4. As Does Hayden Christensen As Darth Vader
I briefly mentioned before (in the Attack of the Clones piece) that Hayden Christensen's misjudged performance as Anakin Skywalker actually lends his character an uneasy edge, and that notion certainly continues in Revenge of the Sith (though to be fair to Christensen, his work here is a far more solid piece of acting than his debut as Anakin). Never as in control of his performance as Ewan McGregor is of his, Christensen is nevertheless effective as an Anakin rapidly becoming more Vader than Skywalker. The flaws that remain in his work - the sense that he doesn't really belong in the Star Wars universe, that he cannot adjust to life within it, that he pales in comparison to Obi-Wan - actually benefit it (in a round about way), an idea reinforced by Ryland Walker Knight, of Slant magazine, who, in a piece from 2007 defending Revenge of the Sith, said that "Anakin, like Christensen, can't quite fit into himself, or the world, or the galaxy far, far away; he barely fits his own mythology." Beefed up from his slight frame in Attack of the Clones, Christensen is far better at the physical stuff this time around as well - swinging his lightsaber like a club rather than any kind of sword - making his descent (or is that ascent?) into Darth Vader all the more believable.