Plot Arc: How You Can Badly Screw One Up

It's simple to follow a 3-act or 5-act structure in modern Hollywood films. It's also very simple to somehow screw this up. In Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, George Lucas follows the 5 act structure almost perfectly, and yet his film still does not come across as very effective? Well, why is this? You're about to find out.

First, let's analyze what George Lucas does right with Episode III. First of all, we know that this one is solely about Anakin turning into Darth Vader. Why he decided to throw the *expletive* first two films at us before this is beyond me (it's green and rhymes with "honey"), but here we are, finally to the turn of Anakin from good to bad. This seems almost perfect for a 5-Act structure. It deals with the moral dilemma of Anakin Skywalker, and the climax is when he goes from good to bad. He got the right plot triangle.

So how does this plot shake out? Well, first, we start with this:

The beginning space battle not only gives Lucas his chance at throwing as much CGI as possible on the screen, but it gives him a chance of showing the good relationship between Anakin and Obi-Wan. Anakin is clearly good in this part of the film. We are shown that he is a hero, and despite doing a very un-heroic thing

like killing Count Dooku for instance, he is mostly regarded as a good guy, joking and laughing with Obi-Wan on their mission. The rescue of Chancellor Palpatine is the rising action, and Act I of the film. 

Act I lasts for about the first 30 minutes of the film, which is almost perfect for a 140 minute film (almost 1/5 of the movie). It lasts up until the first plot point, which is:

When Anakin has the dream of Padme dying and decides to stop it from happening, it is the first mini-climax, and the first plot point. The tension of Anakin is beginning as he does not know what to do about his prediction that his wife will die. This brings us to Act II, which follows Anakin trying to learn the powers he needs in order to save his wife, and befriending the evil Chancellor Palpatine to do so. This continues the rising action, and Anakin's tension continues to build as he is further frustrated by the Jedi Order. So far, Lucas is pulling this plot triangle off in near perfect form! All he has to do is continue this and he's got a great -- not so fast! We're only in Act II. Act III is the most difficult part, and it is where Lucas fails. Our next plot point comes about 35 minutes later, at the 64 minute mark: Anakin, after hearing that Chancellor Palpatine is evil (what a shocking surprise!), decides he's going to turn him in to the Jedi Council.

Hooray, Anakin is a good guy again! He isn't going to turn on the Jedi, so all is well!

So then 10 minutes later he kills the guy that he just decided to turn Palpatine in to, immediately regrets his decision, and then a minute after that kneels and becomes Darth Vader in quite possibly one of the sloppiest climaxes (no, that's NOT what she said) in cinematic history. The problem is, Anakin goes from good in the last plot point, then to bad 10 minutes later, then to good again when he regrets his decision, and then says "Oh well, I'll just become Darth Vader anyways" and murders children. As Professor Berg said, The middle part of the story is the hardest, and this is where Revenge of the Sith fails. Before this point, and after this point, there is a pretty good story (for Lucas's standards), but the climax is where the film fails. 

So let's wrap this thing up and call it a day. Act 4 begins after this climax, where everybody dies. Anakin kills the children (but there's still good left in him!), the stormtroopers kill the Jedi, Obi-Wan goes to kill Anakin, something with Yoda being called a "little green friend" (who wrote this garbage dialogue?), and then we get one of the worst acting performances put on screen.

I mean, seriously, Natalie Portman, you've been nominated for an Oscar. So have you, Ewan McGreggor (well, a Golden Globe, the point remains). This scene is not only a huge waste of acting talent, but it just downright sucks, and it is plot point 4. Anakin Force chokes Padme because he finds her lack of faith disturbing, so now he's completely turned on his life and the tension begins to fall. Sure, the action picks up (20 minute long lightsaber battle), but the tension is gone. Anakin is Darth Vader, now let's light him on fire and get this nonsense over with.

Ta da! This film should be lit on fire.