Fantastic stuff!

Rating: 9/10 (19 May 2005)

Today, at last, I saw Episode III for the first time. To be honest, I had great expectations (also because of the fantastic trailers)  they were fulfilled and even topped! The plot can be told very quickly, I think: The movie takes place one or two years after Episode II, chancellor Palpatine shows his true face, Anakin becomes more and more influenced by the dark side  we all know the result of this (two words: heavy breathing) and his marriage with Padmé develops into a dramatic direction. Besides you have the usual: Spaceships in blasting battles, troups, aliens, monsters, beasts and light sabers.
To sum it up: The movie is great! After the unspectacular Episode I and a romantic but quite weak Episode II Lucas found his old spirit again and with it the charm of the legendary Episodes IV-VI: The dialogues are sarcastic, witty and humorous again, the great one-liners are back and R2D2 and C3PO are no longer just minor characters but more involved into and important for the plot. OK, there are one or two situations where Yoda appears maybe more funny than he was supposed to, but you've got so much fun watching the movie that you don't bother about this too much. Even Hayden Christensen's acting improved, the other major cast is great as usual (especially Natalie Portman) and I liked Ewan McGregor as Kenobi very much (although his beard was irritating, it didn't suit him  I think it looked much better when it was shorter). The scenery once again looks stunningly realistic, the costumes beautiful and the wars bombastic as usual (though they sometimes were a bit too long).
But still we mustn't forget the tragic side of this movie  here, the most legendary evil creature of the Star Wars universe is "born" (namely Darth Vader) and Lucas shows Anakins sad path to this transformation in every painful and merciless detail. This is why Episode III is maybe the darkest, most violent and also saddest movie of all the six. But what I liked the most: Although Anakin changes completely, Lucas still succeeds in showing that there are human feelings left in him (of course I won't tell you how he does that)  those scenes are very touching and almost made me cry.
All in one I would say: It's a truly great final episode for the Star Wars series and in his fine quality a perfect link between the old and the new movies.