The First and Last Star Wars Prequel To Deserve Respect.

Rating: Null/10 (23 May 2005)

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS, IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE FILM, BE AWARE.
When "Return Of The Jedi" ended it's run in 1983, fans of the Star Wars galaxy had nothing to turn to except for some books (which were either incredibly good or gut- wrenchingly bad) a couple of comic books, and a mediocre video game here and there. But in 1994, a new hope! George Lucas announced, the much speculated and rather violently desired prequel trilogy of the Star Wars saga, would finally be made! It seemed we would finally catch a glimpse of Noble The Jedi prior to their collapse, a glimpse of young Darth Vader, a glimpse of Luke and Leia's mother even! We would see Yoda in his prime and witness, for the first time, the Star Wars universe: created with an expensive armada of technological glory. We were all expecting a movie that would rival the original trilogy in adventure and excitement...
We were all malevolently given a disappointing, pathetic, almost unbelievably terrible piece of motion picture waste. In place of adventure we received Senate Commitee debates, instead of amazing new characters we received Jar-Jar Binks. Instead of the noble Jedi in their prime, we witnessed a group of overly humble, midicolorian-ologists. Yoda was more immobile then he was in this waste of film, then he was in "The Empire Strikes Back" and Samuel L. Jackson, whilst being the only actor in the film (save for Anthony Daniels and Frank Oz) whose skills were not questionable, portrayed a character who felt undeniably out of place. The light saber fighting was easily put to shame by another release that year: "The Matrix" We longed for the old-school two handed fighting of New Hope, not some half-witted attempt to be a martial arts movie. Young Darth Vader? We expected a child, we even expected innocence. What we got was a sugar-coated puppet, whose poor acting was rivaled only by the poor character. Episode I was an utter failure as a Star Wars movie, and movie in general. Was there no hope? Alas! There was another! Episode II: we were promised more action, more romance, less Jar-Jar! This one, while a major improvement on E1, did not deserve the same title as the George Lucas classics of the late 70's and early 80's. An attempt to create a romance between Anakin and Padme was easily foiled by some of the worst acting in cinematic history. The so-called "epic" Jedi battle was little more then Jedi waving their light saber from left to right, to deflect droid fire. The only thing that made this film remotely tolerable were the excellent acting of Ewan McGreggor, Frank Oz, and Ian McDiarmid (Christopher Lee, is an excellent actor, but was given a terrible character to work with) The storyline of Obi-Wan's detective spree was an unexpected success, and the Yoda fight scene was a lovable gem in an unforgivably poor film.
So after two terrible films, surely there could be no hope for this third and most essential one, right? Wrong. In a stunning move, Lucas actually proved that he hadn't gone insane and that he still remembered how to make an epic movie. "EPISODE III: REVENGE OF THE SITH" starts off shaky. A rather unimpressive space battle, is followed by a carbon copy (from E2) light saber fight between the evil Count Dooku and Anakin Skywalker ends with Anakin executing the helpless dark lord. Now the film picks up, unlike the first two, the senate meetings are now frightening and relatively similar to the dealings of Adolph Hitler during the rise of Nazism. The light saber fights are some of the best action sequences ever to be recorded on film (I mean that digital stuff). The battle between Palpatine and The Jedi is the stuff of film myths. The battle between Yoda and Palpatine is even more exciting and original than the fight in E2. The final duel is a heart-pounding revelation of true Jedi ability. The acting in this film is perfect from almost everyone (Sorry Natalie Portman). The characters are exciting and fun. But by far the number one reason this film is cemented as magnificent legend is because of the montage of the death of the Jedi. "Order 66" and the attack on the Jedi Temple are spectacular and emotional.
Overall Lucas has saved his dignity with this one and provided and more than enjoyable epic, that by the way earns its PG-13 rating (and borderlines R) in terms of violence and terrifying events.