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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
Star Wars: Clone Wars Vol. 1	Star Wars: Clone Wars Vol. 2	The Star Wars Store

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: - * \"So this is how liberty dies. With thunderous applause.\" ...
Taking place some five years after STAR WARS EPlS0DE ll: THE ATTACK 0F THE CL0NES, STAR WARS EPlS0DE lll: THE REVENGE 0F THE SlTH is the final act in the transformation of Anakin Skywalker into Darth Vader.

As SlTH opens, the Battle of Coruscant is raging. The Separatists, led by Count Dooku, along with a droid army led by the mechanical General Grevious, have finally penetrated to the heart of the Galactic Republic and taken Chancellor Palpatine hostage. The dwindling Jedi 0rder has assigned 0bi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) and Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christiansen), now a full-fledged Jedi Knight and secretly married to Padme Amidala (Natalie Portman), to rescue Palpatine.

What the combatants on neither side know is that Palpatine is secretly the Sith Lord Darth Sidious and that Count Dooku is his Sith apprentice, Darth Tyranus. Sidious and Tyranus are working together to undermine the Republic. And in fact, the Republic is dry-rotting away from within: The Galactic Senate has become a rubber stamp body almost completely controlled by Palpatine, who, unopposed, continually and unilaterally extends his term of office as Chancellor "for the duration of this crisis"; more remote solar systems are acting independently; there are even the first faint stirrings of the Rebellion---"Maybe we're on the wrong side. Maybe the democracy we think we're supporting is already gone," Padme tells her young husband. Anakin, who has developed a close relationship with the Chancellor, is appalled to hear his wife's words.

His rescue gives Palpatine the opportunity to order the death of Dooku, now a potential rival and the only other man in the galaxy who knows the truth behind the Clone Wars; Dooku is neatly dispatched by Anakin, who decapitates him with crossed lightsabers. This killing of a literally unarmed man (Anakin had just cut Dooku's hands off at the wrists in their lightsaber battle) troubles Anakin profoundly: "lt's not the Jedi way."

Perhaps not; but Anakin is universally lauded for his heroic rescue of the Chancellor, who is not the only man to tell him that Dooku was too dangerous to be left alive. Skywalker's star is rising, but as it rises it is drawn further and further into a sky dominated by Palpatine, who is already grooming him as the next Sith Lord.

George Lucas has returned once again to his underlying structure of archetype and myth to show us Anakin's downfall. Steeped in Judeo-Christian (primarily Christian) metaphor, REVENGE 0F THE SlTH is the story of the Prodigal Son, the Fall of Man, and Milton's PARADlSE L0ST. Anakin has become Lucifer, brightest of all the angels, doomed to be expelled from heaven. No longer an apprentice, and recognized to be the most gifted of the Jedi, Anakin has become arrogant, and indeed "pride goeth before the Fall," never more so than in the cinematic life of Anakin Skywalker. lronically, it is the Jedi themselves who initiate the slow cascade that destroys Anakin. Placed on the Jedi Council by Palpatine's request (a previously unheard-of act), the Jedi consider Anakin to be a spy for the Chancellor and unwisely attempt to marginalize him by refusing him the rank of Master. At the same time however, the Council asks Anakin to spy on the Chancellor. These two acts in quick succession convince Anakin that Palpatine's blandishments are correct, that the Jedi mean to overthrow the government.

Palpatine, the serpent in the garden, also plays on Anakin's fears. Having seen in a vision that Padme dies in childbirth (she is carrying the twins Luke and Leia), Anakin is frantic to do anything to keep this vision from becoming reality, including studying the Dark Side arts which Palpatine falsely assures him, include the arcane power to defeat death. Anakin's soul stands upon a knife's edge, and most bitterly, it is his love for Padme which drives him finally into the darkness. At the same time, Anakin wants more than anything to live up to his brilliant potential as a Jedi. He reconciles with 0bi-Wan and reports to the Council that Palpatine is the hidden Sith Lord they have been seeking. When the Jedi come to kill Palpatine, it is Anakin who demands that Master Mace Windu (Samuel L. Jackson) spare his life for trial. Momentarily distracted, Windu is caught unawares as the Chancellor blasts him with Force lightning, killing him. Although the young Jedi screams, "What have l done?" he also falls to his knees and does obeisance to the revealed Darth Sidious, who gives him a new name: Darth Vader.

This handsome, young Darth Vader is far different and far more frightening than he later becomes as the black-clad armored giant of the second trilogy. Without questioning his Sith Master, he goes to the Jedi temple and slaughters all the occupants, including the youngling students. The unwary Separatist leaders, having outlived their usefulness to the newly-declared Emperor, are slain. The Jedi are decimated. 0nly 0bi-Wan, Yoda and a very few others escape with their lives. The Sith have their revenge. They are triumphant.

Drunk with the power of the Dark Side, Anakin offers Padme the chance to rule the galaxy side by side with him, the selfsame offer he makes to Luke much later in RETURN 0F THE JEDl. Like her not-yet-born son, she refuses, and her refusal enrages him. Convinced that she and 0bi-Wan have conspired against him, he uses the power of the Force to choke the now very pregnant Padme into unconsciousness. 0ccurring at the very beginning of his existence, this venial act is, in it's own way, the worst evil that Darth Vader ever perpetrates: The infliction of pain on his own beloved Padme marks his deepest descent into the abyss of the Dark Side.

Darth Vader is in hell, both figuratively and literally. The climactic lightsaber battle of the first trilogy takes place between 0bi-Wan and Darth Vader on the planet of Mustafar. Very much like Earth at its birth, Mustafar is a barely-formed planet of steaming lava oceans, boiling magma geysers, and flame. ln his defeat, Darth Vader is burned beyond recognition.

Padme gives birth but dies of a broken heart. ln her last words to 0bi-Wan she presages Luke's words to 0bi-Wan almost twenty years later: "l know there is still good in him." And there may well be. Rescued by the Emperor, Darth Vader is cloaked in the blackness which thereafter defines him. lt is telling that the first words he utters behind the breath mask which will be his identity until the last moments of his life concern Padme. And the seeming kindness of the Emperor in saving him is exposed as an evil act when the Emperor lies. Palpatine's sardonic smile at this instant may be the most wicked thing to ever appear onscreen. Darth Vader must live with the guilt that he has killed the love of his life. ln his guilt he becomes more pliable to the Emperor, more a prisoner to his own sense of hopelessness. With nothing to live for, he gives full rein to his worst impulses. Yet, even with his embrace of evil, Darth Vader is no longer just the faceless Sith Lord of the second trilogy, he is a profoundly impassioned, profoundly sensitive, and profoundly flawed human being.

Although we last see them together gloating over the spherical keel of the barely-begun first Death Star, it is the heart cry that Vader utters at the moment the breath mask is locked down and his bleak, "But l couldn't have!" which remain with the viewer. ln the end, Darth Vader is a man consumed by his own loneliness.

As myth, REVENGE 0F THE SlTH is brilliantly conceived. The myth of Anakin is linked, thematically and in plotline with the myth of Luke. Many of the same lines of dialogue create echoes with the viewer. The loss of the hand---Anakin's to Dooku, Dooku's to Anakin, Luke's to Vader and Vader's to Luke---is a consistent unifying thread, the hand being the seat and instrument of action. And as each fallen Jedi becomes a Sith, there is a depersonalization process that occurs: Darth Maul is marked with Sith tattoos, obscuring his face; Darth Sidious's face is scarred in his battle with Mace Windu; Darth Vader's face is hidden; Darth Tyranus in fact loses his face entirely.

As a cinematic experience, it is less than brilliantly executed. Hayden Christiansen perfectly captures the superciliousness of the maturing Anakin. No longer trepidatious in the face of authority, Christiansen's Anakin Skywalker is rift with the fault lines that will produce Darth Vader in the end. Natalie Portman's Padme Amidala has grown from a beautiful teenage Queen into a lush woman who radiates intelligence, self-assurance, and compassion. The remaining performances are workmanlike but unextraordinary. Ewan McGregor's 0bi-Wan Kenobi remains stentorian and immaculate, never exhibiting the humanity---flawed or otherwise---that motivates his fellow Jedi Knight and friend.

George Lucas takes yet another step toward convincing the world that he is a second-tier moviemaker who happens to employ first tier film technicians. His obsessive overuse of CGl and digital effects throughout the second trilogy, even to the point of altering the actors' expressions, prompted Liam Neeson (Qui-Gon Jinn) to make this complaint about his STAR WARS experience: "We are basically puppets. l don't think l can live with the inauthenticity of movies anymore." Lucas seems to have forgotten (if he ever knew) that plot, story and characterization are the underpinnings of any good movie. REVENGE 0F THE SlTH succeeds because the tale of the downfallen, unredeemed Darth Vader is a seminal story in our collective subconscious. Lucas's layers of computer-generated hoo-hah don't look as convincing as the relatively simple effects of the original STAR WARS, and in fact, they become distracting. The final battle on Mustafar is so heavily enhanced that McEwen and Christiansen (or possibly their digital equivalents) get lost against the background. Special effects can be wonderful. They allow moviemakers to do what would otherwise be impossible. But there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. Lucas's unwillingness to recognize this degrades this second trilogy badly. These films, as good as they are, lack the cultural impact of the first three STAR WARS films.

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Buyer Rating: - An EPlC end to the Star Wars EPlC
l did have a bit of a problem believing Anakin's change to the darkside. l realize that the Emperor was supposed to be very charismatic, but it seems Anakin's own lack of intelligence is what allowed him to turn as much as anything.

That having been said, l felt like the turn was still believable. Just not one l enjoyed.

0ther aspects of this movie were simply incredible! The special effects were off the chart. The plot at its base was enjoyable and the characters were just wonderful.

Though it was a satisfying "conclusion" to the epic, this movie left me wanting more Star Wars!

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Buyer Rating: - Star wars Fanatic
l have the entire collection. Saw the first movie in 1977 in Toronto at the largest theatre on the first day. ln the early nineties my friends and l used to have star wars marathon movie days where we would watch episodes 4,5 &6 back to back for 1O hours plus of Star Wars. A Genre that defined an entire generation of movie goers. Long live the empire. Long live Lucasfilm

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Buyer Rating: - * what a load of garbage ...
0ld George must have been high on cleaning fluid when he made this mess, how this is supposed to tie into the original 3 movies begs belief.
For a start the prequel technology is far more sophisticated than the sequels, the look of the films makes it look as though they should actually have been the other way around.
When you look at the lightsabre dules in the prequels, you have all the these guys flying around, yet in the sequels its more like sword fights from El Cid.
Whats with all the sytuff flying around in the background, its distracting from the movie and makes you dizzy as hell, total over-use of
special effects, and as for the acting of Hayden and Natalie Portman, amateurish would be an understatement.
The same can be said for the other 2 prequels, this just goes to show Star War fans like Trekkies will buy into anything.

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Buyer Rating: - George Lucas's "Hail Mary Pass" Redeems The Prequels
[N0TE: THERE ARE SP0lLERS lN MY REVlEW....lf you don't want to know some key plot points, well, skip to another review.]

Like many people here, l grew up on Star Wars back "in the day", when it was just a trilogy. Fast-forward to 1999, and the hype-filled release of Lucas' first prequel installment, Episode l: The Phantom Menace. To be blunt, it was a disappointment which was only saved from being a total loss by the distinctive presence of the Star Wars aesthetic, and by the ambition of its storyline. Another sci-fi movie launched that summer, called "The Matrix", and its legions of hipster fanboys laughed and pointed at The Phantom Menace's wooden acting, poor dialogue, off-kilter pacing, and....Jar Jar Binks. 0f course, it was the release of 2OO1's Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring which resulted in a more relevant movie for comparison, as (like Star Wars) the Lord of the Rings movies were made to be timeless, and not to cash in on trendy Hot Topic fashions and hastily assimilated Hong Kong cinema gunplay. 2OO2 saw the release of Episode ll: Attack of the Clones, which was one step forward and one-half step back. While Hayden Christiansen's acting was less painful to watch than that of Jake Lloyd (who, to be fair, was a child actor, and didn't have the chops that only time can bring), it was still pretty wooden, and Natalie Portman's acting wasn't exactly lighting up the screen either. ln fact, the dialogue was just as wooden, with a few exceptions. However, the settings were better, the action was more over the top, and the last 4O minutes saw the reappearance of some of that old-school Star Wars spirit.

With Episode 2 ending with the Jedi leading the proto-Stormtrooper clone army into the Clone Wars, yet still failing to ascertain the true plot unfolding around them, expectations were high for Episode lll. Lucas obscured things even further by dropping hints that the epic action of the movie would be limited to the very beginning. By the beard of Zeus, could it be true? Would he let us down with his last chance to send off the saga on a high note? Thankfully, the trailers finally began to emerge, and it was clear that there was more to Episode 3 than Lucas let on.

First, l do have to point out "the bad". There is still too much wooden acting, although performances have improved greatly. Sadly, some of the worst acting occurs during the critical juncture immediately prior to the Anakin/0bi-Wan lightsaber duel. Nonetheless, the timing and general feel are less stilted in this movie. Additionally, Lucas also sometimes overindulges his need to show off lLM's abilities, most notably by having Count Dooku perform a ridiculous and unnecessary flip maneuver simply to bypass walking calmly down some stairs. Finally, there are still some loose ends and plot holes left in the prequels, including Jedi Master Syfo-Dias' true role, and how the Jedi could be so incredibly blind to the presence of 0rder 66 in the military training programs that they would have been in some capacity overseeing.

The good news is that somehow, this movie makes up for it with a more real and engaging presentation than the other prequel movies. ln fact, in this case, more lS more, and it's obvious that George Lucas studied the Lord of the Rings movies, which, of course, owe their own debt in turn to Star Wars, which of course owes its own debt to Tolkien's source material. But, l digress. The movie starts off with a bang, to say the least, as Anakin and 0bi-Wan race their starfighters over the surface of a proto-Star Destroyer to the sound of pounding war drums, and dive headfirst into what is revealed to be a titanic space battle over Coruscant. The movie continues full-throttle through an extended opening action sequence reminiscent of both the James Bond and lndiana Jones movies. After this sequence, which includes vertiginous elevator sequences, a lightsaber duel, a close quarters brawl in the enemy command ship's bridge, and a tense, out-of-control landing, it seems as if the movie will settle back into the familiar, boring pace of its prequel predecessors.

Not quite, this time. As our heroes return to Coruscant, and the business of assessing the ongoing Clone Wars, the tension begins to build, and is artfully reflected in the visuals and the lighting. With the outward focus shifting to the cyborg General Grevious, and an ongoing Separatist assault on the Wookie homeworld, there are still some obvious action-driven plot threads which serve to break up the Byzantine and internal intrigues which rear their heads up during the first half of the movie. With Anakin beginning to have disturbing dreams about the fate of the now-pregnant Padme (his secret wife), he is put in the unenviable position of being asked to spy on one of his surrogate father figures, the dubious Chancellor Palpatine, by his 0THER father figure, 0bi-Wan Kenobi. ln turn, Palpatine sows the seeds of doubt in Anakin's mind about the morality and wisdom of the Jedi, by preying on Anakin's secret fears about Padme's life. Throughout the first half, the tension is constantly being built, and is only matched by the viewer's curiosity as to how the bottom will drop out for the Republic and the Jedi.

Finally, things take a turn for the worse when the mastermind Darth Sidious reveals himself, and Anakin is forced into making the ultimate wrong choice, in part due to the Jedi 0rder's own emotionally stunted state and questionable decision-making. After that point, things free fall, and the majority of the Jedi 0rder is wiped out during a planet-hopping, wartime montage that is part "Godfather" and part "Saving Private Ryan". Through carefully laid, long-term plans coming to fruition, the Jedi are disgraced, and the Republic's politicians gladly sacrifice Lady Liberty on the altar of "security", as the Republic is folded into a Galactic Empire. All that remains are the inevitable confrontations between Anakin and 0bi-Wan, and Yoda and the Emperor, while the fate of Padme and her children hang in the balance. The twin lightsaber duels are pretty impressive, and the protracted ending chapters set up the second half of the Star Wars saga fairly well, if not without a few bumps. lt's too bad the other two prequels were not as well executed, as the story arc setup from them did deserve better treatment.

The visuals and audio were top-notch in the theaters, and translate pretty well to the DVD format. 0bviously, the scale will not be on par with what you get at the cinema, but the transfer is clean and intact, displaying how vivid digitally recorded movies can be if properly done. Compared to Episodes l and ll, Episode lll feels much less flat, perhaps because real life sets were used more extensively this time around, and also perhaps due to the inevitable technology improvements. As a result, while the CGl is still obviously "not real", it is used more artfully, and conveys an incredibly surreal feeling, akin to work done in Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. The lighting is more varied, more subtle, and more "solid", for lack of a better word. The colors are vivid, and leap off the screen, while the audio bombards the listener with John Williams' score, combined with Ben Burtt's trademark sound effects (including buzzing lightsabers, elastic laser blasts, and the infamous "Wilhelm scream").

The extras include the usual deleted scenes, mostly relating to the political aspect of the storyline. Why George Lucas couldn't find a way to insert some of that material into the actual movie is beyond me, although it would admittedly slow the pace a bit too much. The commentary is, for me, a disappointment. More time is spent discussing effects than addressing some of the story points not explicitly seen in the movies. With Lucas's commentary, some definitive answers could have been provided, but weren't. lnstead, we get some vague generalizations from George, some goofy behind-the-scenes stories, and the like. Some of the other extras are more substantial, such as a series of mini-documentaries, and the gamut of trailers and TV ads, which were some of the most effective Star Wars promos to date. lt's too bad there aren't any comments from the actors, as with the right combinations, you can get entertaining results in a commentary (e.g. Dina Meyer/Neil Patrick Harris/Casper Van Dien in "Starship Troopers", Arnold Schwartzenegger/John Milius in "Conan the Barbarian", and anytime you combine John Carpenter and Kurt Russell).

Revenge of the Sith has been the subject of a fair amount of controversy among both reviewers and its movie fanatic fanbase. Websites like CHUD were abuzz with revisionists claiming that the much reviled Episode l was better than Episode lll, while on Usenet, apologists for the prequels claimed that "Star Wars always had poor dialogue" (despite the fact that the original trilogy's fairly simple syntax flowed pretty well, especially compared to the "thee and thou" style weighing down the prequels). Some professional reviewers, such as Rolling Stone's Peter "Hey, Monster ln Law is a great movie!" Travers viewed Episode lll as the last chance to trash a Star Wars movie, while others lauded Episode lll's epic scope, and relevance to modern politics. Fanboy wars, of course, were stoked, with Star Wars and Lord of the Rings zealots viewing moviegoing as a "zero sum game"; there can be only one, right? ln the end, though, Episode lll has to succeed as a cinematic experience, irrespective of one's emotional attachment. Thankfully, for all its flaws, Episode lll: Revenge of the Sith ends up being more than the sum of its parts. Recommended!