The Big Picture
- In Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith R2-D2 seems aware of Anakin's dark turn but does nothing.
- Throughout the franchise, Star Wars is inconsistent about droids having free will.
- R2's inaction in Revenge of the Sith is out of character, failing the beloved droid by making him complicit in Anakin's actions.
Like the other entries in the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith was met with a divisive response upon its initial release in 2005. Although the film was financially successful and viewers and critics continued to praise the spectacle and special effects used to bring George Lucas’ galaxy far, far away to life, aspects of its plot, writing, and acting were criticized. But time has been kind to the Prequels, especially Revenge of the Sith, and with many of the viewers who grew up with the film now adults, it has even been noted by many as one of the stronger entries in the franchise. However, there are still some legitimate problems with both its filmmaking and its portrayal of longstanding elements of the franchise’s canon. One of the most quietly upsetting of the latter is the role given to R2-D2 (Kenny Baker), the astromech droid that appears in all of the franchise’s main episodic films.
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
PG-13
Three years into the Clone Wars, Obi-Wan pursues a new threat, while Anakin is lured by Chancellor Palpatine into a sinister plot to rule the galaxy.
- Release Date
- May 17, 2005
- Director
- George Lucas
- Cast
- Ewan McGregor , Natalie Portman , Hayden Christensen , Ian McDiarmid , Samuel L. Jackson , Jimmy Smits
- Runtime
- 140 minutes
- Main Genre
- Sci-Fi
- Writers
- George Lucas , John Ostrander , Jan Duursema
- Tagline
- The Saga is Complete
R2 Seems to Be Aware of Anakin's Turn to the Dark Side
R2 plays a crucial role in Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) and Obi-Wan Kenobi’s (Ewan McGregor) mission to rescue Supreme Chancellor Sheev Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) in the film’s lengthy opening sequence. He is then off-screen for much of the rest of the film’s first half, as the story focuses more on human drama than outer space action, with Palpatine eventually revealing himself as evil Sith Lord Darth Sidious and Anakin joining him as Darth Vader in the hopes of saving his wife, Padmé Amidala (Natalie Portman), from dying in childbirth as he has foreseen she might. Once Palpatine’s plot to conquer the Galactic Republic enters its final phase, the droid returns. After leading a battalion of clone troops on a murderous attack on the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, Anakin visits Padmé at her apartment, with R2 connected to his starfighter for his navigational and mechanical duties as usual.
As Anakin lies to Padmé, claiming that the Jedi are the ones who started the insurrection, R2 confers with C-3PO (Anthony Daniels), the protocol droid who is his frequent companion throughout the saga. Whatever R2 says to 3PO through the beeps and other mechanical noises he speaks with leads the latter to respond by saying, “Well, he is under a lot of stress after all.” Although R2 is not shown during the temple attack sequence, this suggests that he is aware of at least some of his master’s treacherous acts. But that raises the question of why R2 doesn’t more actively try to sabotage Anakin or at least tell a more capable Republic operative than the rather dense 3PO, such as Obi-Wan or Padmé herself, about his heel turn. As it is, the film makes the little droid appear almost complicit in the atrocities Anakin commits, which include the personal murder of a room of child Jedi trainees.
Star Wars Is Inconsistent About Droids Having Free Will
The most obvious way to defend Revenge of the Sith’s portrayal of R2 is to point out that, as a robot, he might not have the consciousness or free will to oppose his owner. In the proceeding film, Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones, Obi-Wan does quip to his friend Dexter Jettster (Ronald Falk) about droids not being able to think, remarking that if they were, “there would be none of us here.” However, much of the rest of Star Wars media, including later portions of Attack of the Clones itself, contradict this, showing certain droids, R2 and 3PO being chief among them, as being capable of emotion and what seems to be independent thought and action.
Much of the comedy 3PO provides throughout the films stems from his anxious and rule-following personality, leading him to object to and be nervous during the cast’s daring adventures. R2 is arguably even more individualistic, often working independently to protect his friends, and 3PO even remarks in Attack of the Clones, “For a mechanic, you seem to do an excessive amount of thinking.” That quick thinking, and his often proactive efforts at solving his friends’ mechanical issues, is often key to their survival throughout the films and other projects like Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
R2's Inaction in 'Revenge of the Sith' Is Out of Character
While his individuality and free thinking are constantly on display throughout the franchise, R2’s capacity for emotion is perhaps best exemplified in aStar Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi scene. In that film, he attempts to convince Anakin’s son Luke (Mark Hamill) to come out of his self-imposed exile on the planet of Ahch-To and aid the Resistance in their fight against the First Order. Luke’s responses to R2’s noises suggest that the droid is angrily chastising him for abandoning his family and Rebel allies. At one point, Luke reminds R2 that they’re on a “sacred island, watch the language!”
Ultimately, R2 resorts to playing the holographic message in which Luke first saw his sister, Leia (Carrie Fisher), in the original film, Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, hoping that doing so will motivate Luke to return to help Leia, or at least provide some Jedi instruction to young Force-wielder Rey (Daisy Ridley). Although he ultimately does both, at the time, Luke sardonically remarks that using the hologram “was a cheap move,” to which R2 replies simply by slowly rotating the top, head-like portion of his body to face Luke in a way that evokes human expressions of annoyance, suggesting that he is still quite frustrated with his former owner for his inaction.
In general, R2’s individualistic and emotional qualities are what make him one of the most beloved robot characters in all of fiction. But in the context of Revenge of the Sith, they become a hindrance, with his minimal opposition to Anakin’s rampage standing as an out-of-character stain on the lovable astromech’s otherwise heroic history. The flaws with this aspect of the storyline are exacerbated by the fact that it’s completely unnecessary and raises other questions about narrative consistency. First and foremost, the viewer wonders why Anakin, who is consistently shown to be aware of R2’s intellect and personality, would not conceal his Sith actions from the droid or modify his programming in some way. In addition, it provokes the question of why R2 doesn’t tell Luke or Leia who their father is, considering his memories of Anakin are not wiped at the end of Revenge of the Sith as 3PO’s are, though admittedly, one could assume that he has been instructed by Obi-Wan or Yoda (Frank Oz) not to do so.
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith is available to stream on Disney+ in the U.S.
