Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith

Rating: A-

Ok, I finally got around to seeing the third installment of the prequels after it had made $158,000,000. First off, I would strongly recommend watching the Cartoon Network's Clone Wars series before seeing Episode III. It bridges the gap between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith perfectly, and it explains a lot of what is happening in the third movie. It leads right up to the events at the beginning of the movie. The droid army leader, General Grevious, has kidnapped Senator Palpatine. Obi-Wan and Anakin go to rescue him, and Anakin eventually is twisted by Palpatine/Darth Sidious into what we know as Darth Vader. The overall tone of the movie was very sad, which is a good thing. It's just what this movie needed. Even though we know what fate awaits Anakin, we do hold out some glimmer of hope that he will see the error of his ways and go back to the light side of the force. I do wish that Lucas had rolled most of what was in Episode I and II into one movie and had this one be episode II and had one more. Taking all that into consideration, this was one of the best movies I have seen in a while. Very dark and ominious, it sucked me in and I was sitting forward throughout the last half of the movie, wanting more. Hayden Christensen really comes into his own as a more brooding Jedi. His fits of anger and his eventual slaughter of the Jedi was pulled off with an erie calm combined with a smoldering passion. I wish he had struggled more and suffered more before joining the dark side. It seemed he went from preaching the Jedi code on minute to bowing before Darth Sidious the next. Ewan McGregor *is* a young Obi Wan. He has always captured that role with much zeal, and in this episode, playing the tortured mentor of the one who will take down the Jedi, he truly shines. Ian McDiarmid really steals the action as the evil, plotting Darth Sidious. He is very enjoyable to hate when you watch him manipulate Anakin with promises of enternal life for his wife Padme, whom Anakin has dreams of her dying in childbirth. Natalie Portman spends most of her time crying and that's ok. She needs to cry with everything that happening to her husband. The movie culimates with a fantastic lightsaber battle between Anakin and Obi-Wan. It's one of the best fight scenes in the whole Star Wars saga. It's intercut with a battle between Yoda and Darth Sidious in the Senate Chamber. The special effects are flawless, and story is compelling, and Jar Jar appears onscreen for only about 7 seconds. Lucas surley has found the force with this one. We can only wish that he had had it for the first two prequels. I will be seeing this one again if not two more times. A very good conclusion to the Star Wars saga. Episode III is worthy of being called one of the best Star Wars movies ever. See you at the theater!