Farewell Star Wars; you've been thoroughly enjoyable!

Rating: 8/10 (26 May 2005)

I saw ROTS on the opening night and also two days ago, and have to say that the film is pretty good. Yes, the dialogue is pretty clunky, but Jedi's are fairly boring people aren't they? No-one ever had a go at Leonard Nemoy for Spock talking in constant monotone. We all know that Portman and McGregor a good actors-leave off them!! The opening battle scene sets the tone for the film brilliantly, with comic moments from R2-D2 to boot. General Grievous is an inspired choice of villain, although his breathing problem isn't exactly what I'd call original! Again, the film has a few too many meetings of the Jedi council, that seem to hold up the action slightly. But if Lucas thought they were necessary, so be it. Anakin's turn to the dark side is swift in the context of the film, but you have to remember how he's veered towards evil in episode two.
The end of the film is handled brilliantly, with fantastic lightsaber batttles between anakin and obi-wan, sidious and Yoda. The effects on the former battle, on the lava planet, are fantastic. Anakin's demise is pretty horrific and harrowing, and I would strongly advice parents to view the scene before taking young children to see it.
The only part that does slightly taint the film is the 'rise of Darth Vader'. He looks really small and moves like a 1950's monster. The "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!" is really cheesy and, frankly, not necessary.
ROTS was never going to be better than Empire, I don't believe anything will ever beat that film. Attitudes towards sci-fi have changed-where Empire was fresh and original, many films since have cast the genre in a monotonous light. People need to start looking forward instead of being nostalgic. Star Wars is now finished, on a very high note, and congratulations to George Lucas and his team for producing 30 years of talking points, whether they be good or bad. The face of cinema has been changed completely due in no small part to him and I wait with anticipation for the next great director to re-invent cinema all over again.