Old school Star Wars

Rating: 9/10 (4 November 2005)

George Lucas went back to the well for this one. And it worked. The opening scene of ROTS is reminiscent of one of the closing scenes from Return of the Jedi. A massive space rumble between the good guys and the bad guys is taking place, and who should be sitting in a chair, watching it out a window, than Chancellor Palpatine. But this time, instead of dropping Palpatine down a shaft, Anakin Skywalker saves Palpatine's life. The action scenes are pretty much non-stop throughout the film. The only slowdown comes when George Lucas tries to write dialogue between Padmé and Anakin. The last time Lucas made a film that wasn't a major action flick was American Graffiti, and that was more than thirty years ago. In the interim, he seems to have forgotten how to write inter-personal dialogue. He should've hired somebody else to write those parts of the script. Aside from that, though... from the opening battle to the fight between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin that culminates with Anakin's transition to Darth Vader, it far outstrips Episodes I & II for old school Star Wars action. Of course, I would be remiss if I did not mention one final thing. In all of the other movies, Palpatine has always been a very static character. However, in ROTS, Palpatine turns into one of the most dynamic characters in the film, and if I may be so bold, Ian McDiarmid turns in what could be an Oscar-nominated performance in turning Palpatine into one of the greatest bastards of film of all time. If you haven't already seen it, rent or buy it on DVD and see it now. If you've seen it - see it again. You'll enjoy it greatly.