Effective and dark, but still lacking

Rating: 8/10 (19 May 2005)

The Star Wars series of films ends with a mixed but conclusive entry. The film is very impressive - from the massive air battle (and it is HUGE) accompanied by a throbbing beat, this delves straight into the action. Christensen and McGregor have matured not only as actors but as characters - and from the manner of Dooku's death, this really isn't a PG friendly Ewok-fest. The historical parallels add extra texture - one shot of the Jedi Temple burning in the distance, is very reminiscent of the Pentagon burning on 9/11 - and the Night of the Long Knives in Germany 1933, when Hitler took power. Lucas more or less, constructs the story wonderfully, and there is no let up in the battle scenes - Grievous's 4 Lightsaber duel with Obi Wan is a high point. It does have qualities of a very grand Greek tragedy, the whole structure carefully and expertly descending Anakin into hell i.e. Mustafar the lava planet.
However, there are some bizarre character tics, particularly from the Chancellor, who at times, is slightly pantomime. The ending is contrived, featuring almost painless birth of the twins, and it works too hard to wrap up certain plot points which we already knew about, often without explanation. It certainly works as a bridge between the 6 films, but it wouldn't have hurt to have made the film just 10 minutes longer. Chewbacca barely features as does C3P0. And whatever happened to R2D2's flying? Overall it's probably tying with Jedi, as the 3rd best film.