Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (PG-13)
Director: George Lucas
Starring: Ewan McGregor, Hayden Christensen, Natalie Portman, Ian McDiarmid, Samuel L. Jackson, Jimmy Smits, with Christopher Lee, and Frank Oz.

Droids. Aliens. Sith lords and lightsabers. For George Lucas, the saga is finally complete after 28 years. This is the film that fans have been waiting for, the episode where Anakin Skywalker finally transforms into Darth Vader. In my opinion, I liked Episode I despite the horrible acting by Jake Lloyd and the creation of Jar-Jar Binks. But I hated Episode II for its atrocious dialogue and even worse acting. Was Episode III able to whet my appetite for that long lost equal to the Empire Strikes Back?

I do not hate Star Wars but I do admire the way that it changed film history back in 1977. It made films great pieces of entertainment and the original trilogy (A New Hope, the Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi) were major accomplishments despite their flaws. The thing that I hate, and I mean really despise, is the horrible dialogue. Lucas couldn't write a decent novel if he wanted to. Or even a love letter. The vocabulary that he uses is what film critic Roger Ebert calls, "the most basic English." The words that were so memorable in the original trilogy (Empire, most of all) are nowhere to be found here. Most of the dialogue is irritating and at times unintentionally hilarious. The lines from Empire and A New Hope had a sort of eloquence that transcended the film. Another aspect I found extremely annoying is the story. The transformation of Anakin to Darth Vader is extremely quick and blunt. We never see Anakin have a sense of clarity which path he wants to follow. His character is always confused and troubled. We never see the evolution of his character, it is mostly one-dimensional.

Because of the horrible lines, the great actors here are pegged down to simply being mediocre. Academy award nominees Natalie Portman and Samuel L. Jackson are completely wasted in their roles. Hayden Christensen only glowers and screams when he turns to evil and Jimmy Smits is only there to pick up a paycheck with his monotone performance. The only two actors who completely do something with their characters are Ewan McGregor and Ian McDiarmid. McGregor is so good, in fact, a hint of Sir Alec Guinness can be seen within the role. Ian McDiarmid plays Chancellor Palpatine to absolute perfection. His snaky nature and poisonous lines are among the best in the film and McDiarmid brings a certain bravura to them no one else can.

Lucas has said that people will weep at the end of this episode. Yeah right. Maybe if you're a Star Wars geek. While I did not cry and while most of the dialogue is completely pathetic, there are scenes of tenderness, emotion, and power. On the flip side, one scene that is started with such bombast and great music ends so cheesily I wanted to laugh out loud in the theater.

I judged this film too early when I viewed some scenes from the workprint. The scenes I mentioned during an earlier post are much better at the theater. But still, the film left me feeling incomplete and unsatisfied but there are some scenes with such great emotion and power that they still have not left my mind.

And for that I give the film a grade of B-