Star Wars: Revenge Of the Sith's saddest line is a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment

Last week, Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge Of The Sith celebrated its 20th anniversary, and it was marked by a re-release of the film in cinemas.

Now Revenge Of The Sith is my favourite film in the franchise, with a very, very, very close second being Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back for obvious reasons. I just love Revenge Of The Sith though; I did as a kid and I do as an adult, which is why I was eager to watch the film during its cinema re-release as I’d only ever watched it on DVD as a young lad.

Check out the trailer for the film below.

I had a great time, and it was a treat to see some of my favourite moments like the battle above Coruscant or Mace Windu Vs Palpatine unfold on the big screen. I don't know what it was about watching it in the cinema, but I also noticed that I spotted details I hadn’t before. It must have been the wider field of view and the surround sound because there were certain scenes and lines that I’d either forgotten or just didn’t understand the significance of in my younger days.

One that really caught me off-guard emotionally was a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment that takes place just before Anakin departs for Mustafar. At this point in the film, Anakin has fallen to the Dark Side and Palpatine has instructed him to massacre the Jedi Temple, younglings included, and depart for Mustafar to kill the remaining Separatists. Whilst the Jedi Temple burns, Anakin gets ready to leave the planet, but not before visiting his wife Padmé before he goes.

Even without the prior context, Anakin’s behaviour in this scene feels erratic. There’s an air of giddiness to Anakin as he tells Padmé that he’s about to end the war, not telling her about the room of Jedi children he’d slaughtered earlier that day. We’ve seen him go full Sith Lord by this point so witnessing him as happy and smiling with a confused Padmé is incredibly disturbing.

20th Century Fox

It’s quite a sinister scene, but the part that really hit me when rewatching was R2-D2 booping and beeping something to C-3PO as Anakin begins to leave. C-3PO replies, “Well he is under a lot of stress R2,” implying that Anakin’s trusted droid sidekick said something along the lines of, “Anakin is off, there’s something different about him.”

Again, the context of the last two films plus all the context of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars TV show is heartbreaking. Despite being a droid, R2 is one of Anakin’s most beloved companions and he likely knows better than anyone when Anakin is suffering but, of course, there’s very little he can do about it.

The novelisation of Revenge Of The Sith expands upon this further as in the book version of the above scene, it’s C-3PO who thinks Anakin is acting strangely. He asks R2 what’s the matter with him. R2 simply replies, “I don’t know. Anakin doesn’t talk to me anymore.” It’s such a simple scene and so unimportant when looking at the wider story, yet it carries so much emotion.

The prequel trilogy is a tragedy at its core, of a young boy with the potential to save the galaxy being tortured and manipulated to be its villain instead. When you’ve got the full picture of the films, TV shows, and novels, that point hits home even harder, and rewatching that scene but really taking in what’s being said this time really struck a chord in me.

I know they have their fair share of problems but I adore the prequels, and it’s a shame it’s taken this long for them to be valued as great media.