20-05-2025
20 years later, Ian McDiarmid's Palpatine in Revenge of the Sith still stuns
20 years later, Ian McDiarmid's Palpatine in Revenge of the Sith still stuns
The Star Wars prequels are a Death Star with a discourse-powered tractor beam still pulling in deliriously impassioned takes all these years later. Love them or hate them, either you do. There is no fine.
The prequel cultural reclamation of everything from Jar Jar Binks to Hayden Christensen's Anakin performance has been as aggressive and as unexpected as anything in 21st century blockbuster film, but there was always one aspect about these movies we should have all agreed on for the last two decades: Ian McDiarmid's firecracker of a performance as Chancellor-turned-Emperor Palpatine.
Setting aside the whole "Palpatine has returned" Fortnite fracas that bubbled up with 2019's flawed-yet-enjoyable The Rise of Skywalker, McDiarmid's gripping performance in the prequels, particularly Revenge of the Sith, pushed against basically everything George Lucas arguably faltered with as a screenwriter and a director of actors in his second Star Wars trilogy.
Even the most ardent prequel defenders (raises hand) should admit some of Lucas' ham-fisted interpersonal dialogue was as course, rough and irritating as the sand Anakin despised. It got everywhere, even as rip-roaring pod races, composer John Williams snapping off for "Duel of the Fates" and Lucas' general penchant for space spectacle did marvelous jobs paving over the rocky screenwriting... except for with Palpatine, when everything collided into something truly special.
It might seem silly to say this with a performance from the Star Wars prequels, but McDiarmid really deserved some sort of award (or at the very least, an Oscar Best Supporting Actor nomination) for the dastardly kindness chameleon he crafted with Palpatine in Lucas' prequel films. More than a shadowy figure in a hooded cloak with hunched posture and a crackly voice, you begin to understand full well the manipulation that drove Anakin from a path of glory to the Dark Side through the way McDiarmid brings Lucas' writing to life.
Rewatching Revenge of the Sith 20 years later, you notice more than ever Palpatine's deviously masterful gambit to lure Anakin to his personal ruin and Sith baptism-by-fire: a dagger through the back from a hug of deceptive paternal concern. In a saga built on the fractures between fathers and sons, the sad reality is the most collaborative paternal relationship any of these characters ever had, even if it was fake, was Palpatine's twisted grip on Anakin as his validation machine. Even as early as Attack of the Clones, McDiarmid's Palpatine embraces Anakin in word and deed like he's the prodigal son, lavishing him with praise locked in to assuage his insecurities and continually feeding into his darkest impulses and fears.
McDiarmid gives Palpatine the charm and warmth real manipulation requires to really work, as if he's a blanket of comfort that slowly reveals itself to be a constricting snake. Lucas wrote Palpatine with a nefarious nuance that he never really gave any of his other characters, leveling his pertinent critiques of fascistic movements against the mundane grip a charismatic, faux-credible politician can hold on a body like the Galactic Senate.
However, through his fatherly charm offensive on the dad-less Anakin, McDiarmid and Lucas never shy away from the raging darkness bursting at the seams through Palpatine's guise. Darth Sidious always moves in the shadows; Chancellor Palpatine his useful decoy to infiltrate his ultimate "Chosen One" ace in the hole. At the beginning of Revenge of the Sith when McDiarmid's Palpatine, seemingly out of nowhere, barks at Anakin to kill Count Dooku, it's a brief slip of the mask, but one carefully placed enough in the grander chaos of a space rescue.
The scene at the opera where Palpatine tells Anakin about the tragedy of Darth Plagueis The Wise is a masterclass in tonal tightrope walking for McDiarmid, as his cover slowly slips as he recounts the story that will ultimately push the fear-tortured Anakin over to the Dark Side. Lucas' writing a monologue like this never really should have worked given his track record with dialogue blocks, but here, he nails it. Like Anakin, you get everything you need from this moment for it to deeply impact you. The tragedy of Darth Vader has only begun, this fateful meeting in an opera box between a devious mentor and his tormented mentee seemingly the final spark that ignites the fire that burns down the Galactic Republic and Jedi Council.
By the time it's time to flip the Sith switch in Anakin's brain, McDiarmid relishes in the tragedy of the fall. If "Order 66" could be summed up in a person, it's the way McDiarmid progresses Palpatine through his seeming arrest by the Jedi Council to his embrace of his new apprentice in Darth Vader. It's absolutely riveting to watch McDiarmid glide through how this chaos unfolds, from his withering Chancellor Palpatine begging for mercy to his horrifyingly proud boast of "UNLIMITED POWER!!" as he hurls Mace Windu into the Coruscant abyss.
His speech to declare the Galactic Empire a necessity and kick the door down on his Imperial reign is just as impressive and harrowing, McDiarmid playing the victim as he relishes in his victory to seize the galaxy that he worked so hard to charm, plot and con into total, willful and absolute submission. It's absolutely riveting to see it through McDiarmid's eyes.
Sometimes, you just get lucky in making movies with performances and characterizations like this. Largely plagued by wooden dialogue throughout his otherwise trailblazing career as a filmmaker, Lucas burst through his own limitations to craft a Palpatine in Revenge of the Sith for McDiarmid to sprint with to the finish line. Great villains are never just about the villainy; it's about their quirks that make them hauntingly human.
You can't forget Darth Vader's deep breathing, Hannibal Lecter's disarming sophistication or Heath Ledger's awkward notes of gallows humor with the Joker. Anton Chigurh loved a good monologue about chance and a bad haircut, Hans Gruber couldn't get over his arrogance in thinking he could outsmart the American cowboy and Agent Smith smacked through his Matrix dialogue like it was a big wad of Big League Chew. It goes on and on with all the great movie villains.
McDiarmid's performance will always hold a spot in the Cinema Villain Hall of Fame for its weaponized friendliness. He's the angler fish of movie villains, luring in a wayward Jedi Knight with false belief and crooked empathy and turning him into the most fearsome monster the galaxy had ever seen when he least expects it. You can't achieve this kind of iconography without McDiarmid's generationally complex performance or Lucas' striking upheaval of weaknesses into strengths.
As we get further and further removed from the prequels, it's clear their merits are finally being just as embraced as their faults. Perhaps the greatest accomplishment of all in Lucas' prequel films was bringing McDiarmid back and giving him some his finest work on the page. All these year later, his Palpatine still resonates.
