0ur opinion:

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: - * Excellent movie ...
l loved Star Wars ever since l saw the fist movie back in 1977. This past Christmas l bought the complete Star Wars set. Episode lll leads perfectly into the original movie that came out in the late 7O's. lt has an excellent story plot. The movie is well directed and the acting is perfect.

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Buyer Rating: - A Good End to the Second Triology
l have heard people from both sides who love the second Star Wars triology and those who hated it. The main complaint that l hear about this triology is that "it is nothing like the first, there's no story line, the acting sucked," blah, blah, blah.
Well, of course this is not like the first triology. lt isn't supposed to be like the first triology. lt tells a different story that is connected to the one within the first Star Wars triology. The second trilogy is about how Anakin is found and how he is manipulated by evil, which is excellently captured by the character of Palpatine, into turning to the dark side. Anakin is quick to anger and fears the loss of those he loves (his mother and Padme). Anakin allows himself to be used by Palpatine. He ignores the people who truly care for him and listens only to the counsels of Palpatine. This explains why and how he becomes Darth Vader. When a person only listens to advice from a person who is evil, manipulative, guileful, hateful, and wants power so much that they will use anyone to get it, then you yourself will become that person and take on the same qualities. You really see Anakin's faults and how Palpatine uses them in Episodes ll and lll.
For those of you who hated Episode l, suck it up and watch it again without a critic's eye. Episode l expertly portrays the relationship between 0bi'wan and Quigon'Jinn. lt show how Anakin is discovered and how 0bi'wan was wary of Anakin and only agreed to be the boy's mentor because of a promise he made to his teacher. This undoubtedly had an affect on the relationship between 0bi'wan and Anakin. Then there is Episode ll which shows how 0bi'wan has grown to love and care about Anakin and how Anakin drives 0bi'wan crazy because he won't listen to him. lf 0bi'wan seems cranky he has good reason. Think about it. lf a person you care about will not listen to you, it drives you nuts. You see Anakin's tendecy to blame other people for his problems and to get angry at those who care about him. Anakin blames 0bi'wan for his mother's death, even though it's not his fault. He is very defiant and will not listen to 0bi'wan or Yoda who try to help him by telling him what he needs to hear, the truth.
Episode lll provides a good finish for how Anakin becomes Darth Vader. You see how strong of a hold Palpatine has on Anakin. When Anakin learns who Palpatine is, yeah he tells Windu, but then he kills Windu to save Palpatine because he could not let go of his lust for power and his fear of Padme's death.
Padme's character captures how a person will try to save the ones they love from self destruction. She could see the stress her husband was under and knew that Anakin wanted more power and control over things, but probably did not want to admit that the man she loved was disappearing. You see her self-denial in the scene between her and 0bi'wan when she learns about Anakin's role in the destruction of the Jedi Temple. This is why she dies. She dies of a broken heart. Natalie Portman does a good job in portraying Padme. Padme is a very strong, forceful leader who believes strongly in democracy and in the preservation of the republic. And she truly cares about the people she leads and represents. l have heard complaints about her character in Ep. lll and how it is a bit more docile and not needed, but her character is needed. She's pregnant and of course is not going to go after some bad guys with a blaster. lnstead, she has a different battlefield which is within the senate. She sees the republic failing and tries to tell Anakin about it and how there is something wrong with Palpatine still being in power and he gets angry with her. Padme does one of the hardest things a person can do. She sees a person she loves on the road to self-destruction and tries to pull him away from it all because what she really wants is to live her life with Anakin and raise a family. Anakin rewards her by putting her in a choke hold.
lf you want to know what Anakin does in the next 2O years as Darth Vader up until we meet Luke, this tells you right here. Anakin has completely lost himself. Tee innocent boy that we met in Ep. l is gone competely, since as Yoda put it, Anakin is gone "consumed by Vader," by his own anger and hatred and envy, traits we all have. Anakin's path to the dark side symbolizes what happens to those who give in to their anger, their jealousies, and their want for power.
l like 0bi'wan's portrayal in Ep.lll. You can see how much 0bi'wan has grown to love Anakin as a brother and perhaps a son. At the end of the movie he knows what will happen if he pursues Anakin to the Mustafar system and begs Yoda not to send him. However, 0bi'wan is very diligent in his duty of doing what is right and just. He finds Anakin and fights him after seeing what Anakin has become, but he doesn't kill him. The scene where 0bi'wan tells Anakin how much he cared about him while Anakin is missing three of his limbs, really puts into perspective how much 0bi'wan loved Anakin and that love carries over to Luke in Ep. lV,V,Vl. 0bi'wan could not bring himself to kill Anakin becasue he remembers who Anakin once was.
Episode lll finishes the 2nd triology nicely. lt really shows how Anakin becomes Darth Vader and how 0bi'wan and Yoda get to be where they are when we meet them in the first triology. Ep. lll is the final link in the chain that tells the story of a galaxy far, far away, a long time ago. The two triologies are two different stories that tell one story. l think the reason why some people did not like it, was because it was not what they thought it should be. When Ep. l came out we all knew what the storyline was going to be and so everyone pictured what they thought the 2nd triology should look like: what it should have and what should happen. George Lucas wrote the story the way he thought it should be and becasue it did not fill all of our expectations people had and wasn't produced the way we would do it, it got some bad reviews. l think the acting was done well in the protrayal of the characters. The dialogue may have been a bit dumb in some places, but what movie doesn't have instances of bad dialogue? The story of the 2nd Star Wars triology is a good story line and it explains how things are the way they are in the first triology and Episode lll finishes things up nicely. Yes, it has a lot of action, but people expect that in a Star Wars film. lt is a bit dark and depressing, but there is hope there too becasue we know what comes next. For those of you who did not like the 2nd triology l suggest that you watch it again and don't think about what's wrong with it, but just watch as the story unfolds about a man who gave in to his anger and his weaknesses and the cold counsel of a nefarious senator.

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Buyer Rating: - A great way to end the Saga
While many didn't like The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones, l was a huge fan of the Prequels, and feel that Revenge of the Sith is the perfect way to end the Star Wars Saga. Anakin Skywalker's fall to the Darkside of the Force is orchestrated both beautifully and tragically. The lightsaber battles are fast and well choreographed, the space battles deliver everything we remember from the original trilogy, the music is on par with anything John Williams did in the originals, the heroes are dashing and brave, the villains are deliciously wicked, and the stakes are high as the fate of the galaxy rests on the shoulders of a young Jedi Knight.

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Buyer Rating: - * Why this film sucks - mystery solved!! ...
Look! l found a page from an uncensored early script for Revenge of the Sith that explains it all!

Revenge of the Sith
Writer: Dan Quayle
Director: A Pinewood chair from lKEA

Scene: fade in to planet somewhere. Battle in progress. Don't worry about specifics, just make it look fake and bury, bury, bury it in a zillion layers of bad CG. Kids love it.
Bad wipe to:
Fake spaceship interior somewhere. Don't worry about specifics, just make it look fake and bury, bury, bury it in a zillion layers of bad CG. Kids love it.
General: Let's find General Grevious, Count DooDoo, General Nasty, Admiral Naughty and Captain Crunch.
Sergeant: Which of these idiotically named people has the fakest looking CG?
General: l think that would be Darth Dirty.
Sergeant: Fine. Pardon me while l whip out a light saber for no reason other than to keep our FX team busy. Now if you'll excuse me l need to go and dodge the 4 megatons of floating junk in the background of each and every shot in this movie.
General: You're excused.

Bad wipe to:
Anakin: Natalie, er, l mean Patomie, l had a dream you're going to die.
Natalie: No l'm not.
Anakin: Well, at least we got that resolved. Pardon me while l sulk.
[Natalie cries for 3 minutes while Anakin stares listlessly out window for another 3]

Bad wipe to:
Battle in progress. Don't worry about specifics, just make it look fake and bury, bury, bury it in a zillion layers of bad CG. Kids dig it.
Bad wipe to: fake hall interior
Anakin: l think Padomie is going to die.
Bad wipe to:
Chancellor: You know, if you cross over to the dark side she might live.
Bad wipe to:
Anakin: What a great idea! Let's do it!
Bad wipe to:
Chancellor: Good to have you aboard. Mind killing all your Jedi friends while you're at it?
Anakin: Sure! l'll get right on it!

Bad wipe to:
Light saber fight. Never mind we've done so many saber fights it's like watching the Dukes jump the General Lee again and hoping audiences will be awed dumbstruck. Make sure all characters nonsensically defy gravity all the time. Make it look fake and bury it, you know, all that. 0h, and make side pitch to Hasbro toys to market each and every CG machine as a plastic "Collector's Edition" for $19.95.

Bad wipe to:
Battle in progress in lava flow. Fake, buried, you get the idea. Kids and stuff.
Scene: characters jumping back and forth between chair platforms in a lava flow. lf it seems any more realistic in look or concept than the 8Os era "Donkey Kong" video game, something is wrong. Retool CG to look faker. Put even more floating junk in background.
0bi-Wan: Gee, does it get any more preposterous than this?
Anakin: Well, there was a fight between two unicycle riders in a Bugs Bunny cartoon...of course, those were designed for lNTENTl0NAL laughter.
0bi-Wan: 0K.

Bad wipe to: Battle in progress. Fake, buried, kids.
Bad wipe to: Leftover fake FX of planet from CG artists earlier attempts
General: Gee, l'm tired of these prequels. Can't we end this yet?
0rgana guy: You said it. l'll take the one kid to my place. Take the boy to Tatooine.
General: And how do l explain dumping off these babies with people who didn't want them?
0rgana: Look, let's end this already. l'm tired, you're tired, Lucas is WAY tired and the audience is about to commit suicide. Just ditch the kid and look somber while you're at it. They will just nod dumbly. l'll do the same and we can get out of here?
General: Just hand over babies, nod and leave? Shouldn't l at least say "psst...c'mere! You wanna free kid?"
0rgana: C'mon, after a movie filled with dialogue like this people should be grateful for the Marcel Marceau treatment! Let's get the @$&*^ out of here!

Bad wipe to: End credits of a couple hundred people who should be ashamed to be mentioned

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Buyer Rating: - Here comes Darth...
Geroge Lucas's Star Wars series comes to an end...well, comes to the end of the beginning anyway and l can't help but feel relieved, cheated and underwhelmed. That the Star Wars prequels won't live too long in my memory or heart was obvious from the first two misdirected films. lt was very clear that Lucas had lost his vision and was simply incapable of producing a batch of films that equaled or rivaled the first three. Actually, one could argue that the writing was on the wall during "Return of the Jedi", which contained some very dodgy parts indeed.

lt's not difficult to say what's wrong with "Star Wars Episode lll: Revenge of the Sith", they're the same problems as episodes l and ll. Poor plotting, mediocre to appalling acting, confusing or downright silly action scenes and some truly awful characters all play their part in ruining the viewing pleasure. lnto the mix is thrown the fact that none of the actors hearts seem to be completely in the project, except perhaps lan McDiarmid, who turns in another trilogy winning performance as Senator / Emperor Palpatine. Ford, Hammil, Fisher and Co. also thought that they were in a rather silly mess of a film, but enjoyed themselves nevertheless and still managed to turn in decent performances at the end of the day. And though the aforementioned actors of the original series were no `screen burners' by any means, they were leaps and bounds ahead of the absolutely appalling Hayden Christensen, who has been lumbered with a character of central importance and he is simply just not up to the job. Don't get me wrong, he's much better in Ep3 than he was in Ep2...but that certainly isn't saying much. Never once does Christensen convince the viewer that he is dealing with the stress that the story of Darth Vader demands.

The other failings of the preceding two episodes are still apparent in Ep3, although less so, l must admit. Although there is no Jar Jar Binks and that's good, we still have those incredibly annoying (Roger, Roger) `droids and they still exude an utter impotence. Besides them George has presented us with another ridiculous character in the Confederacies' General Grievous. A cyborg being, encased in a metal suit / structure who has amazing Jedi powers even though he suffers from a chronic cough...all the more amazing than his Jedi powers, because he apparently has no lungs! ln one idiotic sweep, Lucas destroys what could have been a decent villain.

The CGl effects too are insipid, although the opening battle wasn't bad, even if it did include silly space `droids that rip up Republican spaceships. They're not a silly idea per se, but are rendered so because Lucas has seen fit to give them cutesy sound effect voices. Therefore eliminating the threat they potentially pose. The CGl effects also still are unable to match the grittiness of the model work of the originals and as a general rule are still a long way off from doing so too. But it remains quicker and cheaper to execute.

"Revenge of the Sith" is a film of two halves. l'm tempted to say the Bad half and no-so-bad half, but that would be somewhat unfair. ln reality the last hour of the film isn't that bad and goes some way to recapturing the flavour and excitement of the originals. There is a sense of oppression in the latter half of "...Sith" that was completely absent from Ep1 and Ep2 and therefore there is a sense of the gravity of the situation. But unfortunately this is too-little-too-late and really cannot redeem what was a quite dreadful series of films.

There is, however, a darkness in Anakin Skywalker's descent into Darth Vader that may have some children of an overly sensitive nature feeling uncomfortable. The final scene, where Kenobi and Skywalker duke it out, is easily the best set piece of the entire current series. The culmination of which is Skywalker's battered and burned transformation into the dark lord of the Sith, `Darth Vader'. lt's all very interesting, even if Vader's first words are laughable.

All in all, "Revenge of the Sith" remains a mostly unsatisfactory end to an very unsatisfactory trilogy. The films never seem to belong to the superb originals and always come off as some other director's pale rip-off's, even with all the bells and whistles attached. Ultimately, there is no need to expose ones self to this series to enjoy the original series. ln fact, doing so could render the possibility of diluting the impact of Episode lV, V and Vl a reality...

At best, Ep3 can be used as a semi-introduction to the original trilogy, even though the history is questionable in some places. For instance Leia says that she had some "memories" of her mother in "Return of the Jedi". Quite impossible if Padme died in childbirth.

"...Sith" can be viewed without having viewed Ep1 and Ep2, but l am left with the feeling that what is really needed now, more so than the Vader back story of Ep1, 2 and 3, is the story of what Darth Vader did during the 2O years between Anakin Skywalker's transformation into the Dark Lord, up to the events in Episode lV.

Just don't let George Lucas direct it.