George Lucas redeems himself in spectacular style

Rating: 10/10 (15 May 2005)

I was lucky enough to go to the cast and crew premiere at the Odeon in Leicester square today. Thanks to Deano who I now owe loads of beers for inviting me along(check out the flight deck of Bail Organas ship, he built it).
Without dwelling on the relative disappointment of EP'S 1&2. I went into the cinema convinced that this one would be a winner. I wasn't wrong!!!!.
This is my first review here so I'm gonna go totally spoilerless(I hope) ROTS kicks off with the best opening reel of all 6 films. Non stop action and some superb special effects and it really sets the film on it's path. It doesn't slow down either after that, there's light saber battles galore, and all the stuff you'd expect from a Star Wars movie.
We all know the outcome of this movie, but the journey there was superbly executed, with Lucas very neatly sewing up the loose ends as he went, some with just a throwaway line, some with a bit more depth.
The acting was typical Star Wars. Hayden Christensen did an OK job with the dialogue he had to work with. Ewan McGregor played a older and wiser Obi Wan very well. Natalie Portman didn't feature as heavily as the previous 2 films, and mostly went around looking worried(and very unconvincingly pregnant). Samuel L was Samuel L. Ian McDiarmid was great as Palpatine, just hamming it up slightly at times, but done well, because we all know he's the bad guy.
As previously mentioned the script sometimes could have been a bit better, some of the worst lines coming in the Anakin/Padme tender moments, but......hey, you don't go to a Star Wars movies for the script do you? The special effects were awesome, ILM have really done themselves proud with the quality of them. Lucas has learnt by his mistakes and not given special effects centre stage here. They are seamless to the live action and there's so much going on the screen at one times, if there were errors, I never saw them. The attention to detail in the effects was up to Lucas/ILM's marvelous standards As usual the real characters that shine are the ones that aren't real. Yoda was superb(he kicks more butt too), and R2 D2 featured more than the last 2, and let me tell you............that little droid has had his ride pimped some more!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. General Greivous was a superb piece of CGI, but only seemed to be in the film so there could be a light sabre fight with it.
John Williams was excellent as ever. The score was a bit more understated in places than the previous films, but it was a good thing. There are scenes which in the previous 5 probably would have had music with them, but not in this one, letting the dialogue and the emotions do the job. Always nice to hear "Duel of the fates" again too.
My only real gripe with the film was the lack of "wookie time". They only seemed to be there as a homage to the first 3 films, but they really didn't have anything to do with the plot.
Lucas's directing was brisk, not letting the action slow, save for a few moments in the first hour where the plot is laid down. Editing, sound effects were all top notch ROTS is a return to the good ole days of Star Wars. George Lucas has done a brilliant job with this movie, and I hope the gets the credit he deserves for this one. He ties it up so well at the end that you could leave the cinema, go home, and put EP4 in your DVD and just keep watching May the force be with you.