| Ending
the most popular film epic in history,
Star Wars: Episode III, Revenge of the
Sith is an exciting, uneven, but ultimately
satisfying journey. Picking up the action
from Episode
II, Attack of the Clones
as well as the animated Clone Wars series,
Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan
McGregor)
and his apprentice, Anakin Skywalker
(Hayden
Christensen),
pursue General Grievous into space after
the droid has kidnapped Supreme Chancellor
Palpatine (Ian
McDiarmid).
It'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).
On another front, Master Yoda (voiced
by Frank
Oz)
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 III, which feels a lot
like Episodes
I
and II. That means spectacular scenery,
dazzling dogfights in space, a new fearsome
villain (the CGI-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.
After
setting up characters and situations
for the first two and a half movies,
Episode III 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 10
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. In 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
III 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 III is easily the best of the
new trilogy--OK, so that's not saying
much, but it might even jockey for third
place among the six Star Wars films.
It's also the first one to be rated
PG-13 for the intense battles and darker
plot. It 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 III makes us
once again glad to be "a long time
ago, in a galaxy far, far away."
--David Horiuchi --This text refers
to the Theatrical Release edition.
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