Lucas strikes back!

Rating: 9/10 (23 May 2005)

George Lucas tied up all of the loose ends of the Star Wars epic. We finally see how exactly how Anakin Skywalker fell to the Dark Side and became Darth Vader. The story is no secret: Palpatine uses the Force to gain absolute power both as a Sith Lord and as the Chancellor/Emperor, and seduces Anakin to the Dark Side.
The opening scene is more action packed than the other five movies. Anikan and Obi-Wan must penetrate the defenses of General Grevious (a CGI character), the separatist leader, and rescue the kidnapped Chancellor Palpatine. They become close friends, and Palpatine reveals that he is the Sith Lord whom the Jedi have been hunting for years. He coaxes Anakin to the Dark Side by telling him how Anakin could grant his pregnant wife PadmÃ© (whom Palpatine mentions by name) immortality. Then he creates distrust between Anakin and the Jedi council, portraying himself as an innocent victim of the Jedi's quest for power.
Hayden Christiansen seemed to take some acting lessons over the last three years. He does a much better job as both Anikan and Vader in "Sith" than in "Clones." Ewan McGregor makes a great transition from the young Jedi into the wise old hermit he becomes in "A New Hope." And the script is just so much better than "Phanton Menace" and "Clones"--it seems like mature adults are talking, not a bunch of whiny teenagers.
9 out of 10 because of some minor problems I had. First, Anikan seems to fall way too easily. Second, James Earl Jones wasn't in the episode enough. I would have liked Grevious to have been human rather than animated, too. Chewbacca makes an appearance, but is not used enough, and we don't get to see how he teams up with Han Solo. Finally, there are some inconsistencies between what happened in "Sith" and what Obi-Wan told Luke in "A New Hope."
Political note: Despite a particular line that sounds like something President Bush would say, "Sith" (and "Phantom Menace" and "Clones" for that matter) is based on the fall of the Roman Republic into the Holy Roman Empire.
Rating note: Parents, "Sith" is PG13 with good reason. It is dark, intense, and in some scenes too scary for young viewers. Know your children.