Brilliant Effects, Great Story Arch, Lame Writing

Rating: 9/10 (15 June 2005)

George Lucas is a great story teller and the undisputed master of creating special effects that serve a film. He cannot write, and Revenge of the Sith simply in the hands of a better writer could have been the best of the Star Wars Series. It is still excellent, third best of the six by my take (I rank them Empire, Hope, Sith, Clones, Jedi, Menace), but it misses an opportunity for greatness.
There is really no way of spoiling the plot. The film has the great disadvantage that everyone who enters the theatre knows the ending. What we are looking for are the details of the trip.
The movie opens with Obi Wan and Anakin on a quest to save Emperor Palpatine from captivity from the evil Sith Lord Count Dookoo. (It seems that Christopher Lee's new career is to play bit role evil villains in two part of a trilogy, only to get killed in the open scene of the third). What we know that the characters do not is that this was all set up, a test of Anakin's mastery of the force.
Anakin becomes the Emperor's special envoy to the Jedi Counsel. The other members of the counsel refuse to give him the rank of master, which stirs up his hatred and anger and allows his rapid descent to the Dark Side of the force to begin.
Sith gives us four moments of true greatness - Obi Wans light sabre fight with General Grevious, the volcano planet, Yoda's fight with Sidious and of course, the transformation to Darth Vader. The movie's weakness is its paint-by-numbers script which gives the exact minimum amount of dialogue required to move the script forward.
Sith is a worthy, rousing operatic send off to the cinemas most celebrated story. Parents be warned, it is dark and violent, more so that any previous Star Wars. ***1/2 out of ****.