A triumph

Rating: 10/10 (19 May 2005)

There seems to be a culture of venom towards the "prequels" (which indeed we should stop referring to these movies as prequels as the six-movie sequence is complete - how about simply "star wars"?) - I hated Jar Jar Binks in the first movie, along with most other cinema-goers. Revenge of the Sith is a culmination of ALL the Star Wars films, rather than a mere bridge between AOTC and ANH. I was pleasantly surprised by the ease in which the movies are joined; the rebel ship from the beginning of ANH is used in several scenes at the end of ROTS; the birth of Luke and Leia; even the necessary, and rather graphic construction of Darth Vader in his familiar black costume.
What is considerably different in this film from all the others is that there is simply no let up in the PACE of the movie. As much as I love the originals, I find the scenes with Yoda on Dagobah drag on too long, Ewoks obnoxious and ANH is not a perfect movie. I think people are too enamoured with the charm of the movies, and the memories they have of them as children to see the faults. Thereby, in comparison, this new chapter keeps dialogue to a minimum (there are no "yippees!" here) and the action constant for over two hours. I cannot name another movie that had me so enthralled for this amount of time in recent years.
I don't foresee this film having many detractors. One argument I am willing to concede is that this film won't hold much for those who have not been following the Star Wars films, but no-one can deny that this is an amazingly cinematic spectacle.