Matt Walsh is a man of many talents — a popular podcaster, a notable documentarian, a feared fisherman, and a surprisingly good “Mortal Kombat” player. There is one persistent trait, however, that must be addressed: his passionate hatred of “Star Wars.”
I discovered Walsh’s animosity for “Star Wars” in May of 2023 while listening to his show. After hearing I played a recently released “Star Wars” game, he looked dead into the camera and said he was “repulsed by (me) completely.” And then continued to call me a “complete and utter disgrace.” Harsh.
Last Thursday, theaters nationwide launched a week-long re-release of “Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith” to celebrate the film’s 20th anniversary. The film stands out not only for its stunning cinematography, one of a kind soundtrack, and compelling life-lessons, but also as the final “Star Wars” entry before progressive-infused Disney’s acquisition.
Walsh, apparently, did not recognize the exceptional film for what it is. After taking his children to see it in theaters, he took to X and attacked the movie.
I will now address his unfounded criticisms.
His first issue is with the film’s dialogue. Walsh claims “Revenge of the Sith” has “the worst dialogue he’s ever heard in a mainstream Hollywood film.” To support his claim, he quotes a romantic scene between Anakin Skywalker and Padme Amidala:
Anakin: You’re so beautiful
Padme: It’s only because I’m so in love
Anakin: No it’s because I’m so in love with you
Walsh leaves out the second half of the scene, which reveals the lines are not poorly written, but instead an intentional foreshadowing of what is to come later in the film. The scene continues;
Padme: So love has blinded you?
Anakin: Well, that’s not exactly what I meant.
Padme: But it’s probably true.
At this point in the film, Anakin believes his wife is going to die in childbirth because of a vision he has in his sleep. As the primary antagonist, Emperor Palpatine (not Ovaltine) tells him that committing to the Dark Side is the only way to save her. This, and his blinding love for Padme, leads him to commit the atrocities he does later in the film. Pure genius from George Lucas, who Walsh claims should be arrested.
Lucasfilm, Ltd. All rights reserved.
Walsh’s next criticism of the film is that it has “abysmal action choreography.” To me, this attack is the most absurd.
The final fight between Anakin and Obi-Wan Kenobi, master versus apprentice, is one of the most iconic fight scenes in cinema history. Numerous outlets such as WatchMojo, ScreenRant, and MovieWeb all rank the battle as one of the greatest sword fights in movie history. The fight was choreographed by legendary stuntman Ray Park, and is not sped up at all. Both actors trained relentlessly to master each move shown on camera.
Lucasfilm, Ltd. All rights reserved.
Walsh specifically attacks the final move of the duel between Obi-Wan and Anakin, saying the following;
Anakin jumps and flips through the air like Spider-Man but then at the end he loses because the other guy is standing on a small hill and has the higher ground. This was for some reason an insurmountable strategic advantage, even though Anakin had just seconds earlier leaped like 20 feet in the air while doing flips like an Olympic gymnast. So then Anakin decides to jump directly over top the other guy, close enough that he can just casually reach up and cut his legs off. He could have jumped anywhere else on the hill, or just a little higher, and avoided this issue.
Like many things Walsh has criticized in the film, the seemingly risky move Anakin used was intentional. Young Anakin Skywalker was fascinated by his master Obi-Wan’s triumph over Darth Maul in “Episode I: The Phantom Menace.” To defeat Maul, Obi-Wan flipped over him and cut him in half upon landing.
When Anakin fights Obi-Wan, his pride and ego is at an all time high. He wants to prove to his once-master that he is now his superior. This is why moments before the final move, Anakin tells Obi-Wan, “You underestimate my power!”
Obi-Wan can sense Anakin is going to try his own move against him, so he offers one final warning, “Don’t try it.” Anakin did not listen, and ended up getting his legs cut off.
Walsh also criticized where the battle takes place, on a lava planet “for some reason.” He clearly suffers from a lack of knowledge in “Star Wars” lore. It’s the same reason he doesn’t understand why Anakin jumped over Obi-Wan.
The planet they fought on, Mustafar, is described by Wookiepedia as “powerful in the Dark Side of The Force.” Palpatine sent Anakin there so he could tap into the Dark Side more intensely as he slaughtered the separatists who were awaiting him. In the 2017 comic Darth Vader 5, Palpatine instructs Vader to return to Mustafar because it “is not like other planets. It is unique. Deep beneath its surface rests a locus for the Dark Side of The Force.”
Vader was so drawn to the planet’s Dark Side power that seven years after “Revenge of the Sith,” he built his castle, Fortress Vader, there.
Walsh’s final objection to the film was that it “took itself too seriously.” He expands on this by claiming “You can’t be campy and fun and also have mass child slaughter in the same film.”
Most of Walsh’s criticisms come from a lack of looking beneath the surface, taking everything at face value. “Revenge of the Sith” was always meant to be lighthearted in the beginning, and tragic in the end. After nearly three decades of fans left without a backstory, the purpose of the movie was to show how Hollywood’s most iconic villain, Darth Vader, transformed from a cunning warrior for good, to the embodiment of evil.
Following the classic hero’s journey literary archetype, we witness Anakin’s lighthearted upbringing in Episodes 1 and 2, his tragic fall in the second half of Episode 3, and his eventual redemption in Episode 6. A story that George Lucas brilliantly wrote and produced over 3 decades.
Walsh’s tweet thread ends on a lighter note, expressing that despite all of his concerns, his kids liked it. To me and countless other fans who believe “Revenge of the Sith” is one of the greatest films ever made, we can only hope Matt Walsh will read this piece and watch it again with an open mind.
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Jacob Falach is an associate producer at The Daily Wire. You can find him on Instagram at: @jacobfalach.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
