20th Anniversary TLDR: Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005)
So this is how liberty dies, with thunderous applause.
Plot: The evil Darth Sidious enacts his final plan for unlimited power – and the heroic Jedi Anakin Skywalker must choose a side.
George Lucas: These movies have been criticized and scrutinized to death, so there isn't really much more to say. Time and the disappointing sequel trilogy have been kind to George's prequels, but they still aren't very good overall. This one especially has the daunting task of being the one where they have to say things like "Henceforth, you shall be known as Darth...Vader" and "It's a boy...Luke...and a girl...Leia." We already know those things. We know that Yoda doesn't die but that Mace Windu must and that Luke's going to go live on Tatooine and that Obi-Wan is going to follow him. It also doesn't help that Lucas writes dialogue that sounds like a James Cameron first draft. What we've all taken away from these movies is that Lucas is a much smarter architect than he is a filmmaker.
Cinematography: It's not David Tattersall's fault (it's George's), but these movies look terrible. George was way more concerned about the technology when he should've been concerned about making a good movie.
Performances: I'm glad that Hayden Christensen has reclaimed his performance in these movies. He got a lot of flack for being pretty bad in them, largely because he's pretty bad in them. But I think that Lucas gave him an impossible task. The number of times you can just tell he's actually acting against nothing and no one while having to say the dumbest shit ("From my point of view, the Jedi are evil!"), is sad. Ewan McGregor was one of George's better decisions in the whole undertaking, but I think that Natalie Portman walks away with this one. She got better in every movie.
Best Moment: The first two movies (The Phantom Menace isn't that bad, it's just unnecessary, but Attack of the Clones is terrible) don't have the baggage of the original films because they haven't gotten close enough to them yet. They're able to have independent moments, even if they don't work. I guess the best scene in this is the Obi-Wan/Anakin climactic fight, but it's over quickly and I don't think it's particularly earned.
Fun Fact: This is the last Star Wars movie ever made!
Imaginary Accolade: Best Haircuts in a Star Wars Prequel
Everything is too long! Is it too long? The prequels all run 136-142 minutes each. That's precision.
Rating: The seventh-best Star Wars movie.
Credit: Plot synopsis from Letterboxd via TMDb.