The Force is still with it

Rating: 9/10 (12 June 2005)

This is the movie for which "Star Wars" fans have waited at least eight years (since George Lucas announced that he was making a "prequel" series) or maybe 20-plus years (since the similarly titled "Return of the Jedi," after which Lucas said he was through with the "Star Wars" universe). After the dull "Phantom Menace" and nearly unwatchable "Attack of the Clones," "Revenge of the Sith" wraps up the prequel series and sets up the "original" trilogy with finesse and not a little emotional resonance.
My wife commented that she grew impatient waiting for Darth Vader to emerge and put on that (in)famous black helmet, which to her was the whole raison d'etre of this movie, but for that scene to have any impact or meaning it was necessary to see Anakin Skywalker's journey down the path to darkness. While Anakin's early steps down that path were uninterestingly depicted in "AOTC," here his mix of conflicted loyalty, pride, ambition, and impressionability is a convincing basis for the manipulations of Lord Sidious. Also, Lucas has got the tone right: "Sith" is almost unrelentingly dark and serious (Jar Jar Binks here is confined to a wordless cameo), and while the digital landscapes and cityscapes are as hyperdetailed as in the first two prequels, here the storytelling is big enough that the effects don't overwhelm the people.
Sure, there are moments of wooden acting and clunky dialogue (as there were in the best of the original trilogy), but the first two prequels were virtually nonstop showcases of wooden acting and bad dialogue, so we're way ahead here.
If Lucas is really finished with making "Star Wars" movies now, as he has declared (but then, he said much the same thing in 1983), then he has ended the series on a high note.