Lucas Had a Hard Task Set Out for Himself

Rating: 6/10 (26 May 2005)

There has always been a fundamental difficulty for the three Star Wars prequel episodes: most fans know how it ends. The challenge with any prequel is to provide enough additional material and a strongly independent story line if one hopes to do more than create an extended prologue. Alas, even in the culmination of this second trilogy, Revenge of the Sith, we have precisely that: an extended prologue. The movie ends with precisely the things in place which which most fans are expecting to be in place, and no more: no little twists, no extra steps we don't know about, no treating this story on its own terms. The movie exists to establish the universe of the second (earlier-produced) trilogy.
That said, Revenge of the Sith is a fun flick. The story moves along at a fast clip, and the extended action sequences are dramatically staged. Parallel story lines are well-interwoven, and the central, conflicting question of, "What is Evil?" is left in plain sight, so the viewer is never left to wonder what the point of the movie is. Episode III is enjoyable for some of the same reasons that ep's IV -- VI were: funky-looking aliens, a few cheesy emotional moments, sweeping action, in-your-face political drama, and the undeniable attraction of a complicated galactic setting.
Ultimately, what detracts from Revenge of the Sith are not short-comings of story-telling or adventure, or even continuity glitches or questions about verisimilitude (a droid with a nagging cough?), but problems with the basic art of movie-making that simply should not be the case for a high-budget film of this sort. Ian McDiarmid's delightfully melodramatic and theatrical performance was the sole stand-out acting performance. Natalie Portman read flat, Ewan McGregor was overly casual, and Samuel L. Jackson epitomized phoning it in. Worse yet, the computer graphics continue to be the weakest point of Lucas' recent work. The rendered universe is too smooth and shiny, and ironically mechanical objects move too organically while living beings move like jelly.
All in all is the movie worth seeing in the theater? Definitely if you're a Star Wars fan, only possibly if you're not. While it will make a fortune and will certainly reclaim dignity for this trilogy among many fans, it's not likely to win-over hard core IV--VI fans and it's not enough to cross-over to a lot of general audience or sci-fi fans who haven't had a particular taste for the Star Wars story-verse.
Important Note: Parents, take the PG-13 rating seriously. This is a dark movie with a couple of truly brutal scenes.