An excellent, if flawed, finale!

Rating: 9/10 (17 June 2005)

There are some surprises in Episode III, the first of which is most likely that it is actually coherent and gripping to watch. Unlike Ep.I which drug on and on in the middle, encumbered by an unexciting pod race to which the conclusion was a no-brainer (and is painfully longer on DVD) and barely resurrected by the excellent duel at the end with the mediocre space battle and silly-as-hell ground war; or Ep.II which held no plot and had an ending so muddled it barely makes sense and leaves you scratching your head; Ep.III has a tight plot and an emotional center.
Revenge of the Sith starts out with the pointless rescue of senator Palpatine, now since we all know he's the Sith Lord, why has he been kidnapped and what purpose does this hold? None. The beginning is nothing more than an action device designed to start the film off.
It gets better from there. Anakin has dreams of Padame dying in child birth like the ones he had of his mother in Ep.II (so that's why they made that movie?) which came true so he becomes obsessed with keeping his newly pregnant bride from dying, at any cost. In comes Palpatine, carefully placing Anakin in situations where he can point to the Jedi as leading him down the wrong path and seduce him with the idea that the Sith may know how to stop death.
Of course, it all works for Darth Sideous (Palpatine) as Anakin grows more weary of the Jedi "holding him back" and more frightened by the prospect of loosing Padame, he finally chooses to spare Palpatines life by attacking Mace Windou (don't ask me how they spell it!!!) His journey to the dark side has begun. From here on Anakin is sworn to the dark side, and betrayed by it as it is quickly revealed that it is everything he does to save Padames' life that are the very things that cause her death in the first place. By listening to Yoda and pushing those fears aside he could have averted everything, saved the Jedi and ended the Sith once and for all.
As finally the children are born (to an not nearly big enough Padame) cut with scenes of Vader being built onto Anakins mutilated body, the Shakespearian Tradgety aspect unfolds. And when Vader realizes just what he's done, it actually hits home and is deeply disturbing.
Of course, in the end he is the one that bring balance to the force, by fathering Luke that is.
This is an exciting and superior prequel worthy of its title and with too few flaws (like Obi Wons' silly bird / beast) to complain about.