An Incredible Ending... and Beginning

Rating: 10/10 (20 May 2005)

This film has it all: story, action, conflict, resolution and despair. Anakin's fall is similar to Michael Corleone's in "The Godfather," in which a basically good man turns bad during the process of helping someone he loves (his father, Don Corleone). During the process, in which Michael commits vengeful murder, he gets a taste of the power that is offered through destroying one's enemies. By "Godfather II," Michael is enveloped in evil, seeking to destroy anyone -- including his own brother -- whom he considers a threat. And in the end, he loses everything. ROTS follows the same arc, and is, in my own opinion, the best of the six; it's definitely better than the first two, and probably "Jedi," which only leaves "Empire" and "New Hope." While I think those two are greater classics, I found myself more entertained in the pure sense with "Sith," a beautiful, sad, desperate movie. The scene with Anakin burning alive was almost too much. My only problems come not from the movie but from the overall plot. Wouldn't Obi-Wan and Yoda have begun training Luke and Leia early? And how about this: "Hey, let's take the boy and send him to live with Darth Vader's brother-in-law, AND keep the "Skywalker" last name!" Highly secretive, right? My guess is that Vader, knowing that Obi Wan walked away, would have devoted most of his time in the next few years to hunting him down and destroying him. And surely at some point this search would have taken him to Tatooine to ask questions of Lars and Beru. Oh well -- it doesn't affect the overall excellent quality of this superb picture. Enjoy!