Lucas returns from the dark side.

Rating: 7/10 (24 May 2005)

First up  to answer the question asked by many who have yet to see this film  no, it doesn't suck. George Lucas has redeemed himself from the awful blight that was Phantom Menace, as well as having put together a story more engaging than Attack of the Clones. But it isn't perfect.
It goes without saying that the special effects in a Star Wars movie will be amazing  and in ROTS they exceed our already high expectations. The opening battle scenes are nothing short of brilliant. The sense of depth and movement as ships duck and weave in combat is amazing. The light saber battles ( of which there are many ) are also well scripted and fluid.
But how do the other aspects of the film hold up ? Well, first let's get the bad bits out of the way.
Acting. Natalie Portman as Padmé is forgettable, but Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker is even worse, redeemed only by several scenes showing his turn to embrace the Dark Side. Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford they are not, and their performance only serves to show how well-played Han and Leia were in the original.
The plot is far better put together than either of the other two prequels, but is still not as seamless as Star Wars or Empire Strikes Back. There is still too much hunting between parallel subplots throughout the movie. It doesn't manage to confuse the viewer as was the case in Attack of the Clones, but there are times you are left wishing that a certain scene had been carried through a bit longer. Given the huge amount of ground left to cover between Clones and Star Wars, it was perhaps inevitable that some parts would be rushed, and this is most evident in Anakin's turn to the dark side. Put simply, he gives in too easily, taking away from the seriousness of what he has done .
Now, the parts to enjoy.
Lucas has tried very hard with this movie, and it shows. The acting has ( Anakin excepted ) risen well above the level of Phantom and Clones. Samuel L Jackson is back in good form as Mace Windu, and Ewan McGregor does a great job as Obi-Wan. But the best actor of the film is without a doubt Ian McDiarmid as Palpatine. He has consistently great dialogue throughout the film and is so believably evil that it is a joy to watch him rise to power.
The other acting surprise package - if you could call it "acting" in the true sense of the word  was Yoda. Far removed from the puppet-like creation with a few messed-up lines of the other prequels, Yoda has genuine depth and emotion. There is finally a real sense of power and foreboding around him, as befits a Jedi with as much power as Yoda supposedly has.
Another pleasant surprise is that Lucas seems to have discovered the lost art of how to put humour back into his films. Gone is the slapstick "let's have Jar Jar step in poo" rubbish of before. In its place are some genuine laugh out loud moments, that actually fit in well with the plot.
There are moving moments too. We know that the Jedi are to be all but wiped out before Star Wars, and these scenes convey a genuine feel for what is going on. Not perfect, but not far from it
So to sum up, you will enjoy this film. You wont walk out of the theatre with the sense of magic and awe that Star Wars gave those lucky enough to see it all those years ago. But if Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones left you wondering whether Lucas had turned to the dark side, rest assured. He has redeemed himself  at least partially - at last.