Star Wars III - Revenge of the Sith

When I first saw the trailers for Star Wars III, my first thought was, "Damn you, George Lucas. Damn you for giving me hope."

You see, I, like many of you, was literally offended by Phantom Menace. It was that bad. Attack of the Clones wasn't much better. Both of these films defiled Star Wars as I knew it. Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi (to a lesser extent) all created such wonderful, film-going experiences for me. The Star Wars world was amazing.

Then Episodes I and II came out, and I was reminded why Empire Strikes Back was my favorite - George Lucas had virtually nothing to do with the film! He has a "Story by" credit, but didn't write the script, and didn't direct the movie. Empire was good BECAUSE Lucas kept his hands off. And Phantom and Clones sucked because Lucas was involved too much. He lost touch with his audience. He created Jar-Jar Binks. He created a young Anakin Skywalker that actually said the line, "Yippee!" He cast that poor little kid to play Anakin in Phantom, and it became painfully clear that that kid was in way over his head (hence the name Mannequin Skywalker by the critics). He created bad guys that were only robots. He turned the Star Wars franchise into kids' movies. And badly written kids' movies, at that.

So when I saw that trailer for Revenge of the Sith, I was concerned because it looked good. It looked dark. It looked like a grown-up movie. And George couldn't possibly make a movie that was this good. And when it was announced that it was going to be rated PG-13, my expectations, against my better judgment, began to rise.

So I go see the movie on opening weekend. And, God help me, I liked it. Quite a bit. Yes, the writing was bad. Yes, it became clear that George doesn't know how to direct a romantic couple. But it didn't matter. The story was there. It was good. It was dark. Anakin's turn to the Dark Side is complete.

Don't get me wrong - the film has its faults. The aforementioned dialogue is bad. And I felt that that actual moment Anakin turned to the Dark Side was given short-shrift. He literally goes from "My God, what have I done?" to kneeling before a Sith Lord pledging his allegiance within 10 seconds. But, in the grand scheme of things, it didn't matter.

The special effects are, of course, awesome. I'm not even going to spend much space in this review for that. I EXPECT good special effects in any movie that needs them. But the payoff, the resolution to all six movies, was worthwhile.

So, I am VERY happy to report, that the movie was good. Good enough, in fact, so that I've decided that when the inevitable 6-pack Star Wars Anthology comes out on DVD, I'll buy it. True, I'll never watch Phantom or Attack, unless my nephew wants to see them. But Revenge of the Sith was a good conclusion. And, for all you true Star Wars geeks, it resolves all your questions.

As a side note, I'd have to rank Revenge of the Sith as the third best film in the series - better than Return of the Jedi. For me, from best to worst, the ranking goes: Empire, Star Wars, Revenge, Return, Attack, Phantom.

One final thought. For those of you with children, some day they will need to see these films. Do them a favor. Show them in the order they came out. These final three films work best as a tragedy from the beginning. Don't start the viewing process with The Phantom Menace. Start it the way it needs to be started - with Star Wars Episode IV - A New Hope.