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Star Wars: Episode III – The Revenge of the Sith 2005 Starring Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Hayden Christensen, Ian McDiarmid, Samuel L. Jackson, Frank Oz (voice), Jimmy Smits and Christopher Lee. Written & Directed by George Lucas The anticipation for this film had been building from the moment I walked out of the cinema after watching ‘Attack of the Clones,’ so by the time I reached Lonsdale City, at a little after midnight, the excitement within me had almost reached bursting point. I waved my hand at the ticket-collector, Jedi-fashion, at the entrance to the screening room, but he told me: “Mind tricks don’t work on me, only money.” |
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I got away with the ‘joke’ though and raised a smile. It will be a different story, in a few weeks, when he’s been waved at a hundred times or more. With my girlfriend and older brother sitting beside me, we settled back into our seats and waited for the lights to fade… The rousing Star Wars anthem gives way to mayhem in the skies above Coruscant and you already know this film is special. The truly stunning special effects take your breath away as you roar in close to crippled and burning capital ships, bringing the same, stomach-punching sense of vertigo as Luke’s decent into the Death Star trench in Episode IV. The lightsaber battles eclipse even Darth Maul’s two-against-one bullying by Obi Wan and Qui Gon Ginn in Episode I… Anakin v Dooku—Obi Wan v Jedi-trained General Greivious and his FOUR lightsabres—Mace Windu v Senator Palpatine—Yoda v the Emperor—then the heart-breaking battle between Obi Wan and Anakin. Anakin’s fall to the Dark Side is twisted in turmoil and deceit, with Hayden Christensen putting in a superb, emotive performance as the troubled Jedi as he battles with his fears and paranoia. But I’m not a reviewer… and I don’t want to give the plot away (and there is a lot in the film which comes as a surprise, even for a die-hard). I’m a fan—and a proud one – and this is the film the REAL fans (not the whiney, Man United-supporting, turn-coat ilk) wanted from George Lucas as his goodbye to big-screen Star Wars. From the moment the curtains opened, until the credits had rolled and the theatre was empty, I was transfixed. This is the Star Wars film of all time. It knits together the plotlines between both trilogies—even though you may have to suspend your belief for everything to fit perfectly—and creates a sense of completeness which can be applied to all six movies. The underlying sadness that George Lucas’s story is now ‘over’ is compensated for by the excellence of this ‘final’ chapter. This is the film we were looking for… *heavy sigh* —Les Floyd |
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