Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith (12A)

Starring: Hayden Christensen, Natalie Portman, Ewan McGregor, Samuel L. Jackson, Ian McDiarmid, Frank Oz

Let me start by saying I am a huge Star Wars fan boy. I grew up with Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and the “fellowship” on the big screen. I read a number of the officially licensed Star Wars books (which are now wildly inaccurate), and always wanted Lucas to finish his trilogy of trilogies. Now the final piece of the first two trilogies is in place.

Going to see the “Revenge of the Sith” is like going to see Titanic, you all know how it’s going to end, the story is truly predictable, some of the lines are so cheesy it’s untrue, and some of the acting is wooden, but then that’s EXACTLY why you are going to sit there and love it. My instinct is to jump up and down on the seat and scream it’s brilliant like a petulant ten year old, but I have to give you an unbiased opinion and maybe in doing so, I am over critical.

As ever, the opening sequence grabs your attention, prepare yourself for a space battle scene that has been crying out to be made. What of the story itself? Well yes, we witness Anakins descent into the dark side of the force culminating in the ultimate betrayal. To achieve this the awesomely evil Chancellor/Emporer Palpatine (McDiarmid) plays on Anakin Skywalker’s (Christensen) fears of his wife (yes you heard right, wife), Padme (Portman), dieing in childbirth. Because Jedis aren’t allowed to know fear, anger, and love, and most certainly aren’t allowed to be married, this leaves him wildly open and vulnerable to the wonderfully manipulative Palpatine. All of this is made worse by the Jedi Council’s undisguised mistrust of the young Skywalker. Palpatines softly softly approach works wonders and we are treated to Lord Vader’s entrance towards the end of the film. That is all I’m going to tell you about the plot of the film, you probably know all of it, but just in case you don’t I wouldn’t want to spoil it for you.

I do find it disturbing that the Jedi’s are all knowing and powerful and yet don’t seem to have a clue that Palpatine is an extremely powerful Sith Lord, you would have thought one of them would have figured it out. And what of Padme? She started out as a strong willed leader, and yet here she is reduced to a weak character. On the plus side C3PO finally covers up, we see Jar Jar Binks and he doesn’t say a thing (YAY!), and Ewan McGregor does well as Kenobe with a convincing performance that will link quite nicely to the late Sir Alec Guinesses portrayal of the Jedi Master.

What about the special effects? As always Lucas demands the very best, and yet again Star Wars delivers on a grand scale. There have also been some refinements, for example, this time when Yoda rolls his sleeves up for some dirty work and engages in a fight you can actually see him trade blows, instead of the green blur that existed in his previous bouts.

The sound? Again, very good. Excellent accompanying music to help emphasise the mood but I was a little bit disappointed they hadn’t developed a ripping new sound effect such as the ones delivered by the weapons of Jango/Bobba Fett’s Slave 1. Still there was reprisal of the excellent "Duel of the Fates" track.

So you should you go and see it? …erm…yes. WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON’T HAVE YOUR TICKETS YET!! RUN YOU FOOL, RUN, GET THEM NOW!!

We would like to thank the Odeon Cinema at Freeman’s (Especially Sally) for allowing us the opportunity to review what will undoubtedly be the biggest box office hit this year.