The Most Visually Stunning and Dramatically Powerful of all Star Wars Films!

Rating: 5/10 (26 August 2005)

There's a shot halfway through Revenge of the Sith that has a disgruntled Yoda rub his forehead and sigh. While it's not a glorious battle scene (of which this film has many) its a strong image for Star Wars. One it signals a breakthrough in modern CGI film-making. Two it shows a subtextual sigh of relief from all the artists at Lucasfilm. All showing their collective talents and saying a weary goodbye to the greatest cinematic franchise of all time. The visual style of this film is flawless, gone are the rather static scenes of Phantom Menace and the overly gaudy CGI splashes of Attack of the Clones. And present is beautifully designed planets and environments and some of the most epic and awe inspiring sequences in film history. As Anakin and Obi-Wan battle it out to a truly rousing operatic track on the hellish planet Mustafar it switches(in vintage Lucas style) to Emperor Palpatine and Yoda tearing the Senate building apart in a relentlessly exciting duel. As far as action and spectacle go, you can't beat this. But the narrative and acting has been improved too. For once in the prequels we have a fully realised and dramatically engaging story. Anakin's perilous plunge to the Dark Side dealt with in an adult fashion, so no midi-chlorians and young cringeworthy cries of "yippee!" Just powerfully moving scenes of Jedi genocide and good become soured to bad. Some scenes show real dramatic charge and others political poignancy ("This war represents a failure to listen!") Evreyone does there best with Lucas's notoriously strange dialogue and all do fine. But particular praise MUST be given to Ian McDiarmid's excellent performance in this film. Boasting incredible acting gravitas and finally given something to do in he prequels, he delivers his lines with relish and energy. If there's any justice he'll be clutching a golden statue next year! Only occasionally does Lucas falter with poor dialogue and slow pacing but no film is perfect. And above all Lucas triumphs so well, with this visually thrilling soap opera, that any self respecting cinema fan can't help but tingle with excitement as they see the last piece of history from that Galaxy far, far away. BY RM.