Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith

George Lucas returns the Star Wars saga to form as he brings together the two trilogies.

Revenge of the Sith chronicles the events that turn the troubled Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) into Darth Vader under the machinations of the Supreme Chancellor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) and the decimation of the Jedi. We all know what’s going to happen, and to an extent how it will happen – the only question is how well does Lucas put it across?

Thankfully, after the lacklustre Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones, which often felt more like Lucas fulfilling his obligation to come up with the prequels he promised rather than valuable additions to the saga, Sith comes back with full force.

As promised, it’s an altogether darker affair than the other films, which is unsurprising considering we see Anakin turn against the Jedi, younglings lying slain, and a huge body count of others lying slain too, for that matter. This new-found darkness is what goes to make Sith the best movie since The Empire Strikes Back - when it comes to the story that actually needs telling, Lucas is excellent, whereas the more light-hearted moments (mainly Jar Jar Binks in the last two movies) can fall flat.

One of the very few problems with the film is that the handling of romance is still as bad as it was in Clones. Thankfully it’s kept at a minimum, but when the soppiness is there, it’s there with a vengeance with some undeniably cheesy lines.

Practically nothing else can be faulted. As fans of the saga will be used to by now, there seem to be far too many scenes and skipping around from one planet to the next to fit in one movie, but it works. It’s fast-paced throughout but never to the point of confusion, and even those unacquainted with the Star Wars universe should understand what’s going on.

The special effects are excellent, and are shown off from the beginning; for the first twenty minutes we plunge into a space battle as Anakin and Obi Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) hunt down Count Dooku (Christopher Lee) with the customary lightsabre duels and loss of body parts.

The acting (again, apart from romantic scenes) has come on considerably compared with the previous two movies, in which McGregor was a rather awkward Obi Wan and Christensen an unconvincing Anakin. McGregor actually seems to be enjoying himself in the role and this film’s script gives all concerned more to work with.

There are a couple of inconsistencies between Revenge of the Sith and the other movies which avid fans may wish to pick holes in, but all in all it is a wonderful feeling to see (almost) all of the plot’s threads finally come together as well as watching it work well as an excellently-made stand-alone movie.