The Best Movie in the Series

Rating: 10/10 (17 August 2006)

'Revenge of the Sith' is the EXECUTION part of the trilogy, where everything is developd and now, we are to see how everything transpired into, sadly, the darkest chapter in the series - the rise of the Empire, the end of the Jedi Council, and the rise of Darth Vader.
First the bad. Okay.
Now for the good. While I still think Natalie Portman needs improvement, I knew instinctly that her role in this would be only to have two children and die. Anakin, (Hayden C.), although definitely not the greatest actor in this, is by far better than the whining in Episode II. Plus, the visuals did something for me that the previous two had not done - set the tone.
The very first prolonged shot set the tone for me, immedtaiely making the audience aware of how screwed things are in the story. (Don't worry, if you haven't seen it, I won't spoil it). The movie runs really fast until about the middle of the movie, when things start going wrong.
The downfall of Darth Vader is tricky. Many people say it was forced, but I don't think so. Honestly, even after the horrible love story we laughed at in Episode II, Anakin's love for Padme is ultimately his undoing. His desire to control things is used by the Emperor through reverse psychology - which brings me to another highlight.
Ian McDiarmid outdid everyonr in this just about. His snaky way of dropping seeds into Anakin were expertly done. And we finally get to see a sith at his evil best.
The drama did it for me. Sad as this will sound to everyone, this movie made me cry at least five times. Seeing how that innocent little boy became the monster he becomes is extremely moving.
PG-13 makes this really good. PG-13 for intense warfare violence, a graphic scene that explains why he goes into the Vader outfit, and . . . a cutaway scene that says 'This man is butchering little kids'.
In short, the story is delivered without missing many beats. The long six-year payoff works, and hands off to Lucas for surprisingly making me cry like a little girl.