I have a very bad feeling about this

Rating: 10/10 (22 May 2005)

Like many people I was expecting Sith to be another letdown, I mean Clones was quite good and Menace wasn't that bad but they just weren't in the same league as the original trilogy, the didn't feel like Star Wars.
This film has everything star wars fans have been waiting for since the prequels were announced. It even justifies the filming of episodes I and II as they serve as a nice back story to Sith, like the prologue of a book. In fact those films will be more satisfying to watch knowing EXACTLY what happens to Anakin. I even get the feeling that Lucas wanted to make this, thought "well I can't just make one" and then made some back-story up for parts I and II
The Story is excellent and you find yourself sympathising with Anakin and understanding his point of view as he turns to the dark side. The film has a very fast pace as it tries to explain every little nuance to make it fit in with episode IV. It succeeds in explaining almost everything but there are a couple of tiny unsatisfactory explanations and minor errors. In all though its pretty convincing. As briefly mentioned the film moves along with lightening pace despite its 2 hour 20 minute running time. Barely five minutes goes by without a large scale battle or a lightsaber duel. The only negative effect is that it seems a little bit computer game-ish at times like the Bond film Die Another Day did. This ties in much better in the Star Wars universe though and is perfectly necessary to the plot. I am usually against computer graphics and can generally recognise them as being fake. In this film CGI looks completely real. It's amazing to think most of the acting is against blue screen. Well done to ILM here.
The acting is a bit unbalanced at times, probably because the actors have nothing to play off a lot of the time. There are some great performances though. Ian McDiarmid is so good it didn't even occur to me that he was acting. Ewan McGregor is far more convincing and infinitely more comfortable here than in the previous two films (he wasn't bad there, but he has come along). His English accent is pretty good now too developing more toward Alec Guinness. Frank Oz is brilliant but let down by some really clumsy dialogue. Natalie Portman looks more beautiful here than she ever has and carries some real emotional weight to her performance. You really believe her heartache but can't help thinking she could have done better with more believable dialogue. On to Hayden Christiansen who in my opinion was pretty stilted in Episode II although he has said this was intentional in interviews. Five minutes into the film he is droning on like he's reading the script but once the film starts proper he comes into his stride to deliver a fantastic emotional performance. You can almost feel his pain. He and Natalie Portman genuinely seem to love one another. I was in tears near the end of the movie! Hayden is a much better actor in the scenes with other people. It seems he works well with someone to play off but not so well with CGI.
Revenge of the Sith will restore hope to Star Wars fans and; dare i say it? is an excellent film, In the same league and possibly even better than the originals.