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Critics Consensus: With Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, George Lucas brings his second Star Wars trilogy to a suitably thrilling and often poignant -- if still a bit uneven -- conclusion.
Critic Consensus: With Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, George Lucas brings his second Star Wars trilogy to a suitably thrilling and often poignant -- if still a bit uneven -- conclusion.
View All Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith News
All Critics (290) | Top Critics (52) | Fresh (230) | Rotten (60) | DVD (20)
Say what you want about Lucas' one-take directing style, his over-reliance on blue screens or his cheesy tendency to reference himself, but his imagination is as fertile as ever.
[A] dramatically cogent and highly satisfying finale to the Star Wars saga.
Episode III mainly is what it is -- the climax of a sometimes grand adventure that's more than the sum of its parts, yet much less than it might have been.
A grave and vigorous popular entertainment, a picture that regains and sustains the filmic Force [Lucas] dreamed up a long time ago, in a movie industry that seems far, far away.
Lucas is a brilliant technician but a poor philosopher, and his lurchingly thought-out rendering of futuristic politics prevents the entire series from achieving the greatness to which it aspires.
.. even though Revenge is a better experience than Phantom Menace or Attack of the Clones, it doesn't add anything that satisfying or compelling to the big picture.
I really enjoyed watching Revenge of the Sith. It is a strong film with a strong story, great effects and much improved dialog.
Lucas controls himself, unlike in the previous prequels, and sticks to the most poignant issues, which makes the transition from Sith to A New Hope effortless.
Lucas is not a master of writing dialogue... but save for some exaggerated or somewhat absurd moments, "Revenge of the Sith" is a great "Star Wars" movie, a roller coaster of action and emotion. [Full review in Spanish]
Some of it is is truly, unmissably great. Some of it is hilariously awful, and some of it is awful enough to not even crawl up to the level of hilarity
The special effects, of course, are incomparably good and the digital photography achieves a dazzling clarity.
With a willingness to take the Star Wars saga to its necessary darkest direction, 'Sith' delivers an epic, masterful payoff to the prequels.
Revenge of the Sith is a dramatic improvement over Phantom and Attack of the Clones. The film deftly combines the fun of the original trilogy with a compelling, tragic storyline. It is at times a brilliant, moving piece of cinema due to the power of the story and Williams' emotional score. Where was this level of craftsmanship in Phantom and Attack of the Clones?
Super Reviewer
I feel that after being worn out from the previous two installments, "Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith" is kind of a breath of fresh air to all the fans and new-comers alike. It may still have horrible dialogue, especially in the romance portion of the film, but the visuals and the story far surpass anything and everything the previous two had to offer. George Lucas doesn't shove schlocky things down your throat this time around, in fact, he rather pays homage to the original film in many more ways than one. Through replicating visuals and referencing old dialogue, this film is much more enjoyable than the rest of this trilogy. It's not a great movie, but the last 30 minutes is great! I'm in a weird position to say that I liked this film, because I really did, but there are still annoying things throughout the film. Overall, it's a nice wrap-up that I have no problem watching this instalment
Revenge of the Sith is the last lap of the muddy track known as the Star wars prequels. The previous two installments had left so much to be desired that the bar was set very low when this film premiered over a decade ago. Ironically, this is the film that we knew most of the plot going in if you had seen the original Star Wars films. Would the film mimic what our minds had teased us with for the decades after the original trilogy ended? That was the biggest mystery of Episode III. The film is set five years after Attack of the Clones with Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan MacGregor) and Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christansen) are heroes of the Republic in their fight against the Separatists led by Count Dooku (Christopher Lee) and General Grievous. The film opens with them heroically saving Supreme Chancellor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) in an epic space battle that really does mesmerize as an opening scene, especially compared to the previous two films. The film then follows Anakin's fall from grace as he needs to protect his secret pregnant wife Padme (Natalie Portman) from the death he sees in his dreams. As with the previous two films, Revenge of the Sith falls victim to Lucas not being able to connect the dots of his story. Where this film differs from them is that the dots are bigger and fill a larger spectrum of the narrative, making it more tolerable to enjoy. There are still cringe worthy moments of acting that either pain you or make you chuckle inside, but there have been improvements. Sadly, this comes during the final piece of the saga that is in Lucas' hands. It's an action packed story with a dual finish that sets up everything that comes after it (while leaving plot holes that makes us wonder if George has even watched any of the original films since their release). It is a better film than the first two, but is it the equivalent to the original three? No, not really. It's more a nostalgia piece for those films as it bridges this vision to the original films three decades ago. Of course one has to wonder whether this film is better because we had such low expectations after getting burned the last two times. It's like a kid who is a straight D student scoring a B and being excited by it. Progress! Maybe there is hope, but this was the final film and we will never know if George Lucas found his way again. Of course this film is filled with CGI and it does distract from the story, but the audience has learned to block that out by now. The prequel trilogy does end on a high note... for the prequel trilogy. Revenge of the Sith serves as the bridge that brings everything together. It's not the sturdiest structure, but it does the job and keeps the audience enthralled during most of the film. An improvement, but far below what the audience would have expected in 1999. In 2005 the audiences is pleasantly surprised by the film, in a good way. A decent film, but not a good Star wars film.
five stars
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