I'm happy to report low suckage!

Rating: 7/10 (20 May 2005)

What can be said? The first two Star Wars prequels were disappointing at best. Although they made tons of cash, they just lacked everything that made Star Wars, well, Star Wars. There was little heart, charm, adventure or even real tension. With Episode III, however, the quality of the prequels takes a sharp u-turn. Revenge of the Sith is good, really good in fact.
Right from the beginning it feels more like the original films than the first two artificial prequels. A space battle rages on as Anakin and Obi-Wan find themselves battling attacking starships, droids and more. It's an eye-opener, and a great way to get back into the Star Wars universe. However, this is a film that attempts to do more than just show off pretty visuals and fancy explosions. It wants to tell a story.
Still, that's not to say there aren't any pretty visuals and fancy explosions. Shot on the newest of digital cams, the film is simply a marvel to look at, surpassing both prequels and, ultimately, any big blockbuster of recent memory. Cities glitter in the twilight, droids swarm vast alien marshes and lava flows from tremendous crevices. Indeed, it is rare to create artificial beauty. Fake landscapes often feel barren, but here Lucas and his animators have finally given an extra level of life to the Star Wars universe.
The action too is incredible, with notable highlights including the opening space battle, a clash between Yoda and Darth Sidious in the galactic chambers (think throwing the senate booths around for some galactic Bingo), and of course the much anticipated Anakin Obi-Wan duel that takes place amongst a lava-strewn landscape of ash and fire.
Oh, and Samuel Jackson gets the cool death he requested of Lucas when he first signed on to star as Jedi Master Mace Windu.
But back to that "depth" that so many recent big budget films pretend they have but really lack: yes, there is some. That's not to say this is quite the Shakespearean tragedy that some have claimed. However, there is emotion, power, and even questions are brought up that go beyond, "I wonder how they did that double back flip into the 500 foot canyon." Lucas has said that Revenge of the Sith is a way to analyze what good and evil are, and what can turn good-hearted people into monsters that can do horrible things. In a sense, his movie does just that.
As Anakin slowly becomes Darth Vader, the internal struggle within him can be felt. To be fair, at some points it seems Anakin makes certain choices that will determine his fate a bit too quickly, but overall his descent into darkness and to the "dark side" of the force is captured with every lurid detail lovingly displayed. The story is quite complex, as well, and some of the political underpinnings of this galaxy far, far away seem to strangely resemble those of our universe way over here. (Though the themes presented are broad and not necessarily allegorical to specific events such as the Iraq war, as one conservative group has tried to savagely point out.) So does anything not work? Of course. Few films are perfect, and as good as a film this is, especially for a summer blockbuster and a Star Wars prequel, there are still problems. The bad dialogue and hammy acting that plagued the first two prequels (and some would say the entire Star Wars franchise to a varying degree) still exists. Yet, the lameness is not nearly as abundant and most of the slower character moments work. Plus, who really goes to a Star Wars film for the Oscar winning acting? That's not to say acting isn't important, though, and for most of this third episode all the players pull off their jobs quite well.
Ewan McGregor, who plays Obi-Wan, has been one of the strongest actors in all three prequels and here he continues to shine. Christensen has learned much and only a handful of his lines will now cause wincing (look for a doozy, though, once he becomes Darth Vader and finds out the fate of his beloved Padme.) Most of the supporting cast does their jobs, too, although Natalie Portman as Padme is woefully underused. Adding to the live-action cast is Yoda, who is a standout in the virtual acting department, furthering the notion that special effects can be used to animate more than buildings. Giving a much better "performance" than in Attack of the Clones, he echoes Gollum more than Jar-Jar in the fact that his animation becomes less of a cool gimmick and more of a way to present his character.
Oh, and he also can do some wicked moves.
Overall, the story ends on a sad note but the series most definitely reaches a high-note. It's not perfect but ultimately Revenge of the Sith has everything Star Wars fans and movie lovers alike could want: sci-fi action, gadgets, droids, aliens, places, and even an intense story and characters battling good and evil in more than one way. The film blows past expectations, which have admittedly been lowered in the past few years. Still, there's no denying that this supposed last Star Wars film ever actually has a real soul to back up its impressive visuals, and also a sense of adventure. It's sure to be a giant hit, and it deserves it as audiences are once again whisked off to a galaxy far, far away. This time, the results may surprise you.