Good Bridge to Episodes IV-VI

Rating: 9/10 (24 May 2005)

Star Wars III will endure because a)as part of an epic, it explains a lot about why things are how they are in the earlier and later episodes, while bringing two relatively disjointed sections (the fancy but vacuous I and II with the more substantive IV-VI) together and b) as a film on its own standing, the characters and narrative are more fleshed out while including grand battles.
Many have commented about the dialogue, and though I do concede that it could get very elementary or concocted, let's not forget Episodes IV-VI weren't necessarily Shakespeare. Major kudos to Ian McDiarmid as the Chancellor, who gave the film the "Alec Guiness" touch the last two films needed. Only other "actor" who really shines is Yoda, who really is computer-generated, and gives many actors a run for their money (scary, eh?). My only gripe is that there wasn't a character who really balanced the rest of the cast. To use the IV-VI episodes, Han Solo was the cynical rogue who really balanced the good (Luke/Luke), the bad (Vader) and the ugly (Chewbacca). No cynical rogue in the first three episodes, and probably what was needed to diffuse some of the darkness in Episode III. On the whole, I liked the film, and makes the "sextology" (six episodes) flow as a whole.