Revenge of the Sith 20 years later: Nostalgia tinged with warning

It's as heavy handed as ever but its rawness tells the story

Anniversary re-releases are a unique cultural experience. At a time where getting patrons into the theater seems more challenging than ever for anything that isn’t a Triple A franchise blockbuster, it seems almost impossible to fathom that Disney’s theatrical re-release of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith this past week was the third highest grossing re-release behind A Star Wars: A New Hope’s 1997 20 year anniversary and The Lion King’s 2011 3D rerelease.

There was a surreal feeling sitting down in the theater and after the 25 minutes of trailers and AMC branding, to be met with the sight of 44 year old Hayden Christensen introducing the film standing on an empty stage. When Attack of the Clones was released, Christensen was a baby faced 19 year old.

Now his eyes a bit further sunken back in his head, his voice is in a deeper register and his delivery is more reserved. The public reaction to Christensen’s performance in the prequel trilogy was hostile at the time of their release, as the most passionate of Star Wars fans felt he was sullying the franchise they grew up and loved. Now, with time, the generation that grew up with Christensen as Anakin has pulled him back into the fold and the reactions he gets are of appreciation and empathy for the burden he was tasked with.

Now, I’m not here to re-litigate the quality of the prequel trilogy. They’re unfathomably awkward, have questionable logic and at times feel like more of a showcase for the special effects portfolio of Lucas Film than actual stories being told.

That said, Revenge of the Sith has always held a unique place in the cannon both literally and figuratively. The igniting moment for the subsequent six films is Anakin Skywalker’s fall to the dark side of the force and assuming his new identity as Darth Vader which makes Revenge of the Sith a foundational text. Figuratively, it holds as a coming of age movie for the generation that grew up with Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones.

For all of the lecturing and condescension aired in Lucas’ direction for the prequel trilogy’s heavy handedness and clumsy messaging, it feels especially prescient for life in 2025. Watching Anakin grapple with the choices that will ultimately define his existence and change the course of the galactic republic are being played out on a smaller scale in millions of young men across the western world.

The following is a quick synopsis of Revenge of the Sith if you’ve been busy for the last 20 years:

So much of Anakin’s struggle is a failure of the systems around him. And now, as an adult that’s watched The Wire more times than I can count, it’s not too dissimilar of a struggle whether it’s on Coruscant in a galaxy far far away or in Baltimore. Systems fail until they reach a breaking point in which case a radicalizing moment ignites an individual to overthrow the whole system.

In Revenge of the Sith, the failures of the Jedi Council which can be described as a religious cult and minority political entity that serves the greater galactic republic and militarily functions in the vein of a special forces or intelligence entity, are one of two power structures Anakin is caught between. The Jedi raised Anakin from a former child slave into a trained knight, but their teachings are rooted in selflessness. There is an expectation that Jedi are not to have romantic interests which of course Anakin didn’t abide by.

With a secret Anakin had to keep from the one entity that was supposed to protect him, he was susceptible to manipulation. The chancellor of the galactic republic, a secret Sith, the sworn religious enemy of the Jedi, had spent years manufacturing a conflict to consolidate power and expand his own sphere of influence. The Chancellor offers Anakin a path to protecting his secret wife that the Jedi can’t know about and plants the seeds for his descent to the dark side.

Anakin ultimately chooses to give in to his fear and becomes Darth Vader. He helps the chancellor liquidate the Jedi and the chancellor uses the event as the Star Wars’ universe Reichstag Fire to consolidate his own power and become emperor. The two best lightsaber battles of the prequel trilogy close out the final 20 minutes of the film.

Trauma and Healing

While watching Anakin turn to the dark side is upsetting every single time, it’s taken a different tenor in light of the actual world that isn’t in a galaxy far far away. For all of Lucas’ faults as a screenwriter, his world building and understanding of the social sciences carry a tremendous share of the workload.

20 years ago when originally released, Revenge of the Sith came in the midst of the American invasion in Iraq. Recall that one of the igniting factors in the prequel trilogy was a manufactured war, where the chancellor was manipulating both sides of the conflict to empower himself further. While a bit heavy handed, Lucas was not so subtly alluding to the American empire and its history of covert operations in the middle east.

While the media illiterate might have always deemed Star Wars apolitical, that it was an alternate universe, Lucas himself makes no equivocation. The original trilogy released in the 1970s and 1980s were rooted in authoritarianism and being against the American war in Vietnam. A highly technocratic military enforcing the whims of an empire on small, anti-government forces could just as easily serve as an allegory for the American Revolution.

In the conversation between Lucas and fellow director James Cameron, the latter alludes to the rebels from the original Star Wars trilogy saying “I think we call those guys terrorists, we call them mujahideen, we call them Al-Qaeda,” to which Lucas replies “When I did it, they were Viet-cong.”

The irony of course being that the great military power lost to those asymmetrical war fighters in Vietnam, American Revolution and Star Wars. The original trilogy has the added benefit of being more tightly written and a bit more of a simple subject matter. Of course, that hasn’t prevented misreadings of the source material where conservatives are inclined to view the Empire as representing “big government,” or “government overreach,” as opposed to a fascist militaristic entity.

In the prequel trilogy, the ideas are a bit more nebulous and less black and white. There’s an air of conspiracy hanging over the films which isn’t unraveled until it’s already too late and Anakin has succumbed to the chancellor’s offerings of a solution that only he has to offer.

Revenge of the Sith in the present

It’s impossible to not look at Revenge of the Sith through the “red pill,” lens that’s fueled anti-incumbent backlash which raged for two straight years throughout much of the western world. Anakin feels the systems around him failing, he feels a lack of control over his life and the inability to protect the people he cares about all the while grappling with his own personal lived trauma.

And because the Jedi are too caught up in their traditions and incrementalism as their governing interest as opposed to problem solving, Anakin slips through the cracks and becomes radicalized against them. For much of the first two films in the prequel trilogy, the Jedi are aware of a nebulous threat, the return of the Sith after a long dormant period, but are caught up in the manufactured conflict between the Republic and the Trade Federation to pursue the leads.

I can put my hand up and say I have political brain rot. The average person should have no idea who Curtis Yarvin, Will Stancil or Matt Yglesias are. If anything, the average person who doesn’t is likely living a better existence for not being as plugged into the never ending stream of discourse. Hell, this entire edition of the newsletter is just a reflection of my stream of consciousness rewatching the film in real time.

Instead of succumbing to the dark side of the force, the confused, frustrated person is listening to “The Full Send Podcast,” or “David Bet Patrick,” cast the blame for all of their problems on groups at large and not pointing to specific policy but a nebulous idea rooted in appeals to emotion. The same exact way the emperor casts blame on the Jedi for trying to overthrow democracy is the real world right wing playbook to a tee.

Look at Anakin’s journey through the lens of the average Gen-Z man and everything starts to make a lot more sense. Of course, a large chunk of the Gen-Z cohort wasn’t even born when Revenge of the Sith originally released in 2005, and that’s why the message holds up.

In Lucas’ pleas to resist fascist overtures, the film does have terribly clunky moments. Anakin and Padme’s affair is one of atrocious dialogue and frankly creepy portrayals of what young romance look like. But, when you recall Anakin’s childhood and the need for secrecy because of the Jedi code, it makes sense he’s awkward around women.

But Anakin’s rawness throughout the entirety of the prequel trilogy is authentic and shows the dire existentialism most young men experience in a creation of their own making. Anakin is living through the lens of being the chosen one, a prophetic figure that is supposed to bring balance to the force and end the conflict between the Jedi and the Sith. The great man theory that permeates so much of the right wing man-osphere isn’t exactly a prophecy, but it is rooted in using insecurity to manifest action.

The same exact way the alpha mentality content creators promise a path out of obscurity through militant diet and exercise while hawking get rich quick schemes masquerading as financial advice. It’s not quite the chancellor promising Anakin an ability to cheat death, but it is still rooted in the central idea of “only I can save you,” that drives authoritarian ideas.

I mean, we exist in a world where the Vice President of the United States, J.D. Vance, who swore an oath to defend and uphold the constitution cites a monarchist (the aforementioned Yarvin) as one of his favorite intellectuals. If that isn’t heavy handed and too on the nose to be ironic, I think Lucas can get some grace for an overly simplistic telling of a republic’s descent into fascism.

Of all the messages within the prequel trilogy, the way fascism simmers in the waning years of a neoliberal empire is probably the most striking. As institutions consolidate power to mitigate perceived political weaknesses, they let more and more slip through the cracks. Then, when the night is wry, the bad actors move within the night and take action before anyone can react.

While the igniting moment itself is sudden and usually bloody, the road there is rooted in incrementalism and respectability politics. The lack of skepticism in the face of ever expanding power should’ve set off alarm bells, instead the galactic senate kept expanding the chancellor’s powers in the face of “emergency authority.”

But as I sat there in a jam packed theater, I couldn’t help but feel the parallels. Sure, Lucas was broadly painting with a wide berth as a student of history, but as Obi Wan yelled back at Anakin “My allegiance is to the republic, to Democracy,” I couldn’t help but think about ever last confirmation hearing that eventually reached a stalemate of “I serve at the pleasure of the president,” when pressed about following unconstitutional orders.

People largely consume art through the lens of their lived experience. As the real world continues careening through unprecedented times, it was nice to see some old friends on the big screen. I’ve grown up with these portrayals. I knew Obi-Wan Kenobi as Ewan McGregor long before I ever discovered who Alec Guinness was. While I still have my reservations with a majority of the prequel trilogy, especially the acting, I have a newfound appreciation for its authenticity.

Anakin is a naive, misguided and impressionable 20-something year old man who escaped child slavery. Of course, Anakin’s pitfalls stem from the rawness of his emotions and his inability to follow the teachings that made a man of him. In fact, you could make a strong argument that his obsession with his wife Padme isn’t love and it’s rooted in control over her life. That they’ve entered marriage under a shroud of secrecy which should have only brought them closer together and instead of turning to her in his time of need, he looked for a magic remedy.

While I struggle to imagine a 20 year old film that’s a part of the biggest film franchise in the history of cinema is going to register that much in some grand awakening, I do take it as a sign of hope that there is still an appetite for the shared experience of seeing it on the big screen.

In the movie business, the expression “one for me,” often gets tinged with an air of derision. A passion or paycheck movie that isn’t of the highest quality, but does something for that particular director or actor’s self. This newsletter was absolutely one for me because no matter how old I get, I’m always going to love Star Wars, yes even the shitty prequel and Disney sequel trilogies. They’re timeless stories of the importance of not trusting institutions to save you, the importance of standing up for what’s right and self belief.

Yes, they’re kids movies. But in the words of the late A$AP Yams:

When you stop having fun out here and stop enjoying things like you did when you were a kid, your life gets boring.