filoni series. 

[crumbs 12,973]

3 hours ago, Arpy said:

Grievous became Team Rocket, blasting off again everytime his plans were foiled.

 

[Arpy 4,090]

1 hour ago, Bilbo said:

I dunno if boring is the right word for the Gendy series. But it is certainly fatiguing to watch. I think the whole series is barely two hours long but I find it impassible to sit through in one go. 
 

There are some serious WTF moments too. Anakin eating bugs, 3PO practically flashing Anakin and Padmé...

 

it has its moments but they’re all moments I’d rather see re-done in the Filoni series. 

 

As a fan of Tartakovsky's Samurai Jack and his art style, I think some of the CG Clone Wars is a bit putrid and awkward in comparison, I don't know if seeing them redone would appease anyone. 

 

 

 

 

[Bilbo 3,706]

8 minutes ago, Arpy said:

 

As a fan of Tartakovsky's Samurai Jack and his art style, I think some of the CG Clone Wars is a bit putrid and awkward in comparison, I don't know if seeing them redone would appease anyone. 

 

 

 

 

Anakin and Ventres’ fight on Yavin in the style of Season 7 Clone Wars? There’s only one right answer there. 
 

Gendy’s style probably suited something like Samurai Jack but it sure as hell isnt Star Wars 

[Arpy 4,090]

Can't disagree more, but whatever, it's all over now.

[Disco Stu 15,475]

Revenge of the Sith was my first and to-date only midnight movie I've ever attended.  I was a teenager and even I was just way too tired by 2am to be having fun watching a movie, especially since it was Thursday night and I had had to go to a normal high school day that starts at 8am.  When my friends and I went *back* to see it again on Sunday I had a lot more fun.  I liked the movie at the time and I still like it.  Why does having an opinion on a Star War have to feel like a political statement these days?

[Romão 2,184]

It is a bad movie, but it is very watchable