Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith

The Clone wars have been raging for 3 years and show little sign of ending. The film opens with the rescue of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine (McDiarmid) from the separatist droid commander, General Grievous. Anakin (Christensen) and Obi-Wan Kenobi (McGregor) board Grievous's ship with the help of a little robot named R3. The rescue is a success, except that Grievous manages to escape at the last second. Reunited with his secret, and pregnant, wife Padme, Anakin suffers from reoccurring nightmares of her dying in childbirth. Fearing that these dreams are predictions of the future, Anakin becomes rife with worry and vows to do anything to protect Padme. Meanwhile, Palpatine is expressing great fondness for Anakin and wants to give him a secret assignment, while the Jedi council are suspicious of Palpatine and thus Anakin too. Caught between these two opposing sides and with the promise of a way to protect Padme, Anakin begins to follow the path of the Dark side.

Since this is Star Wars you can expect several things: Incredible special effects; A plot with more scope and events than you can fully grasp; Those side wipe edits which allow Lucas to put so much into so little time. However, Revenge of The Sith stands out among all of the others by being very dark. It contains a huge amount of death and suffering, but, although evil, Anakin suffers too and some moments are surprisingly cruel and a little disturbing. Anakin's descent to the Dark side is carefully portrayed, not rushed but adequately explained, and yet you cannot help but be surprised by the dark acts this once noble character commits.

Hayden Christensen's acting has improved a lot since Attack of The Clones, and Natalie Portman's character seems more complete than ever before. A fine supporting cast litters this film too, such as Christopher Lee, Samuel L. Jackson and Ian McDiarmid. The script does a great job of leading on to the other films, and really feels like the missing links connecting all six films.

Regardless of the acclaim of Star Wars overall, this film is superb in its own right.

Nick Grills