The best of the six films.

Rating: Null/10 (5 May 2005)

I have just come from a screening of Episode III and I am very, very happy to report that it is perhaps the crown jewel of the Star Wars saga. The story is seamless, elegant and beautiful. Unquestionably the darkest film in the series- by a tremendous margin. The violence assumes a humanity which makes the film far more tangible and visceral than others in the series (eg.. when a ship is destroyed in space, you see the flailing pilot drifting in space...). The romance between Annakin and Padme is simply perfect. There are moments of dialog that would certainly tarnish a lesser film, but the delivery, the look, all makes it not only compelling but, as I sat in a room with other nerdy counterparts, i teared up. A few times. Wow. The action is nonstop. The pacing is perfect- it breathes when it needs to. The look is the finest projected image I have ever seen. I saw it at the Mann Village in Westwood, CA through their DLP digital system. The clarity, colors, vibrancy- the image quality has a presence that I've only seen from old school projectors which burned carbon 'silver' sticks. Lucas supports his narrative wonderfully with his use of light (the ship you recognize from Episode IV) and dark. The production design makes this amazing turn towards the end of the film where the shapes and colors are right in line with Episode IV- the last two films were so different from the first three... but somehow through light an geometry, the familiar hexagons and squares from the first Star Wars are all there. All the creatures and fun oddities are there for purpose- there are no 'Jar-Jar Binksy' character which take up screen time so the merchandising have new items in the pipeline. Which is not to say that there aren't amazing ships and creatures- as this is a perfect ending to the technology demonstrated in the bar scene on Tattoine in Episode IV- a complete technological revolution in storytelling, but all the soul is there. There are all kinds of deep images- glimpses of the Millennium Falcon, the evolution of Boba Fett, which are there but not addressed directly. Further examination is going to have to happen as the mythology of Star Wars is so succinctly completed in this film. Hayden Christensen delivers and then some. His acting is indescribably better in this installment. His conflict inspires sympathy and makes Darth Vader an even greater villain, thereby making everyone else that much better (Han, Luke, Amidala, etc.). The only thing I didn't like about the film is that now I have to buy the newly released DVD's of the other films so I can study the mythology which is now complete.