The Only Episode In Star Wars Prequel Trilogy That's Tolerable!

Rating: Null/10 (20 December 2015)

Taking into consideration just how unbelievably insipid, downright detestable & excessively cartoonish both The Phantom Menace & Attack of the Clones were in all possible manners, the sixth instalment in the Star Wars saga & the final chapter of the prequel trilogy is a huge leap that exhibits massive improvements in various filmmaking aspects and is unreservedly the only prequel episode that's enjoyable, entertaining & somewhat satisfying.
Set three years after the events of Attack of the Clones in a galaxy far, far away, the story of Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith finds Jedi Knights leading the clone army in the war against the Separatists and chronicles Anakin Skywalker's eventual fall to the dark side of the Force. The plot follows Anakin whose faith in the Jedi is dented after he is denied the rank of Jedi Master by the Council and ultimately yields to the dark side when the Sith Lord reveals himself.
Written & directed by George Lucas, it took him two terrible episodes to finally get rid of all the rustiness that had set in over the years but he at last delivers with Revenge of the Sith, which is the best constructed, finely edited & sensibly narrated story of the three. Showing some signs of life in his direction, Lucas turns his last chapter into an action-packed finale that fans of this franchise had always wished for and its larger-than-life action is, despite a few nitpicks, emotionally engaging.
Being the final entry in Lucas' Star Wars saga, there is a sense of hurriedness in its pacing, which allows the story to be tightly-knitted but not all the mistakes of its predecessors are corrected for there were still some wrong turns taken & bad decisions made but for the first time, emotions come into play in the narrative. And it was good to see Lucas at last putting greater emphasis on the story & allowing the then-spectacular visuals to take it to the next level, something he should've done from the start.
The set pieces look less artificial than before, most CGI creatures are still laughable to look at, the technical aspects don't seem to be scattered all over the place this time for there is actually an attempt to make it all work together to move its story forward and to an extent, it even succeeds. Its 140 minutes of runtime is still a tad too long but there's a whole lot of interesting moments to keep the viewers around, such as the execution of Order 66 or the final climactic duel or the completion of Anakin Skywalker's story arc.
John Williams also chips in with what's arguably the finest soundtrack of the prequel trilogy which remains in sync with the unfolding events. Coming to the performances, the reprising cast returns to play their respective characters for one last time but just like it was the case in earlier entries, the acting remains weak. Hayden Christensen sucks as Anakin Skywalker and almost ruins the whole show, which is a shame considering that there was some weight added to his character this time. Ewan McGregor, however, does well with what he's given.
On an overall scale, Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith is an unexpected surprise that turns out to be much better than anticipated, is easily the finest episode in the prequel Star Wars trilogy, and in bits n pieces is able to redeem whatever little was left redeemable by the epic disasters that were first two episodes. Frankly, this would've been a fairly good trilogy if George Lucas wasn't so overly occupied with the fancy creatures & digital effects, and by the time he realised that, it was already too late and the damage was done. In short, Revenge of the Sith is the only episode in Star Wars prequel trilogy that's tolerable.