Opera!

Rating: 4/10 (2 February 2006)

Star Wars is the most popular cinematic work of all time, and the classic trilogy is almost universally regarded as the crown jewel of cinematic escapism. The prequel trilogy, however, has not fared so well.
After the squandered potential of episodes I and II, episode III is left with - according to Lucas - 60% of overall prequel plot to convey, including the fall of Anakin Skywalker. In fact, you could say that given the shoddy character work of episode II and the fact that episode I could have been edited down to an opening text crawl paragraph, Revenge of the Sith IS the prequel saga. That's a lot of narrative and emotional burden for a single film to carry, especially one led by a man not especially gifted at either facet of filmmaking.
The longest Star Wars film to date kicks off in high gear, nose-diving into a huge space battle and rescue mission. That the casualties are either evil robots or disposable human clones doesn't fully affect your initial enjoyment, particularly when it all builds up to Christopher Lee doing his shtick in a not-so-subtle replica of Return of the Jedi's throne room.
Then we crash-land on Coruscant and the politicking, inane Jedi-speak and gag- inducing love story resume. The pacing is swifter than ever before, but, given that this is the last chance to get things right, the little touches irritate all the more. Even characters that are given more room to shine - Yoda and Obi-Wan in particular - are undone by problems of motivation and narrative consistency. It speaks volume that it is Ian McDiamrid's evil, campy Palpatine who completely steals the show in these prequels: his is the only character with a clear motivation and any passion. he lights up the screen anytime he shows up, which, thankfully, is very often in Sith. None of Lucas's attempts to ruin this character - and there are a few, including an insanely stupid explanation for his appearance later on - fully succeed.
Lucas conjures up a spectacle that is more visually interesting than its predecessors, and which, coupled with an amazing score by John Williams - the unsung hero of these awful prequels - amounts to a very impressive show. On first viewing. Sadly, the aftertaste becomes increasingly bitter.
The pacing is vastly improved, and watching Lucas retrofit his universe is often a lot of fun. When he manages to eschew his famously awful dialogue, he even creates moments of amazing power, particularly a speech-free turning point for Anakin, showing him and Padme a city apart, or the start of Palpatine's Jedi-genocide. Even Obi Wan's messy dust-off with new villain General Grievous packs some of the fun of the original films. The more anticipated moments, however, fall flat: the birth of Darth Vader, a protracted duel that ends in a way that betrays the characters involved, and a rush to fill certain plot-holes in the closing stretch...
Episode III is what everyone feared it would be: the best of the prequels by a very wide margin, but still not up to the standard set by the originals, and by common standards, not that good an overall film. The lack of visual spark or narrative discipline of the prequel saga might have been remedied to a certain extent, but it is still undone by a clumsy self-importance and a detestable main character, one who was arguably already Darth Vader since his genocidal romp in Episode II. With this tough-to-top incident, Lucas can only seal the deal by having Vader become Vader by slaughtering children (off camera, yet in a film series which, by his own admission, is aimed at children). You could fill an encyclopedia with the conceptual miss-fires and wasted opportunities on display in these 3 films.
So there it is for your consideration, or you could skip it and its sorry brethren, and go straight to the originals.