50 Greatest Star Wars Moments
25. Darth Vader Is Unmasked
Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi
We had always wanted to know what was underneath the helmet. What did Darth Vader actually look like? The Empire Strikes Back gave us the tiniest glimpse of a white, bald, burned skull as the helmet descended in Vader’s meditation chamber, but we never saw his face. For the finale of the third film, Return of the Jedi, the filmmakers decided to finally show us. With a small glimpse of humanity restored to Vader, it was time for us to see who he was under the mask.
Yet this scene isn’t about us, although it is what we wanted; it’s about Vader connecting with his son, even if only for a few moments. It’s about seeing Anakin redeemed, even a little. The removal of the helmet signifies this change. With the Imperial March theme played up the octaves very gently in the background, passing away like the final puffs of breath from Vader’s respirator, somehow we feel for both characters. We feel for Luke for finally meeting his father as he was, as he should have been, and we feel for Vader for, just once, seeming human.
It is a poignant moment right at the end of the final film. Seeing has always been a concept in film and literature and theatre. It is reminiscent of Gloucester in “King Lear”, who, after being blinded, claims ‘I have no way, and therefore want no eyes; I stumbled when I saw.’ He cannot see when he is lost. Or Oedipus blinding himself back in the days of Greek tragedy. But both eventually find their ways to true sight once more, just as Vader looks upon his son ‘with my own eyes’ when he re-embraces the light side. It is a fitting end for one of the greatest villains of all time. (KJ)
24. Luke Skywalker vs Darth Vader
Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back
The first time they clash, our main hero and our central villain (Palpatine aside) put on a magnificent show. Luke travels to try and save his friends Han Solo and Princess Leia and the others, but it is too late. Vader is here, and they must come to blows. Despite having seen Vader vs Obi-Wan in A New Hope, this is a far more extended, choreographed, and exciting lightsaber battle than had previously been seen, and what a showdown it is.
A beautifully extended scene, the film employs great visuals of the fight beginning in silhouette, with different locations to keep everything interesting, and a great bit of cat and mouse as they break apart and find each other again moments later. Darth Vader’s use of the Force to throw objects at Luke, whilst he is unable to do so (having failed to master this skill with Yoda earlier in the film), illustrates how much Vader is still ahead of him in the ways of the Force, despite our hero having learned much throughout the first two films. Many of those shots are put in slight low angles, the age-old trick to make someone tower over the viewer, giving them a sense of size and power.
It is perhaps this mismatch in skill that makes it impressive. Despite everything, Luke continues to fight on. Everything is against him, but he never gives in. Even when he’s going out onto the bridge (yet another Star Wars bridge), he battles against the odds. Even when our faith in the film giving us a victory slips further and further away from us, Luke is still there giving it his all. It is this which makes the following scene that much more devastating, this moment firmly placing us on our path to a proper Shakespearean tragedy of a finale. (KJ)
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23. The Opening Star Destroyer Chase
Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope
Above the desert planet of Tatooine, rebel leader Princess Leia flees with the plans for the Empire’s super weapon the Death Star aboard her ship the Tantive IV. Dwarfing her nimble Blockade Runner is the colossal Imperial Star Destroyer, inevitably closing the distance to engage its tractor beam and thus pulling the smaller ship into its hanger.
Star Wars changed how big genre movies looked in a number of ways. Our first image after the camera tilts down from the expository opening crawl is a spaceship speeding past the camera, closely followed by another; the biggest, most triangular spaceship we’d ever seen at that point in cinema. The Star Destroyer just keeps going, keeps taking up the frame as it envelops the smaller craft, John Williams’ music amping up the excitement all the way.
What a first image to transport us to a galaxy far, far away; exciting, mesmerising and impossibly huge, a statement of pure imagination. (SSP)
22. Anakin Skywalker Becomes Darth Vader
Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith
After a seemingly fatal battle with his one-time master Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker’s charred and disfigured remains are escorted by Senator Palpatine for repair. We see Anakin’s partner Padmé Amidala give birth as the dark side births who Anakin is to become: Darth Vader. The pieces of Vader’s mask and helmet are pushed into place and we hear the iconic breathing for the first time. Padmé uses her final breaths to tells Obi-Wan that there’s still good in Anakin, but as she passes, Vader rises. Palpatine tells him he killed Padmé. The transformation is complete.
This is the only time in the franchise that we see in great detail the mechanical nature of Vader’s mask, and it doesn’t disappoint. The precision with which it is placed around his face and depressurised upon contact is fascinating to watch and horrific to consider. This is the birth of Frankenstein’s monster, a barely human other, and we understand the impact of the tragedy we have witnessed unfold across three movies.
Anakin’s powers seem to be even more brutal in his new guise as Darth Vader, his pain allowing manipulation of the Force that crushes equipment and destroys droids. This is why Darth Vader is who he is in the famous hallway scene in Rogue One, this is why he is the one to choke those who do not obey him. He is broken, a barely contained shell of anger, regret, sorrow, and loss. He is no longer human, he is the embodiment of pain. (JW)
21. Execute Order 66
Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith
On the verge of his ultimate victory, the now-revealed Sith Lord Darth Sidious dispatches his new apprentice Darth Vader to the Jedi Temple to wipe out the Order and sends a holographic message across the galaxy to the commanders of his clone legions. The simple phrase “Execute Order 66” is enough to activate conditioning protocols in every clone, forcing them to turn on their Jedi allies without warning, ultimately executing them all.
The shock of seeing so many mighty Jedi warriors being so unceremoniously and unheroically gunned down by the soldiers so recently under their command would be among the darkest and most harrowing images in the saga, but then the music kicks in. John Williams’ tragic string-dominant scoring of the sequence is among the finest work in a near-spotless career and elevates the sequence to something truly emotionally stirring.
This is easily one of the saddest and bleakest sequences in Star Wars, and a perfect combination of music and editing of carefully selected moments raises it to operatic levels. (SSP)
