Everything Wrong with the Worst Scene in Revenge of the Sith

How I would have tackled the pivotal moment in George Lucas’s third prequel.

In my previous article, I expounded on how I would have written the Star Wars prequels. However, even with the films as they are, many scenes could have been so much better. Here’s one particularly egregious example from what is admittedly the strongest of George Lucas’s prequels, Revenge of the Sith. The attempted arrest of Palpatine by Mace Windu and three other Jedi, the subsequent duel, and Anakin’s decision to make the leap to the dark side, is handled with staggering ineptitude. Here’s how I would have changed it.

Ill-conceived production design

Who on earth decided it would be a good idea to have Palpatine lower down on the set when Mace Windu et al turn up to arrest him? He should be higher up, looming over the Jedi. For one thing, then he’d have the high ground — something later revealed in Obi-Wan’s duel with Anakin as apparently all-important. I can imagine at some point, production designer Gavin Bocquet sat down with his boss and said: “Look George, this set with Palpatine… It really isn’t going to work as the start of a duel if he’s in a dip.” But alas, Lucas must have vetoed Bocquet.

The ridiculous spin

After some not entirely dreadful dialogue (“I am the Senate”), Palpatine does a ludicrous spin as he leaps out from the dip with his lightsabre. The spin is daft enough, but it is compounded by the fact that he’s jumping out of a dip. With their Jedi training, Mace and co should have been able to chop him in half in a microsecond. But no, he continues his weird corkscrew spin, which brings me to the next moment of idiocy.

Easily killed Jedi

Palpatine lands and does a silly pose, before killing two of the other Jedi with ease. The fact that he kills them isn’t the issue. He is the Sith Master, after all. But he kills them with such slowness, and with no apparent resistance from anyone, that the whole thing is laughable. He ought to have descended at them from on high, with terrifying speed (without spinning, as he would just have made himself dizzy), severing both heads in a single swipe.

Pathetic resistance

Palpatine then engages in Windu and the remaining Jedi in a very flatly directed bit of lightsabre to and fro. The other Jedi is killed, and only Windu remains. The whole fight could have benefited from more speed, better direction, and the removal of Windu’s twirl (during which, Palpatine could have easily killed him). An intercut moment of Anakin arriving at the scene breaks up the fight at this point.

More silly leaps

Palpatine jumps around the place a bit more, as he and Windu continue to fight. It all looks very awkward, as the pacing lurches from too sluggish to silly whirling dervish leaps. There’s one cool bit where the window is smashed, but that fight urgently needed better choreography and editing.

“Unlimited Power!”

A bit more fighting ensues before Palpatine is disarmed and Windu has him on the wrong end of a lightsabre. But then Anakin enters, cue some risible dialogue from Windu about the oppression of the Sith never returning, and some equally banal rebuttals from Palpatine before he hits Windu with Force lightning. Windu deflects it back, which is what deforms Palpatine, turning him into the withered cackling villain we knew from Return of the Jedi. Palpatine may have been Machiavellian enough to plot his rise to power, but he can’t seem to grasp that he could put an end to his electrical immolation by ceasing shooting lighting at Windu, who is simply reflecting it back at his face.

Palpatine claims he has the power to save Padme, and that Anakin must choose to intervene. Eventually, the lightning stops, and Windu talks about killing Palpatine. Anakin says he needs to stand trial. Palpatine begs for mercy, saying he’s too weak. Anakin says he needs Palpatine alive, to save Padme. Windu says he has control of the Senate and the courts and is too dangerous to be left alive. Anakin intervenes, cutting off Windu’s arm. Cue ridiculous cackling of “Unlimited power!” from Palpatine, and more Force lightning, as Windu is blasted out of the window, presumably to his death.

Anakin turns to the dark side

Much of Anakin’s subsequent interaction with Palpatine, as he goes from “What have I done?” to, in effect, “Of course I’ll murder a bunch of innocent children for you, even though a second ago I wanted you to stand trial”, doesn’t ring true at all. Some of the dialogue is dreadful. For instance, “I pledge myself to you” just sounds silly. On the other hand, when Palpatine names Anakin Darth Vader, that’s not so bad.

I suppose it is difficult to know how best to rewrite this moment, as I have such a fundamental problem with the way Anakin turns to the dark side in the first place. But I’ve had a go. Instead of having Anakin say: “What have I done?”, I’ve removed that line, as that ought to be inherent in Hayden Christensen’s performance, ideally in a close-up.

PALPATINE: You are fulfilling your destiny, Anakin. I can help you.

ANAKIN: How?

PALPATINE: Cheating death requires great power. I sense your fear. Fear of losing Padme. But your fear makes you powerful. It gives you the will to do what must be done.

ANAKIN (kneeling): For this power, I will do whatever must be done.

PALPATINE: Good. Good. The Force is strong with you. A powerful Sith you will become. Henceforth, you shall be known as Darth . . . Vader. Rise.

So there you have it. My deconstruction and attempted salvage of the worst scene in Revenge of the Sith, which alas is also one of the most pivotal in the entire Star Wars saga. There are other things in the film I like, but although it was an improvement on its predecessors, Revenge of the Sith is still based around some exceedingly poor storytelling choices. By contrast, the controversial sequel trilogy — especially The Last Jedi — I much preferred. And of course, nothing tops the peerless original trilogy.

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