best prequel by miles, but still not as good as the originals

Rating: 7/10 (22 May 2005)

SPOILERS So this is it. Almost thirty years after George Lucas released "Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope" we go full circle to the creation of Darth Vader. Written and directed by Lucas, "Revenge of the Sith" is a strange film because it is the darkest and most well thought out film since "Empire Strikes Back", but it also contains some of the worst dialogue and woeful scenes of the entire series. It is an enigma, but it is an entertaining one.
The Clone Wars are coming to an end. Distinguishing himself on the field of battle, Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) also devotes his time to secret wife Padme (Natalie Portman). Life is tough for Skywalker though and after a nightmarish vision, he begins to learn from the evil Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) and start his slow decent to the dark side.
Action based from the start, "Revenge of the Sith" is definitely not for children. Violent and dark, it is a powerful ride which never steps off the pedal.
Directed by George Lucas, this film gives a sign that Lucas might finally be getting his head around directing. Well made and relatively professional, the direction and camera work is a vast improvement on Lucas' previous times, and the impression is that he has worked hard to get some skill for his art.
Not everything Lucas does has improved however. Not always being a failure with plot, the one major flaw in the armour of George Lucas has been his lack of any sort of intelligence for scriptwriting. Thinking up lines so abhorrent that not even the most insane of individual would want to say it, Lucas simply cannot do dialogue.
Lucas is also remarkably inconsistent at casting. Finding one or two amazing discoveries over the years (Harrison Ford, etc), Lucas has messed up on a gigantic scale with the casting of Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker. Probably a nice guy in reality, Christensen's talents are not suited to a life in front of the screen. Depicting a character in turmoil and emotional anguish, Christensen simply cannot put the right amount of depth into a role which needs it. He pouts and he moans, but ultimately Anakin doesn't really do much else.
Lucas' biggest mistake for "Revenge of the Sith" is not his scripting, and it's not his casting. The worst decision he made was to make Darth Vader speak. When this legendarily menacing character appears on screen, you genuinely get a tingle down your spine and you feel you are witnessing something special. Then he speaks though and instantly your joy disappears as, almost like in a spoof, Vader turns into some sort of evil hormonal teenager who shouts and stomps about a lot. In this one five minute period, Lucas manages to get the Vader of old and completely destroy any sort of reputation the character might have.
It is harsh to point out all the flaws of this film and never any of it's highlights, because there are many. Feeling definitively "Star Wars" the story is mostly flawless with countless amazing scenes. It's also incredibly violent with multiple lightsaber battles which all thrill and never fail to satisfy.
The film also ties a lot of the loose threads of the series together nicely. Explaining issues which have previously raised questions, the one thing the film really lacks is a brief cameo by Liam Neeson. Still, we can't expect everything.
Really, "Revenge of the Sith" is the best prequel and a really good film. With one or two scenes which destroy it, and a script which needs to be changed, it is far from perfect. For all it's lows though, "Revenge of the Sith" has plenty of highs. The closest to the original series that your going to get, but not quite there.