The best Star Wars film since The Empire Strikes Back!

Rating: 10/10 (29 December 2009)

This has got to be one of the most underrated sequels ever. I think it has to do with it being a part of one of the most controversial trilogies ever. Had it been a part of any other trilogy, I bet it would appear in many lists of top sequels. Unfortuanately, too often people seem to treat it no different than the last two prequels.
Well, maybe it's because I didn't have to wait for so long to see them, having seen the OT around the same time as the PT, and therefore didn't set unreasonable expectations for them, but I like the prequels. Granted they do have their flaws, but I find their stories to be a lot better than some of those big mindless action movies we see today. Also each one has been better than the previous one, with Attack of the Clones certainly being better than The Phantom Menace. However, both are easily inferior to the third film in the trilogy: ROTS.
What is interesting is that ROTS is the one I had the highest expectations on, having seen the trailer and strong reviews. That meant that it had a big chance of being a let down, and at first it seemed so.
The film starts off with Anakin and Obi-Wan invading General Grievous's ship in order to rescue Palpatine. At first it seems like another typical Star Wars battle with Anakin and Obi-Wan beating droids right and left with ease, and R2-D2 offering some childish comedy. However, even then there are some signs of darkness. R4, Obi-Wan's trusted droid is destroyed right in the beginning, and Anakin kills Count Dooku after disarming him in a very UN-Jedi like manner, under the woo's of Palpatine.
Nonetheless, Anakin successfully frees Palpatine and he and Obi-Wan return back from the battle as heroes. That's, however, when things start to get interesting.
Obi-Wan leaves to go find General Grievous, while Yoda heads off to help the Wooki's in battle, where we meet the iconic Chewbaca. Meanwhile, Anakin starts having dreams of his wife Padme (whom he married at the end of AOTC, without the knowledge of any of the Jedi) dying in birth, and fears that they might come true just as the ones for his mother did. Also, he forms a bond with Palpatine, who is finally revealed to be the Sith lord, and starts to lose faith in the Jedi. Under the lure of a power strong enough to save his wife from the predicted death, and the Jedi council refusing to let him become a Jedi Master, and asking him to spy on Palpatine, Anakin joins the dark side after a long inward struggle, and becomes Darth Vader.
It is Anakin's fall to the dark side the highlight's the strength of the movie. From the long silence as he stares out a window before making up his mind to join the dark side, to his invasion of the Jedi temple, to the scene when Yoda and Obi-Wan enter the temple to find the horrors of what Anakin did, to the climatic battle at the end, this movie never loses steam. And by the time the 140 minutes are over, you'll be wishing George Lucas could have made it longer.
There are of course a few flaws in the film, but they are very minor, and pretty much comparable to the flaws of ESB. After all the line "You're breaking my heart" is just as cringe-worthy as "Stop it, my hands are dirty". And even though I thought General Grievous didn't have enough screen time, I though the same thing about Boba Fett in ESB. Also the acting has improved from the first two films. Ian Mcdiarmed shines as Palpatine, while we finally see the reason why Lucas chose Hayden Christensen as even though he may be a little stiff sometimes, he is still able to portray the darker and more ruthless Anakin version quite well, and didn't deserve the Razzie award (but then again those awards are a joke anyway). Also the chemistry between him and Ewan Mcgregor is much better than the last film, as demonstrated in the opening battle, which helps the final scenes feel even more tragic. The special effects I feel are also better than the previous Star Wars movie, which occasionally felt only slightly better than what you would see in a video game. That's impressive considering they're more of them and ROTS actually cost less than AOTC.
Usually, by the time a franchise reaches it's sixth movie, it will have most likely run out of steam, or have even been rebooted. That is not the case here. It is quite possibly one of the best science fiction films of the decade, and the fact that it has a 7.9 rating on IMDb despite all of those determined to hate it after the first two prequels is a sign of how strong it is. Of all the Star Wars films that followed the great ESB, this is the most worthy successor of them all, and is a perfect way to end one of the greatest series ever. After all, what better way than to end the Star Wars franchise than by taking the story right back to where it started, a long time ago, in a galaxy far far away....