Movies

Deleted Scene Proves Revenge of the Sith Really Didn't Deserve All That Hate

Deleted Scene Proves Revenge of the Sith Really Didn't Deserve All That Hate
Image credit: Legion-Media

One of frequent criticisms of Revenge of the Sith was that it did not show enough camaraderie between Anakin and Obi-Wan to make the former's eventual betrayal more poignant.

Apparently a number of people have missed how during the opening sequence over Coruscant Anakin jeopardized their mission of literally galactic importance not once but twice to save Obi-Wan from danger.

More generously, these people might still have been under impression from their relatively antagonistic relationship in Episode II, when Anakin chafed at being a subordinate, which changed to friendship of equals during the time skip between episodes (now, the need for supplementary materials, such as Tartakovsky's Clone Wars cartoon or books, to see that change happen might be a valid criticism).

In any case, there was a scene in Revenge of the Sith which did not make it to the final cut, which illustrated the true depth of friendship and mutual understanding between the two heroes.

In that sequence, the duo gets cornered by General Grievous and a squad of battle droids while searching for the Chancellor – and they use a sign language to discuss their situation and devise a method of escape as they stand directly in front of Grievous.

While Grievous delivers his villainous threats, they briefly touch their lips, chins, and eyebrows and that is enough to communicate their general intent to each other – the two of them clearly have developed a code for sticky situations where they can't talk openly as they fought in the Clone Wars.

You can watch the whole scene on Youtube:

As is not uncommon for unfinished scenes, it is somewhat rough, but with some edits to make the communication shorter (they are in front of the enemy intending to slaughter them, after all) and the duo a bit less nonchalant about a fellow Jedi dying right before their eyes, it might have been brilliant.

In fact, a justified complaint about Revenge of the Sith is deletion of most of the deleted scenes – while, as in this case, they might have needed some work, most of them relay information fairly significant for the story or shine extra light on important aspects of characterization.