Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith

When I asked the reviewer sitting next to me to sum up Revenge of the Sith, he simply said "great!" That seemed to basically be the consensus of virtually everyone in attendance at an advance press screening of the final chapter in the Star Wars saga.

There was an exuberant mood leaving the theater, as if everyone was in collective agreement that Lucas had finally done it. That he had gone out on top, with a stunning, rock-solid coup de grace. And from all the feedback I've heard from that screening, my sense of that collective mood was right.

There are no real spoilers in ROTS. Everyone basically knows what happens in Episode 4: A New Hope. We all know Anakin becomes Vader. We know Obi Wan lives and we know Luke and Leia are born. What we don't know is how Lucas weaves those story lines into the large, six-part opus and better yet, why?

No, it's not a perfect movie. There are those moments that make us cringe. Bad dialog and High School drama class acting make for a few awkward moments where you can hear audible moans and giggles in the audience, but we have come to expect this from modern Star Wars films. The upside is that these moments are rare in Episode III.

OK, get ready. Take a deep breath. No Jar Jar! Yes, you read that right. You can let out that deep breath now.

Fortunately, we have one savior to rely on for stellar acting. Mr. Ian McDiarmid as Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. McDiarmid brings the elegance of an Alec Guiness back to the franchise in a knockout performance that leaves the audience riveted and exhausted. He is the lifeblood of the film.

As someone who saw the original 30 times in it's first month of release at the age of 13, I currently consider myself a Star Wars moderate. I don't have volumes of SW merchandise, nor can I debate whether or not carbonite contains enough oxygen to make it float. All I know is that magical feeling Star Wars gave me in the original 1977 release and that I'm happy to say, after a disappointing pair of prequels, has been finally restored and reinvigorated.

Here's to Mr. Lucas for giving us all something spectacular to remember for our entire lives that embodies the whole point of going to the movies in the first place, to escape and lose ourselves in another world.

Upon seeing Star Wars: Revenge Of The Sith early this morning, I let it sink in all day to form my opinion. After all that thought, I concluded that this was a damn good movie... and probably my favorite of all 6 episodes (definitely of the episodes 1-3)!

One of the things I liked about this movie is the way it presents Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen). George Lucas made you believe that, although we know Anakin was evil, he did not believe himself to be evil. In fact, he thought he was doing the right thing, even though some of those things were undeniably wrong.

Also, many of the mysteries were finally answered. We all knew Anakin was Darth Vader, and that Vader was the father of Luke Skywalker and Leia, but now we know how and why they were separated. We also know how Darth Vader came about and why the need for the costume. All this and more!

A review of this movie would not be complete without mention of the spectacular special effects. Every shot in the movie is stunning and hard to look away from. The action starts from the very beginning and does not let up, except for some minor love scenes. The light saber battles between Anakin, Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor), Yoda, Mace Windu (Samuel L. Jackson) and General Grievous were all done extremely well. Even R2-D2 got to kick some butt!

Overall, as you can probably tell, I loved this installment of the series. All of the questions were answered and was more action packed than I could have hoped for. Definitely recommended. 9.5/10

i loved star wars as a kid. i grew disenchanted with the new trilogy. i was prepared for another letdown.

i was surprised to see that things really come together. 'sith' has a coherent story, well told, well paced. the movie is full of fireworks, but they always support the progression of the story, nothing felt unnecessary like some stuff in the earlier episodes. the characters were all solid. some were even great. there were quiet, slow paced moments that made sense, felt right. the transformation of the characters came across well. the conflicts are complex, personalities are multifaceted. this movie carries a lot more weight than episodes 1 and 2.

not everyone will be happy. there are weak moments, there is wooden dialog, there's cheesy romance. nevertheless, for most of the audience, even non hard-core star wars believers, this movie works. it's great entertainment, and it ties in very well with episodes 4-6. the sense of disconnect that people felt with episodes 1 and 2 is gone. you will want to go home and watch 'a new hope' right after seeing 'revenge of the sith'.

I was on a Combat tour in Iraq ( OIF 2004-2005 ) I watched this film at the theatre of Camp Anaconda, I thought it was the best film of the three prequels

The first two movies in the prequel trilogy weren't horrible, but had so many flaws. This one isn't as good as any movie in the original trilogy, but if you ask me it's pretty close. This one is actually very well done and special effects don't look so fake now and give us some really epic scenes, especially in a movie's climax that will keep you at the edge of your seat. Here, George Lucas proved that he can still do it and I was really satisfied with this movie. The acting was the best the prequel trilogy gave and Hayden Christensen isn't so wooden and annoying anymore. Here he's actually pretty cool and shows that he has potential, but Ewan McGregor remains the best part of the cast. You really believe him to be young Obi-Wan and that's very well done and he also has some very heartbreaking moments with Anakin at the end. One of the biggest flaws in the prequels was all those political conversations. Just lots and lots and lots of talking that makes you want to fall asleep, but thankfully, Lucas listened to his fans and it's reduced here. It's still present, of course, but not as much. Romance between Padme and Anakin is a little bit more believable here, but still not enough and that's one of the biggest flaws here, but the blame is more on Attack of the Clones in this case. Everything is executed very well and leading up to the original trilogy is very good, even tho it does create some plot holes, but in Star Wars you can explain almost everything with the Force. And one more good thing for Jar Jar haters, he appears for only like, a second. Hooray! But there is one more thing they messed up in the ending and I'm not gonna spoil anything but that one awful line (NOOOO!). While the first two movies in the prequel trilogy were disappointing, this one makes it all better. Not everyone will like it, but as a big Star Wars fan, I must say it's a nice and intense ending for the prequels.