What a disappointment.

Rating: 7/10 (8 December 2005)

From the very beginning with its inexplicable space battle through numerous plot twists that didn't seem to mean anything to the seemingly rushed conclusion, this long awaited final episode in the legendary Star Wars saga was just a tad disappointing.
I had hoped that the progression that had seen the awfully lame Phantom Menace lead to the much improved Attack Of The Clones would continue and in terms of special effects and production quality it did.
However what should have been the best of the new trilogy was let down by clunky acting, poor dialogue and plot holes you could drive a Star Destroyer through.
Padme was reduced to little more than a plot device bit part and what happened to John Williams' soundtrack? There we are in the middle of a major fight in the control room of Count Dooku's ship and bizarrely no thumping soundtrack like the Star Wars music we know and love, it was like a key character of the story was missing and this made some scenes seem very flat and empty.
The main problem for the film was that it had about two and a half hours to fit in a list of things that needed doing so that it led (badly) into Episode IV. They had to bring the audience up to date on what had happened since Clones, dispense with the Jedi by whatever means necessary and turn the Chancellor into the Emperor (a wonderful performance by Ian McDiarmid who was clearly enjoying himself immensely. Watch out for the funny looks he gives R2D2 during the crash landing sequence!!) Also they had to convert Anakin into a nutter almost overnight and get him measured up for the most famous suit in cinema history all whilst throwing a very long (too long in my opinion) final light sabre duel whilst dodging a lot of lava in the most implausible sequence in the history of the entire Star Wars saga! It may grow on me but I think I'll stick to the proper original theatrical release of episodes IV V and VI thank you very much!