After almost 30 years, the Star Wars saga is complete. I sacrificed many hours of sleep last night to catch a midnight showing of Star Wars: Episode III, Revenge of The Sith. A big thanks goes out to my friend Jeff for letting me tag along to the private AOL showing.
Again as with all my reviews, I am going to horribly spoil the movie for you if you haven't seen it yet, so be warned. Although, unless you have been hiding under a rock since 1977 or so, you already know what is going to happen.
I really enjoyed Episode III, it was a lot of fun to watch and there were some great moments in the movie, just cool Star Wars moments. I am giving Episode III 4 stars, I really wanted to give it 5 but there were just some minor issues with the film that I couldn't overlook.
For those who don't know the story here is a quick synopsis. Chancellor Palpatine who leads the senate has been abducted by Count Dooku and General Greivous. Two Jedi's, Obi Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker have been sent to save him. After a fierce battle Anakin ends up killing Count Dooku and Greivous escapes. The two Jedi return the chancellor to the senate and Anakin is reunited with his now pregnant wife Padme. When Obi Wan is sent on an mission to find and destroy General Grievous, Anakin gets more upset with the Jedi council and their decision not to declare the title of Jedi Master upon him. He makes allegiance with Chancellor Palpatine and learns that the Chancellor has some knowledge of the force, the dark side especially. Anakin has a dream that Padme dies while giving birth and is promised by the Chancellor that if he learns the ways of the dark side he can save her from death. The movie comes to a head when Anakin learns that Chancellor Palpatine is in fact the sith lord the Jedi's have been looking for, he reports this to the council and is told that they will deal with the situation and that he should just sit back and wait. Again this angers Anakin and he defies the council to save Palpatine from the hands of Mace Windu. He then is appointed as a sith apprentice and takes on the name Darth Vader, he is ordered to kill all the remaining Jedi. The climax of the movie comes when Obi Wan and Padme discover the truth about Anakin and travel to a planet made entirely of lava to confront him. Obi Wan and Anakin have a spectacular fight and at the same time Yoda has an awesome fight with the Chancellor. Obi Wan prevails in the fight against Anakin as his body is burned by the heat and the lava, the Chancellor saves Anakin from what seems to be sure death and he completes his transformation into the Darth Vader mechanical suit. Obi Wan saves Padme and takes her to a safe haven to give birth to her twins, Luke and Leia. The twins are separated and taken to safe hiding places, Yoda and Obi Wan as well seek hiding.
The pacing of the movie was really good, even seeing the movie in the wee hours of the morning I did not get tired or bored. The several different battles and fight scenes keep the film moving along very well. The plot develops nicely as more and more suspicions about how Anakin becomes Vader are revealed with each passing minute.
There are some of the best ever Star Wars fight scenes in this movie. Obi Wan and Anakin vs. Count Dooku, Yoda Vs. Chancellor Palpatine, Obi Wan Vs. General Greivous, and of course Obi Wan Vs. Anakin. After seeing 5 movies full of light saber fights, I never really get bored of it and the creativity of the fights in Episode III are far superior than any of the previous 5 movies. Especially that of any fight where Yoda is on the screen and fighting, it's just awesome to watch and fun to see what a little guy like that can do.
That leads me to another one of the great aspects of this movie, Yoda. Visual effects have come a long way, but none so far as the digital Yoda. He looked really good on the big screen and had some of the best scenes in the movie. The effects throughout the film are really great, especially the first few sequences of the fighting ships over the planet Corousant.
Sadly one of the best parts of the film is when the order to kill all the Jedi is executed. There was so much emotion to it, and I think it's the most emotion that has ever been invoked in a Star Wars movie. I was really saddened by seeing many of the great Jedi's betrayed and slaughtered. Especially seeing Anakin slaughter the young Jedi's in training. It just emphasized how far he had gone and that there was no more going back.
Of course the movie would not be complete without Anakin finally becoming Darth Vader and putting on the black mechanical suit. This was filmed exceptionally well, with the music and then that first breath of air from the Darth mask, it was great.
On par with all the previous movies is the score, the music is consistent and has a great impact on the film. Especially as the film progresses to hear the soundtrack of good and bad depending on who is in front of the camera, it was cool. You will no doubt recognize many pieces of the music from the original Star Wars trilogy.
Maybe the best of all is absolutely no dialogue from Jar Jar Binks and a very small amount from C3-PO, but by the way some great scenes with R2-D2.
But unfortunately with every Star Wars movie, there is the bad parts of it. Star Wars just has this unique way of making me love the movie and be so disappointed at the same time.
George Lucas just has a way with getting really crappy acting out of his actors. Hayden Christensen is horrible, his lines are delivered in such a scripted way you can almost see the cue cards in front of him. He does a good job of looking the part and as the film progresses you can see the darkness growing in him, but every time he opens his mouth it's just painful. The rest of the crew does ok, Ewan McGregor just seemed like he didn't want to be there but could actually deliver his lines well. Sadly the best acting came from the evil Palpatine and the digital Yoda.
Another problem was basically any of the dialogue between Padme and Anakin. It was just so insanely cheesy and repetitive, every conversation between them was the same thing over and over again. Even before Padme learns that Anakin has gone to the dark side, there is no chemistry between the two.
Another disappointment was the way that Padme dies in the end. Anakin almost kills her, which would have been ok but it ends up that she just doesn't have the will to live anymore. It was just so lame when they said that, I thought that they should have come up with something better than that. Even if she would have died giving birth I would have understood but just giving up after all she had done was really a let down. What about her two children, wouldn't she want to watch out for them?
The Bottom Line... Episode III is a really good movie, if you are a fan of any of the previous Star Wars movies, well you just have to see it. The good far outweighs the bad and it's a very well made film. One of the great things about Episode III is that it answers your questions, there is a great amount of detail and accuracy with the story. The effects and action sequences are great, you will find yourself in awe of the cool things you will see on the screen. There is also a lot of small little details to make the Star Wars loyalists happy. If you aren't a Star Wars fan, but have seen Episode I and/or II, well catch up and go see it. This movie franchise has and will go down in history as one of the best ever, I would suggest being a part of it. Episode III standing alone without the background of I and II would probably be difficult to understand, but it would be ok to watch. The movie is rated PG-13 (A first for any Star Wars movie) basically for violence. There is a lot of action and a lot of fighting, there is even some scary images so make sure to screen it before deciding if the kids should see it or not.
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