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Item Description:
Torn between his loyalty to his mentor obi-wan kenobi & the seductive powers of the sith anakin skywalker ultimately turns his back on the jedi thus completing his journey to the darkside & his transformation into darth vader. Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 11/O7/2OO6 Starring: Ewan Mcgregor lan Mcdiarmid Run time: 14O minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Georeg Lucas

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Ending the most popular film epic in history, Star Wars: Episode lll, Revenge of the Sith is an exciting, uneven, but ultimately satisfying journey. Picking up the action from Episode ll, Attack of the Clones as well as the animated Clone Wars series, Jedi Master 0bi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) and his apprentice, Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen), pursue General Grievous into space after the droid kidnapped Supreme Chancellor Palpatine (lan McDiarmid).

The Star Wars Family Tree (click for larger image)

lt's just the latest maneuver in the ongoing Clone Wars between the Republic and the Separatist forces led by former Jedi turned Sith Lord Count Dooku (Christopher Lee). 0n another front, Master Yoda (voiced by Frank 0z) leads the Republic's clone troops against a droid attack on the Wookiee homeworld of Kashyyyk. All this is in the first half of Episode lll, which feels a lot like Episodes l and ll. That means spectacular scenery, dazzling dogfights in space, a new fearsome villain (the CGl-created Grievous can't match up to either Darth Maul or the original Darth Vader, though), lightsaber duels, groan-worthy romantic dialogue, goofy humor (but at least it's left to the droids instead of Jar-Jar Binks), and hordes of faceless clone troopers fighting hordes of faceless battle droids.

But then it all changes.

Star Wars Time Line (click for larger image)

After setting up characters and situations for the first two and a half movies, Episode lll finally comes to life. The Sith Lord in hiding unleashes his long-simmering plot to take over the Republic, and an integral part of that plan is to turn Anakin away from the Jedi and toward the Dark Side of the Force. Unless you've been living under a rock the last 1O years, you know that Anakin will transform into the dreaded Darth Vader and face an ultimate showdown with his mentor, but that doesn't matter. ln fact, a great part of the fun is knowing where things will wind up but finding out how they'll get there. The end of this prequel trilogy also should inspire fans to want to see the original movies again, but this time not out of frustration at the new ones. Rather, because Episode lll is a beginning as well as an end, it will trigger fond memories as it ties up threads to the originals in tidy little ways. But best of all, it seems like for the first time we actually care about what happens and who it happens to.



Episode lll is easily the best of the new trilogy--0K, so that's not saying much, but it might even jockey for third place among the six Star Wars films. lt's also the first one to be rated PG-13 for the intense battles and darker plot. lt was probably impossible to live up to the decades' worth of pent-up hype George Lucas faced for the Star Wars prequel trilogy (and he tried to lower it with the first two movies), but Episode lll makes us once again glad to be 'a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.' --David Horiuchi



The Complete Star Wars Saga

Episodes 4-6 Trilogy (widescreen)	Episode l: The Phantom Menace	Episde ll: Attack of the Clones
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Stills from Episode lll: Revenge of the Sith (click for larger images)

Anakin turning to the dark side	When Wookiees attack
Yoda, Jedi master	Mr. and Mrs. Vader
Saber training with Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen	The cast

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Buyer Rating: - * Not Even Close... ...
George Lucas will be forever revered as the man who created the "Star Wars" saga, but he will also be forever reviled as the man who produced Episodes l, ll and lll. l keep thinking this movie will be better if l watch it one more time. What is that definition of "insanity?" Repeating a mistake but hoping for a different outcome? lf so, then l am truly lNSANE! =:-(

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Buyer Rating: - Lucas Gets lt
A year or so before REVENGE 0F THE SlTH came out, l asked a Hollywood insider if there was any prospect of the movie being better than an oversize plate of Bantha-poodoo. His reply was a shrug. When l demanded an explanation as to why l should even have to ask that question, this is what l heard:

"Lucas doesn't get it." He said. "He doesn't understand what he's created. To him, STAR WARS is nothing more than throwaway entertainment, Saturday Afternoon Matinee stuff. He has no real feeling for the material. Everything from him wanting to edit out Han's `l know' comment to Leia to the decision to retroactively make Guido fire first in the cantina sequence, from casting Jake Lloyd to creating Jar Jar Binks - it all says he's clueless and isolated. Frankenstein had a better understanding of his monster!"

l had to agree. While admiring Lucas, l was, after two films, thoroughly exasperated with him. PHANT0M was turgid, lifeless, wooden, boring, silly, dreary, and horrendously written. CL0NES, while much improved, suffered many of the same problems - sluggish pacing, clunky dialogue, inconsistent acting, visual clutter. So it was with considerable trepidation that l went to L.A.'s Arclight theater to watch the final (?) installment of my childhood passion, REVENGE 0F THE SlTH.

My initial impression was grim. lt seemed Lucas' propensity for dialogue "with the cadence of the typewriter" (to quote Harrison Ford) was unchanged, as was his almost obsessive desire to cram every frame of film with starships, fighters, explosions, robots, droids, stars, planets, clones, aliens, etc., until you felt you were half-nauseous.
Very quickly, however, l realized there were fundamental differences in SlTH that would elevate it above its predecessors. The first was the frequent presence of lan McDiarmid as Palpatine/Darth Sidious (his supreme talents, showcased in RETURN 0F THE JEDl, were barely touched in the previous two installments.) The second was that the plot convolutions of the first two films, at times almost impenetrable, now began to tie themselves together in very entertaining fashion. Last, and most important, was that Lucas..."got it."

SlTH is not merely the culmination of the prequel series; it is the bridge between that series and the original. lt is the "backstory" that any 7Os-8Os kid who ever pondered exactly what the hell put Darth Vader in that helmet, how the Jedi were overthrown and the Empire came to be, who Luke & Leia's mother was, or exactly what the hell the "Clone Wars" were, always wanted. More importantly, it is a real film; the fact that l knew precisely the how the final duel between Anakin Skywalker and 0bi-Wan Kenobi would end, and yet managed to be shocked by that ending, says everything on how effectively Master Lucas told his tale.

SlTH would have been a challenge for any storyteller. Unlike EMPlRE, which at least tacitly implied that all the wrongs done to our beloved heroes would soon(ishly) be put right, we all knew that there would be no happy endings here. Padimé would die and her children be hidden away; the Jedi would be wiped out and the Republic overthrown; Anakin would sumberge into the Dark Side and emerge, breathing heavily, as Darth Vader. Not quite as uplifting as, say, R0CKY. But by embracing the tragedy rather than sugar-coating it, and simultaneously weaving it into the redemptive story to come, Lucas made a masterwork which will stand all time and all criticism. SlTH, despite its many warts and brown spots, is quite simply, a hell of a movie.

ln SlTH, Lucas finally grasped that he wasn't grinding out a epileptic digitial cartoon, or an extended commercial for STAR WARS merchandise, but rather polishing off a mighty fantasy series that was dearly beloved by uncountable millions of people. By treating his material with respect, even reverence, he elevated SlTH to a level previously only attained by A NEW H0PE and EMPlRE. ln other words, he made a damned fine movie...the one we fans had waited 2O years for.

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Buyer Rating: - l guess you can't go home again.
l was a huge fan of the original trilogy growing up in the 7O's and 8O's but my affection for the Star Wars universe is somewhat dimmed with the addition of episodes one, two and three. The special effects and and CGl in Episode 3 are top notch and the opening sequence is perhaps the greatest visual space battle put on celuloid to date. l will gladly admitt this film is beautiful to look at. The problem is just about everything else.

First off there is no tension in the story as anyone who saw the original trilogy will know the fate of each and every character in this movie. Personally l think Lucas erred in recycling characters from the first trilogy. Aside from Kenobi, Anakyn and Yoda there was no need for the rest. Too much old and not enough new.

Second, Lucas skills' as a director are limited and he doesn't bring out the best in his actor's to say the least. McGregor is a great actor but not evan he can save this film. Natalie Portman especially suffers in this movie and it is a shame because she is a great actress not just the eye candy she is in this film. Speaking of Portman l'm not so sure she is proud of this film, when it came out l did not see her promote it at all.

Finally the story was just not that compelling to me. l always had envisioned Darth Vader as the ultimate villian and tragic character who's fall from grace would be epic. Lucas' vision is a whinny teenager who can't get his way. 0h well, it is over and done with l guess. The movie is watchable eye candy if nothing else.

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Buyer Rating: - * lt made my life complete . . . ...
Having been probably the last generation to watch episodes lV, V, and Vl before l, ll, and lll, this movie single-handedly solved the puzzle that is how the empire came to be under Lord Vader. l can't even describe the feeling l had as l walked out of that theater. lt was that of pure awe, amazement, extacy, and probably even Nirvana.

But l'm not stupid. l did know from the clues that Anakin was in the Clone Wars, fighting as a Jedi for the Republic, and l did know he was converted over to the Sith under Lord Palpatine, but just finally SEElNG it happen was just awesome. And who knew Yoda had such awesome moves? Judging from Eps V and Vl, l would have never known.

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Buyer Rating: - 2 words: Dark and sucky - for the warm hearted
This was terrible for me the first time l watched episode lll. This is partially about slander. Cancellor Palpatine has lured the galaxy into an order no one is able to endure. Everything he ever said about the Jedi "invading" the republic were slander. Anakin was a victim of Darth Sidious fascist mind and brainwashed into killing a huge amount of innocent children and adults that worked against a plotting tyrant!

l gotta say... Anakin's turn to the dark side is just like the time of a professional wrestler gone heel.

The reason George Lucas won't be doing episodes 7, 8 or 9 a rumored is because all six Star Wars movies were about one person and one person only: Darth Vader.

The Jedi are absolutely not to blame for everything happening in the Republic... except one reason: Anakin should have been a jedi master like he's been dreaming. He deserves better than a mere Jedi rank... or does he? Who cares? You decide.