Outstanding darkness.....

Rating: 6/10 (19 May 2005)

Well, after 28yrs of waiting, the final piece in the jigsaw has arrived - and boy does it arrive!! The bearded one has truly outdone himself on this one. A few dodgy special effects aside, this is easily one of the best of the lot. The action scenes are outstanding, the special effects superb and the pace relentless. As proved with The Empire Strikes Back, when Lucas goes dark he produces his best work. If you thought Luke losing a hand and Han being frozen in carbonite was heavy stuff, then the removing of heads and images of murdered children make Empire look like the U certificate film it is. Also up there at the top of the stakes is the gruesome manner in which Anakin is defeated by Obi Wan....viewing for children this is not - which leads us nicely into the first problem with Episode 3. By Lucas' own admission, Jar Jar Binks' sole purpose in The Phantom Menace was "to entertain the kids". Why build a multi-million dollar franchise that appeals to kids and adults alike, to suddenly up the violence level to a point that makes it unsuitable for children? While i'm sure adults and lifelong fans will applaud the new change, it might leave a few angry parents out there dealing with disgruntled offspring, desperate to experience Darth Vader like anyone in their 30's did all those years ago. But anyone that grew up during the 70's and 80's will not be bothered with this in the slightest, as all their childhood visions have been fabulously brought to life. While we're on the subject of the down points, some of the special effects look particularly cartoony and fake. Also, we are again subjected to some wooden acting (Anakin and Padme especially) and almost as if the actors are reading their lines for the very first time, but most of this is forgotten as you watch Chancellor Palpatine eat up the screen in brilliant style and get caught up in the rest of the action before your eyes. The space battles are highly advanced and the lightsaber action is by far the best we've seen in any previous episode. Characters like Yoda, Mace Windu and of course Darth Sideous have much larger parts, while characters like Padme and Chewbacca are kept in limited roles. The true magic of this episode lies in finally seeing the Jedi in all their true colours, fighting for their lives, while one-by-one they are cruelly slaughtered by the the Sith - although not before putting up brave individual fights that will have you rooting for them all the way. The much anticipated lightsaber duel between Anakin and Obi Wan doesn't disappoint and overall, this is a fantastic achievement and an astonishing visual feast that will leave you feeling saddened by the fact that there are no more future episode's to come. Considering how much Lucas had to cram into this final episode, he's done an top-notch job and everything will fit in nicely into the story when we all get around to watching the original trilogy again....which i'm sure we'll all be doing very, very soon!