Hi Guys, Last Prequel:
Star Wars Episode III: Rise of the Empire (the movie as marketed as Star Wars: Rise of the Empire)
Directed by
George Lucas
Produced by
Rick McCallum
Story by
George Lucas
Screenplay by
Jonathan Hales
The film begins with a battle over Coruscant where the Separatists (The Confederacy of Independent Systems) and the Galactic Republic are fighting over the planet because of the kidnapping of President Palpatine. This battle is led by General OB-1 Kenobi and his apprentice, Commander Anakin Skywalker who led the command forces of drafted Republic Officers led by Captain Tarkin and his Clone Pilots to Darth Vader’s command ship, the Invisible Hand. They land and take out the Techno Guards and Neimoidian Troopers and R2-D2 find Palpatine located in the Tower Suite of the Invisible Hand. Anakin asks the question of why the Separatists kidnapped Palpatine and OB-1 says that Palpatine is a royalty player in the war and taking him will be kicking the Republic in the balls. The two then find a captured Jedi named Shaak Ti who had tried to get aboard the ship before them and is killed by the alien monster cyborg (but is portrayed and puppeteered by a man in a suit) General Grievous.
The two cut a hole in the floor and jump into the fuel tank of the ship and they are separated by the Scuba Nemiodian Drivers and Anakin manages to make it through the Air Vents to an elevator to the Suite first while OB-1 is captured and brought before Grievous. Anakin finds Palpatine chained to the floor and takes out the Techno Guards and Darth Vader arrives and he asks where OB-1 is and Anakin gives him a chance to surrender. The two duel until Anakin chops off Vader’s hands and Palpatine temps him to kill him but Anakin refuses until Vader taunts him about OB-1 saying something about him that pisses Anakin off and he throws Vader out a window and he collides with a Neimoidian Fighter and his body explodes into a brilliant blue blaze, like Palpatine in “Return of the Jedi.”
At the bridge, Grievous oversees a hologram for the top-secret project and OB-1 arrives and Grievous interrogates him and Anakin and Palpatine find out about OB-1 and they decide to get themselves captured too with a little help of R2-D2. They arrive and take out all the Neimoidian Guards and the Techno Guards but Grievous escapes by breaking the glass and makes it into an escape pod. The Invisible Hand then malfunctions and crash lands on Coruscant, but Anakin being a good pilot, manages to get them to safety and lands them at a spaceport. They arrive at the Senate where everyone greets them and Padme tries to give Anakin some good news but is shot down when the Jedi Council calls for an immediate meeting. Apparently, they found the top-secret project called, the Death Star which is being constructed under someone named “Sidious” and the Jedi become suspicious about who it could be.
Grievous arrives at the distant volcanic world of Sullust where he meets Viceroy Wat Tambor and his followers where they discuss the fate of what to do now that the Death Star has been discovered and they’ve started pre-production on a second Death Star. Grievous contacts Darth Sidious and assures them all will be well and that: “Vader isn’t truly gone. Somebody is going to take his title.” On Coruscant, OB-1, Anakin, Padme, Prince Bail, C-3PO and R2-D2 have a nice dinner celebrating their victory over the Battle of Coruscant. OB-1 and Anakin have a talk over what Vader had said to Anakin about OB-1 and the two patch things up for now. The next day, Palpatine calls upon Anakin personally since he owes him for rescuing him and asks him to have the Council make him a Jedi Master. He personally speaks with Mace Windu, OB-1, and the rest of the Jedi Council, one on one but they refuse and OB-1 comes to his defense on why he could possibly be a master and Mace brings up Qui-Gon’s promise to Episode I and how it never said he should train him to be a Jedi Master, which shocks Anakin and he storms out. OB-1 follows and the two get into their first major argument and Anakin leaves. He returns to Padme’s apartment where the two find comfort in each other.
On Sullust, Grievous and Tambor have started to assemble all the Chrome Iron they need to help build the Death Star after 13 years of collecting it since it is rare to find. On Coruscant, Palpatine and Anakin meet again and he tells him about Grievous being found on Sullust and tells him about the Dark Side and how he wanted to become a Jedi and learn more about both sides of the Force but instead found himself as a Senator. Anakin begins to question Palpatine, especially when he brings up the fact that he’s sick and that he is getting more and more deformed because of it (just like in Episode II.)
OB-1 is assigned to go to Sullust and take out Grievous and destroy the Death Star, while Anakin is assigned to spy on Palpatine. As OB-1 arrives at Sullust, he gets a good view of the early constructed battle station but is attacked by Neimoidian Fighters and crash lands on Sullust. He makes it to the base and fights Grievous who uses a shield and Lightsaber blocking staff to defend himself. OB-1 is no match for this monster and is beaten and is taken to a cell. On Coruscant, Palpatine gives in and reveals all to Anakin that he created the Clone Stormtrooper army and is the mastermind behind the entire Clone Wars, and together they can destroy the Jedi Order and bring peace to the galaxy. Anakin ignites his lightsaber as Palpatine reveals himself as Darth Sidious and Anakin holds himself back from killing him and reports him to Mace Windu who decides to confront Palpatine with a squad of Jedi. Anakin then has a moment of doubt, disconnecting himself from reality and the Force, and goes to save Palpatine.
At the office, Palpatine uses all his powers on the Jedi: a Force Power using only his eyes to suck out one’s soul, Force Fire, and Force Controlling someone to manipulate the body to rip out their spine. Palpatine unleashes regular Force Lighting at Mace but he deflects it back at him sending him flying at the window, cracking it. Anakin arrives and stops Windu by stabbing him in the chest and Palpatine laughs congratulating Anakin on passing his test and Anakin pledges himself to the Dark Side, promising to become his best student and Palpatine says all is prepared for him and he has the perfect name for him: Darth Vader.
First-order in Palpatine’s plan to make sure he takes over the galaxy is that the Jedi must become extinct and he wears Vader/Ben’s suit as he and the Clone Stormtroopers march on the Jedi Temple. At the Senate, Padme, Prince Bail, and several Senators watch as Palpatine plays an edited tape of Mace Windu attacking him and he declares all Jedis as public enemy number 1. Padme and Prince Bail, not being too happy with this, organize their own Rebellion against Palpatine with Mon Mothma and Garm Bel Iblis. Across the galaxy on Sullust, OB-1 feels the deaths of so many of his friends and escapes to see what is going on. He evades Grievous and takes his personal ship and meets with Prince Bail and Padme who decide to take him to the Jedi Temple with the assumption that maybe more surviving Jedi come.
They arrive at the Temple with Stormtroopers disguised as Jedi Knights and OB-1 pulls their stunt and Padme, Prince Bail and OB-1 take them down and they find all the damage done by Vader/Anakin. OB-1 then sees the hologram and thinks it’s impossible for Vader to be alive until he sees Anakin kneeling before Palpatine and he is heartbroken until someone appears from the shadows: Yoda. Yoda’s appearance shocks everyone and OB-1 tries to give him a hug but Yoda tells him to hold back his emotions because now is not the time to remorse, it is time to fight. They may have lost Anakin and all the Jedi, but it doesn’t mean they’ve lost hope. At this moment, OB-1 senses that Padme is pregnant with Anakin’s child and he knows now he must get her to safety and they need to get her and Prince Bail somewhere. But then Bail gets a message from Palpatine’s advisor saying that Palpatine wants another meeting where he declares that the Republic is merging with the Separatists to form a new battle station for a secure future for the Galaxy and the Republic will be reborn as the First Galactic Empire.
Knowing they must act fast, OB-1 goes with a group of Rebel Pilots to Sullust as Yoda helps Prince Bail and Padme get off Coruscant somehow, but they are chased by the Stormtroopers and Palpatine’s Royal Forces. Over Sullust, OB-1 is the Red Leader and leads his Pilots to destroy the base and the Iron using a blue jelly-like substance fusing the Iron together making it impossible to use. Grievous contacts Palpatine who then blows up the base with him and Tambor inside and it shocks OB-1 and the crew, just enough for Vader/Anakin and his V-Wing Fighters to come in and take out OB-1 and force him to hide somewhere. But Vader/Anakin finds him and unmasks himself and OB-1 pleas for Anakin to come back to the Light and stop what he is doing, but Anakin is too far removed from the Light to realize what he is doing so the two engage in a duel over the smoky lava terrain.
Meanwhile, Yoda manages to get Padme and Prince Bail onto the Tantive IV and tells them to go to the swamp world of Dagobah and Palpatine arrives there to personally fight Yoda and the two engage in an epic Force fight until Palpatine uses Force Lightning on Yoda and it’s revealed Yoda is a Force Projection. Yoda was projecting himself from Dagobah long enough to distract Palpatine and help Padme and Prince Bail escape from Coruscant. Yoda’s projection fades away and Palpatine lets out a massive Force Scream and Yoda falls to the ground, breaking his back in the process (“do not underestimate the powers of The Emperor…”)
On Sullust, Anakin and OB-1 continue their duel uphill until they reach the edge of a volcano. OB-1 is knocked into it, but lands onto an island and the two jump from island to island and fight. The duel ends with OB-1 reaching a cliff of the volcano and jumping up it and saying to Anakin something like “you are who you chose to be” but Anakin rejects it and jumps at OB-1 and he cuts off Anakin’s entire left arm and lower half and he lands into the lava. Tears swell from OB-1’s eyes and he picks up Anakin’s blue lightsaber and retreats back to his ship before the V-Wing Fighters find him. He is contacted by Prince Bail to meet them on Dagobah where they find a crippled Yoda and OB-1 uses the Force to heal Yoda and fix his spine and fixes up a tree branch as his cane. They then give a scan on Padme as it’s revealed that she’s carrying twin Force Sensitive babies and will be due soon. OB-1 talks with Yoda and Prince Bail about the fate of the children and they agree that after they are born, they should be sealed away from each other. OB-1 knowing now that Padme now knows too that her husband is Vader should be taken in with Bail to Alderaan and be made a handmaiden with the first twin and the other twin taken to Tatooine where he’ll be raised by Anakin’s brother, Owen Lars. OB-1 also apologizes for failing Yoda but he assures him all will be fine as he made contact with the ghost of Qui-Gon Jinn as he’ll teach them the secrets of Force Immortality.
The movie ends with Prince Bail being crowned King of Alderaan and Padme watching from a balcony with an unseen baby (Leia,) with C-3PO and R2-D2 bickering in the background but are taken away to have their memories wiped, Palpatine being cheered by a crowd of Stormtroopers and people with Captain Tarkin at his side saying: “Long Live Palpatine! Long Live the Empire!” and OB-1 arriving at the Lars Homestead where Owen comes out from the homestead and is given an unseen baby (Luke) and OB-1 wanders off into the desert like the ending of a western.