No stakes, no danger, nothing of substance: the show has atoned for many of the Star Wars prequels’ sins, but if it’s ever going to be exciting, the action needs to focus less on the ageing Jedi
There is a scene towards the end of Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith that encapsulates everything that went wrong with the prequel trilogy.
Anakin Skywalker, Force wunderkind turned emo Jedi slayer, and Obi-Wan Kenobi, his former chum and sensei, are engaged in a lightsaber duel, ostensibly to the death. This encounter is the culmination of three films’ worth of glacial-paced inevitability. A master who must kill his student. A student convinced he’s been betrayed by his mentor. There should be excitement; a crescendo of emotion and tragedy. But there isn’t. Instead, we get unconvincing CG lava sploshing hither and thither; peril-free jumping from one high thing to another high thing; and we get this:
