8. The Opening Shot Is Awesome, Literally
To use a word long-since bastardised, the opening shot of Revenge of the Sith is awesome, literally: it inspires awe, is awe-some in its execution. The opening crawl which precedes the shot begins with the word "War!", setting us up, in unfamiliar fashion (the opening crawl usually begins with an expository sentence), for what will follow, as we watch two tiny Jedi star fighters make their own crawl, along and around the contours of a much larger battleship until they crest its hill (if you will) to drop down into a space-scene packed with war; a Coruscant sky filled with ships, explosions and light. If Lucas' use of CGI was suspect in much of the prequels prior, then this shot is the antithesis, the crowning glory in his 30-odd-year association with Industrial Light & Magic, the company the director set up when he started work on the very first Star Wars picture. Opened by a stunning sun peaking over Coruscant's horizon and closed when Anakin and Obi-Wan, the pilots of the two star fighters, exit their aircraft in the hangar, the shot is a wonder, every bit the equal of the iconic opening shot of a New Hope.