Review for Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of The Sith (published in May 25th issue of "The Press and Journal" in Pennsylvania, USA

Rating: 9/10 (13 June 2005)

Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of The Sith
Revenge of The Sith is an amazing film and deserves the $108 million dollars it racked up in its first weekend. However, it could have been even better but for the robotic acting of Hayden Christensen who plays Anakin Skywalker (who later becomes Darth Vader). Episode III, the final installment of what I now think of as the most amazing saga of all time, begins three years into the clone wars. Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen), along with his Master Obi-wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) is sent to seek out the leader of the droid army, Count Dooku (Christopher Lee, now 73) and General Grievous (Matthew Wood) and rescue the kidnapped Chancellor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid). Later, Anakin learns that Senator Padme Amidala (Natalie Portman), his wife, is pregnant and begins to have nightmares that she does not survive childbirth. Chancellor Palpatine draws Anakin to the dark side of the force, offering him the power with which he may be able to save her life. Little does he know he will become twisted by this power. The special effects in this film are mystifying, whether it's the lightsaber duels or the many aliens that fill the screen. The General Grievous character is an amazing computer generated image as is the cool komodo dragon/chicken that Obi-Wan rides around on. Sith, we will, no doubt, see your special effects crew earn honors come Oscar time
Ewan McGregor really shows how the acting should have been done in this film. In fact, most of the actors are believable. Christensen, however, is deadly. Throughout much of the movie he's very dull and you almost have a hard time watching him. Portman isn't very good either, and I felt her character was very limited. It seemed that all she did was wait around for Anakin. But at least you can feel what Director George Lucas was attempting.
The Anakin character becomes very cruel and some of the things he does are absolutely disturbing. If they would have cast someone better than Christensen the movie would have been much more effective. Johnny Depp, for example. Why not? He's young, talented and could have made this character as evil as he was supposed to be.
Episode III begins as a fun ride with space battles, lightsaber duels, and even some comic maneuvers from our buddy R2-D2. But then it slows down until Anakin is noticeably darker and evil. Then it's a lot faster and becomes what Star Wars is really about.
This film makes up for the last two, which were very disappointing. Apparently it's OK to be a fan again.
Sith is the perfect transition between the latest trilogy and the original three films in the series and clears up many of the questions of the Star Wars saga. Let's face it, we've been waiting for this film and everyone needs to see it even if you have only seen one previous Star Wars film. In the film one experiences the transformation of an innocent young boy into a horrible tyrant who will kill thousands, even the ones he's loved, in order to achieve his goals. The war is over, but the Empire has begun. The Saga is complete Rated PG-13 for sci-fi violence and some intense images.
See it again? Yes, and I did.
Maximum Ranking 1. Episode IV: A New Hope (The Original) 2. Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back/ Episode III: Revenge of The Sith 3. Episode VI: The Return of The Jedi 4. Episode II: Attack of The Clones/ Episode I: The Phantom Menace
THINGS TO LOOK FORWARD TO - More Star Wars: Clone Wars animated series on Cartoon Network - A live action spin-off on TV, but Lucas says it will not follow any of the main characters.