Review of Star Wars Episode III Revenge Of The Sith

Introduction

I was one of the original Star Wars geeks. I picked up on the first movie when it premiered in the US, and was hopping up and down eagerly to see it when it opened in the UK. I followed the adventures of Luke Skywalker for the next six years and three films.

When the movies came out on videotape, I bought them. Star Wars was my first purchased VHS. I bought the Special Editions and I waited and waited for the release of the Trilogy on DVD. I picked up the prequels as well, in spite of Jar Jar Binkks, and sure enough when Revenge of the Sith came out, I had that on preorder.

The circle is now complete.

I`d love to be able to say I was gripped by the movie the way I was gripped by the original Star Wars, but I wasn`t. I so wanted to be transfixed by this movie, to be transported back to being a fourteen-year-old with a bad case of the "wow"s seeing the Death Star come apart at the seams, cheering at Han Solo`s rebel yell as the Millenium Falcon comes hurtling out of the sun. "You`re all clear, kid, now let`s blow this thing and go home!"

But Sith doesn`t do that for me. Visually, it`s stunning. The effects are nothing short of eye-popping. In fact some effects are too eye-popping as the camera moves are way too kinetic for comfort. They`re aimed at adolescent Playstation users, not old fogeys like me. What upsets me about Sith is that it doesn`t engage me. It`s soulless. I should give more than a Womp-rat`s ass about Anakin and Padme, but I don`t. What happens to them should be a three-hankie weepie, but we`re short-changed by the lack of warmth and humanity in the characters.

Frequently I got the feeling that George Lucas was over-egging the story, throwing in "cool" ideas on a whim.

The worst short-fall in the adventure is the sequence leading to Anakin`s transformation into ol` buckethead. Dramatically it has all the impact of the Black Knight sequence in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, where it should by grim and really nasty. I`d go into further details, but the spoilerphobic might get annoyed.

On the up side, the film neatly ties together the prequels and the original trilogy. George Lucas can be proud of his achievement that he has created an epic saga for the 21st Century.

Video

Shot in high-definition 2.35:1 video rather than on film, Sith is flawlessly rendered from the master files direct to DVD, so the movie looks as good as it can do. As I`ve said earlier, the images are positively eye-popping.

Audio

The sound comes in Dolby Digital 5.1 EX and vanilla 2.0 surround. John Williams` fantastic score battles Ben Burtt`s earsplitting sound effects and ultimately wins. If I have one criticism of the soundtrack, it is the cutting of the wonderfully bombastic "Throne Room" cue recorded for the film and included in the soundtrack album but deleted for timing.

Features

On the first disc you get an Audio Commentary by George Lucas, Rick McCallum, Rob Coleman, John Knoll and Roger Guyett. This can also be accessed as subtitles while watching the film proper.

The second disc contains all the juicy extras. There are six deleted scenes specially completed for the disc and introduced by George Lucas and Rick McCallum. A feature-length documentary "Within A Minute" takes a tour of all the production departments analysing their roles in the creation of the epic "Mustafar Duel" sequence. (Did George Lucas wake up one morning thinking "We Mustafar Duel somewhere in this movie"?) The Chosen One is a featurette taking an inside look at the tragedy of Anakin Skywalker (a subtitle to the saga) as he becomes Darth Vader. It`s All For Real is a third featurette detailing the stunt work and physical preparation of the actors for the action sequences.

The Sith web documentary collection is included on the disc as is the music video `A Hero Falls` featuring John Williams `Battle Of The Heroes` track. There are all the Theatrical, Teaser and Launch Trailers and 15 TV Spots. You may get fed up of hearing "Lord Vader?" "My Master?" "Riiiiise!"

Art and photo galleries complete the package.

Conclusion

I`m glad I`ve seen the movie, and delighted I`ve completed the hexalogy, but ultimately I`m disappointed in the finished product. George Lucas promised something that would please the fans but not necessarily mainstream audiences. Somewhere between making that statement and delivering the finished movie, he blinked. Star Wars is a cultural phenomenon and it will undoubtedly ride out any shortcomings in this chapter. Maybe George Lucas will start fiddling with the movie as he has the original Trilogy and some time we will get the emotionally charged ending this movie desperately needs.