Reviewer: wolvie-ware from London, Baby!
Let's, maybe, forget Episodes I and II. George Lucas should have started the prequel trilogy with this! All past sins are redeemed George - Even creating Jar Jar Binks!
Up there with the generally conceived best one of the lot, The Empire Strikes Back, Revenge of the Sith is a mouth watering prospect for any movie goer.
The birth of Darth Vader. That is what makes this film ESSENTIAL! And Hayden Christensen, slightly meek in Episode II, really proves to be inspired casting here. It's a shame that Natalie Portman is wasted (apart from one scene when she confronts anakin on Mustafar) with a tiny role, but Hayden's scenes opposite Ewan, especially the famed lightsaber fight to end all lightsaber fights, is astonishingly good.
This has got some of the most emotional scenes in the entire saga. Check out anakin's and Obi-wan's last conversation as friends; the emotion filled climax; and the dialogue free scene with anakin and padme looking out of windows, seemingly at each other, but it has so much meaning - this is when he chooses the Dark Side. It's haunting, epic and legendary.
This is what the Star wars story boils down to, what everyone has been waiting for, and it delivers in spades. Do we need to mention the special effects? Amazing as usual, particularly the opening space battle. Ewan is more at ease in his role, and seems genuinely having fun with his last foray into star was. Ian McDiarmid is all cakles and evil grins as the Emperor, finally coming into his own - and getting to grips with a lightsaber!
It ties up all loose ends, but there are a few niggles. General Grievous, although a brilliant character, was not really needed. Count Dooku was dispatched of far too early on. But in the end, you are just shocked at seeing what is up there on screen.
Afterwards, you have to watch the original trilogy. Just to see the man, who did so much wrong in his life, who had so much potential and blew it, finally redeem himself.