The Good Prequel

Rating: 7/10 (15 September 2015)

Revenge of the Sith is said to be the best film in the Star Wars prequel trilogy and some say the best Star Wars film since Empire Strikes Back. Revenge of the Sith is my 3rd favorite Star Wars film (New Hope and Empire Strikes Back above it) and it's not hard to see why it's called the best prequel. This movie is a MASSIVE improvement over Episode I and II but is it the best Star Wars film since V? WellÂ…no.
REVIEW The Story: Episode III completes the Saga (till Force Awakens comes out anyways) and completes the tale of Anakin's fall to the dark side. After being built up over 2 movies we finally see how Anakin becomes Vader, destroys the Jedi, etc. It's a compelling story, certainly better than what we got in Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones. As good as the story is in this one some problems from the previous prequels are still here. These include the infamous 'people standing and talking' dialogue problems. Luckily though these are mostly toned down. While it's a compelling story it shocks me that this movie which has been built up to by its predecessors still can't top the story in A New Hope or Empire Strikes Back. What I'm trying to say is that the movie feels crammed. In one movie we've got the rescue of Palpatine, the death of Dooku, a Clone battle on Kashyyk, the end of the Clone Wars, Obi-Wan going after General Grievous, Padme and Anakin dealing with problems, Order 66, the destruction of the Jedi Temple, etc. The film just needs to take a breather sometimes.
The Acting: Hayden Christensen got a lot of backlash for his performance as Anakin in Attack of the Clones. What many people don't realize is that those problems were mostly due to the film's bad dialogue. No actor can save a bad script. But yes his performance was a bit lacking in that movie. Luckily he gives a mostly good performance here. A scene that stands out is when (SPOILER) Padme tells him she's pregnant. But the person who gives the best performance in the prequels is Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan. He nails the role and not too many people actually acknowledge his performance in these movies. and Ian McDiarmid gives a great performance as Palpatine/The Emperor in this movie. He makes a great villain in the movie.
The Visuals: One of the reasons Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones were received poorly was the over-reliance on CGI and special effects. Re-watching the Original Trilogy then the prequels one understands this problem. It's incredible how a shot of X-Wings flying to the Death Star can have more of an impact than 200 Jedi fighting thousands of battle droids. The special effects are great in this movie but the over-reliance on them is not a good thing. There are numerous scenes where it's painfully obvious that the actors are on a blue screen and it makes you wonder why no sets were built. It's not like Lucas doesn't have the money. I'll take an amazing detailed set over a CGI world any day.
Sound: Does this need to be gone over? The sound in any Star Wars movie is guaranteed to be amazing. The score by John Williams is superb, from the haunting battle theme during the Duel on Mustafar to the quiet Binary Sunset theme at the end of the movie. The sound effects are fantastic as well. All of the great Star Wars sounds we've heard a million times still sound amazing here. Lightsabers crackling, blasters being fired, the roar of spacecraft as they fly, it's all great.
In Conclusion: Revenge of the Sith is the best prequel, there's no doubt about it. But the best Star Wars movie since Empire? Well no but it's a good movie anyways. Certainly worth re-watching in preparation for the Force Awakens.
The overall grade I'm giving Revenge of the Sith is a B-
On a side note Revenge of the Sith has one of my favorite endings in any movie I've seen. It perfectly ties into A New Hope and gives us many haunting and iconic images: Vader and Palpatine observing the construction of Death Star I, Padme's funeral, and of course Luke being delivered to Beru and Owen under the binary sunset. Simply amazing.