Far better than it could have been

Rating: 9/10 (28 August 2008)

I had been anticipating "Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith" since "Attack of the Clones" came out in 2002. That was when I really got into this saga and couldn't wait for the final film to be made. Despite that, I always feared that this film would be extremely disturbing and hard to watch, based on what I had read about the events that would take place in Episode III. Though the film was depressing and dramatic in parts, I was actually not bothered by that as much as I thought I would be. This film ended up having some of the best action scenes in the entire saga. For example, the battle between Mace Windu and Emperor Palpatine is one of the most exciting and fun-to-watch scenes in the series, not to mention Obi-Wan and Anakin's long-anticipated battle at the end. In any other case, I would hate to know how a movie is going to end before seeing it, but here, the ending is already well-known, and we are simply seeing the film to know how the events from Episode II are going to lead up to those of "A New Hope." The main problem with this film is the poorly-written dialogue, which doesn't seem to fit with that of the rest of the "Star Wars" films. Nevertheless, I still enjoyed this film greatly and found it to be very well made. Anakin's downfall is made believable in this film, and the story is very interesting and kept me engaged for the entire time. Easily the best of the three newer "Star Wars" films, and the third best of the entire saga (behind "A New Hope" and "The Empire Strikes Back"). Pretty close to perfect.
***1/2 out of ****