Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith

Essential, and the best of the prequels by common agreement. It is the film the other two were building toward, and the only one with a genuine tragic structure: everything that happens is the consequence of a decision somebody makes for a defensible reason.

The central sequence is the opera house, which is six minutes of two men watching a performance while one tells the other a story about a man who could prevent death. No lightsabers, no effects, just a conversation that reframes everything Anakin has been afraid of into something somebody can offer him. It is the best-written scene in the six Lucas films.

What follows is the series at its darkest. Order 66 is a montage of people being shot in the back by soldiers they trusted, scored as a requiem, and it is remarkable that it sits in a film certificated for children. The Mustafar duel goes on too long and the dialogue around it strains, but the ending, with two births and two deaths intercut, holds.

The weaknesses are inherited. The romance from the previous film still has to carry the motive, Anakin's turn happens faster than the setup supports, and General Grievous is a villain the Clone Wars series had to spend years repairing. Watch it third in release order, and know that the television series around it adds a great deal to what Order 66 means.