Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith

The last piece of the jigsaw finally arrives, and the problem is that it fits too snugly. Or should that be smugly? In fleshing out the reasons why Anakin Skywalker (Christensen) betrayed the Jedi code and went over to the Dark Side, George Lucas is somewhat stymied on the narrative front - everyone knows how the story must end - and so he puts considerable effort into making Revenge of the Sith a visual extravaganza. That this involves a whole slew of new technological innovations should surprise no one - after all, that's half the fun of a new Star Wars movie - but it's difficult to ignore the nagging feeling that this film represents one last milking of the cash cow. Certainly, little effort has gone into polishing the unforgivably clunky dialogue: "From my point of view," the corrupted Anakin informs Obi-Wan (McGregor) as the climax approaches, "the Jedi are evil." Lucas's scripts were never going to be regarded as Shakespearian tragedies, but seriously 'From my point of view'?

Fans of Star Wars as pure spectacle won't be disappointed by the energetic opening, which is as full of whizz-bang zooms and swoops as anything the franchise has offered to date. Unfortunately, it's all downhill from there on in: the performances are wooden (Christensen plays the personification of evil as a petulant brat with a bad case of pink-eye), the space-opera politics are hilariously po-faced, and made worse by the attempt to contemporise the democracy-by-any-means-necessary message, and the finale lacks any tension, as we know that all the characters involved must survive. Take it from an old ex-fan: this is cynical merchandising masquerading as entertainment.