Yes, SPOILERS and commentary about Star Wars: Episode III--Revenge of the Sith. If you don't want details of the plot, don't continue reading. I discuss aspects in which the movie seems to be an allegory of George W Bush seduced by the devil, a condemnation of perverted conservative Christian religion, and a celebration of love, compassion, and liberal values.
Some of the information is brand new today based on the wave of Revenge of the Sith books that has just been released today.
With this forthcoming installment, the Star Wars prequels have only gotten to be even more clearly an allegory of George W Bush seduced by the devil. I'm not sayin' that's the sole meaning of the prequels but it's sure as heck in there. In Episode I--The Phantom Menace there were some parallels between the covert Sith Lord Senator Palpatine and Bush--his manipulation of an elaborate web of hidden alliances, especially alliances with trade and industry groups, to start a war which he then used to achieve the highest political power and popular support.
In Episode III, Anakin Skywalker, now a recently minted full Jedi Knight, is seduced by the profoundly evil Palpatine who offers supportive mentoring and promises of great political and magical power--especially tantalizing is Palpatine's assertion that the Sith hold the key to eternal life. When the Jedi finally realize that Palpatine is the Sith Lord Darth Sidious who is behind the war and chaos that has consumed the Republic for 13 years, Palpatine declares the Jedi traitors to the Republic and orders their extermination. Anakin is forced to pick sides, and participates in carrying out orders to exterminate all Jedi. It's a deeply disturbing amplification of the worst fears of American liberals.
The space ship of the evil droid army leader General Grievous is called the Invisible Hand (ie of the market), and of course the Trade Federation from Episode I are still part of the separatist movement driving the Clone Wars, along with other evil aliens, vicious mechanoids, etc. They all stand for greed, which George Lucas has described as the essence of the Dark Side. There's also a Senator who supports Palpatine who is a dead ringer for Saddam Hussein... SPIDER HOLE Saddam at that, it cracked me up (I think I saw that in the Revenge of the Sith Visual Dictionary).
The public is very effectively deceived about everything that is happening and the new emperor is celebrated as a savior who brought peace to the galaxy.
Revenge of the Sith is also very much a commentary on the perversion of religion. The philosophy of this movie is in my opinion much more implicitly Christian than any of its predecessors. And it absolutely rejects the religion of those American Christian conservatives who neglect compassion, worship prosperity, demonize and attack liberals (Jedi), and make the afterlife a greater priority than this life. This movie calls them Sith. Revenge of the Sith also features an old friend come back from the dead to bring the good news that "love is the answer to darkness," and compassionate people will see an afterlife.
Whatever you thought of the first two prequels, so far I see a lot to like in this one. It will have a tremendous amount of action, awful tragedy upon awful tragedy, still manage to be uplifting and hopeful, and have some things to say about the world today.