Walk Sith Way (Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2 DVDs))

Member Name: triplecthegame

Product:	Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2 DVDs)
Date:	21/10/05 (112 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Best of the prequels, ties up loose ends

Disadvantages: Non-Star Wars fans aren't gonna like it

It's been a little over 5 months now since the 6th and last instalment of the Star Wars saga was released and naturally like any other Star Wars fan I had to go and see it, even though George Lucas had left us a little/very disappointed with ihs last 2 prequels (Very disappointed being kept for The Phantom Menace) any true star wars fan will tell you that you still had to see the exact way that Anakin went from Jedi to Dark-Side, hence all the cinema's were pre-booked for the first showings.

The big thing is how do you still keep people interested for 2 hours in a story that they already know the ending to? It's a tough job for anyone and one that very few people would take on, but Lucas has and he's done a great job.... however that's only if you're either a fan of the whole series or have at least seen episode's 1 and 2 (and if you have I implore you - don't give up, buy the original trilogy - they're far better), if you go into this uneducated you're going to spend a lot of time sat there scratching your head and wondering what's happening, and you may end up leaving thinking that what is a great movie really stinks.

To be fair to the harsher people out there - the last 2 movies have done a lot to make people jaded on whether Lucas can still cut it in the epic-story telling business but believe me Revenge of the Sith expel's all those rumours and unlike the previous 2 instalment's - it isn't aimed at the children.

The acting is better than it was in the last 2 movies, but its still very Lucas-ized, however what really show's well is the way Haydn Christensen portrays Anakin's fall into the hand's of the dark-side through jealousy, confusion and loyalty to his own.

But with saying that I wouldn't put Christensen's performance at the top of my list of greatest performance's in Episode 3 - instead it'd be Ian McDiarmid's performance as Senator Palpatine/Sidious - throughout the movie his deceitfulness where Anakin and the Jedi come into play are necessary to keep the plot on-going, and even though when he's hiding behind the 'kindly old man' visage of the Senator there's always a harsh-ness being portrayed that constantly reminds everyone that he is still a Dark Lord of the Sith, and then there's the actual transformation scene where his 'true face' appears but more on that later.

Other worthy mentions in the acting go to Natalie Portman's performance as Padme but in the second half only - to be honest in the first half she seemed to me to be a bit blind and one-sided, but it was only once Anakin had really got into his turn to the dark side and the Republic was descending into oblivion that we really got to see a star-turning performance from Portman - she show's real emotion and a passion that's hardly been seen before.

Final mention goes to Ewan Macgregor as the young Obi-Wan Kenobi, who in the first 2 films I myself classed as a little bit wooden but there's a lot more to his acting in this episode - as with everyone else - there just seems to be a step-up.

The scenery in the movie is stunning straight from the first scene and throughout the whole film, yet none of them feel forced or tacked on so everyone can go oooooh. Special mentions this time go to the jaw-dropping opening scene as you see Anakin and Obi-Wan whizz through literally hundreds of federation ships. As well as this there's the scene involving Anakin, Palpatine and Mace Windu (played by Samuel L Jackson) where its not so much the scenery that's great but the make-up work on Palpatine as he fights back against Windu, and finally there's the 2 Light-Sabre battle's first off between Yoda and Sidious and second the long awaited battle between Anakin and Obi-Wan over the lava, both of these are brilliantly coreographed and where used the special effects are simply awesome.

The same can also be said for the sound-track which again has a much darker feel to it than either of the previous sequels and always fits in with what's happening on screen.

My overall thought's on the film are that it is the best of the prequels and stands up there with the original trilogy but there'll never be anything better than The Empire Strikes Back for a Star Wars film, but still I wouldn't let that be-grudge you from putting another 20 quid in George Lucas's already swelling Bank account.

Summary: The Prequels finally live up to the hype