Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith DVD Review:

War! The Republic is crumbling under attacks by the ruthless Sith Lord, Count Dooku. There are heroes on both sides. Evil is everywhere. In a stunning move, the fiendish droid leader, General Grievous, has swept into the Republic capital and kidnapped Chancellor Palpatine, leader of the Galactic Senate. As the Separatist Droid Army attempts to flee the besieged capital with their valuable hostage, two Jedi Knights lead a desperate mission to rescue the captive Chancellor...

After 28 years, George Lucas releases the final ‘Star Wars’ movie to complete his epic space saga but will this one finally appease the franchise’s loyal and fanatical fans?

With the previous films in the prequel trilogy receiving a mixed response from fans and critics alike, ‘Episode III’ had a lot riding it on and the good news is that it doesn’t disappoint. The third movie of the prequel trilogy always had a to do because so many things that we knew had to happen needed to occur in this final film and it had to link directly into ‘Episode IV – A New Hope’. This is the film that we had to see the fall of the Jedi and the rise of the Sith, as the Darkside of the Force descends over the Republic and the Galactic Empire is born.

The subject matter means that this is easily the darkest of the all six movies and the most bloody. With lightsaber battles aplenty and numerous stormtroopers, separatists and Jedi falling to their deaths, this is not a movie for the really young, especially when you find out how Anakin ends up in the Darth Vader suit. Fans will rejoice at this however as they have been crying out for George Lucas to show the true power of the darkside but this isn’t exactly family entertainment, like the other five films.

Fans of the other five movies should already know what is coming in this movie but you are riveting as the plot unfolds all the same. Where Lucas succeeds, as he did with the previous films in the prequel trilogy, is in depicting Palpatine rise to power and the way in which he manipulated the people around him to achieve this goal. This is the best part of the prequels and the storyline in ‘Revenge of the Sith’ lets you see all his plans come to fruition. It is the way that he pulls Anakin into the darkside that is so intriguing and heartbreaking. The hero of the first two film’s fall from grace is the driving force of the whole prequel trilogy but it is Palpatine that drives the entire process. This is Ian McDiarmid’s film and his performance as the Dark Lord of the Sith is one of the best in the entire saga.

With Ian McDiarmid driving the film, the rest of the actors have a lot to live up to. While his character maybe digital now, Frank Oz still brings Yoda to life via his vocal performance. Every time the Jedi Master appears on screen he grabs you attention and the combination of Oz and the fantastic digitally created character, we see Yoda as the character at his best. The responsibility of taking Anakin down the dark path falls on the shoulders of Hayden Christensen and he does a good job. Some argued that he doesn’t have the talent to deal with this dramatic transformation, especially after his mixed reception in ‘Episode II’ but he does raise his game to portray his character’s fall from grace. As Anakin turns to the darkside, we actually start to feel sorry for him after discovering his reasons for doing so and how he was manipulated by Palpatine. Equally strong is Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi who has grown in to the role over the three films. With the responsibility of bridging the gap between his and Alec Guinness’s performance in the original trilogy, McGregor brings honour and respect to the role, coming into his own when he discovers that Anakin has taken the dark path.

The rest of the cast is also good. Samuel L. Jackson is his usual super-cool self as Mace Windu, who enjoys an amazing lightsaber confrontation. Jimmy Smits gets a lot more screen time as Senator Bail Organa. Anthony Daniels does his best with C3-PO’s limited involvement and Temuera Morrison enjoys playing every Stormtrooper who takes his helmet off.

As with the first two movies, ‘Revenge of the Sith’ does have its bad points. Chief amongst is the appalling dialogue between Anakin and Padmé. It is so bad that is actually makes Natalie Portman look like a bad actress when we all know she definitely isn’t. Her limited role in the final film is made all the more poorer due to Lucas’s inability to write romantic dialogue. He should have asked Lawrence Kasdan, who he co-wrote ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ and ‘Return of the Jedi’ with, to help him with it and they could have recreated what they did with Han and Leia. General Grievous is a great character that is seriously underused. Despite his confrontation with the Jedi, he has very little character development other than what was set up in the ‘Clone Wars’ cartoon series and he doesn’t seem as deadly as he does in cartoon form. It would have also have been nice to have seen more of the Wookies, but this would have been a bit too similar to ‘Return of the Jedi’. The only other real problem is that Lucas seems to rush the end slightly, even though the movie does finish in a logical place. It would have been better so show more of the pivotal events of the finale as you do end up thinking, is that it.

Making up for these shortcomings are some of the best visuals to ever hit the series. The wizards at ILM have taken computer-generated images even further with this film. From the opening space battle to lava soaked confrontation in the finale, Star Wars or any other visual effects based film has never looked so good. This time around the CG characters are almost photo-realistic, with Yoda and General Grievous really standing out proving that with the right expertise and finance you can create digital characters that are just as real as the actors that provide their voices. The backgrounds and locations are also just as stunning.

‘Revenge of Sith’ is by far the best of the prequel trilogy and a return to the magic that drew you to that Galaxy far, far away in the first place. While ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ is still the best of the six movies, ‘Episode III’ comes a close second. Star Wars films are pure cinema and what going to the movies is all about. Pure escapism and always entertaining, the force is very strong with this film.

Star Rating = * * * * *

PICTURE & SOUND

Presented in Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1 with Dolby Digital 5.1 EX, the movie is THX enhanced which provides amazing picture and sound quality. The direct digital transfer means that Star Wars has never looked as good.

BONUS FEATURES

Disc1

Commentary by George Lucas, Rick McCallum, Rob Coleman, John Knoll and Roger Guyett
The writer/director, producer, animation director and the visual effects supervisors provide a technical but extremely interesting commentary that Star Wars fans will be intrigued by. While the track is intercut, with the contributors cutting in when either they have something to add about the scene or it is one that they had direct involvement in. The group talk about the how the whole Star Wars experience is drawn directly from the 1930s serial drama and how they wanted to complete the story and tie everything up. Lucas talks passionately about the story elements, discussing the end of the Clone War and then the fall of Anakin to the Darkside. He gives you a fascinating incite into the evolution of the story of this episode and how he came up with the backstory while writing Episode IV back in the early 70s. The technical team talk about creating the digital environments and the blending of old and new techniques used to bring the final Star Wars film to life. For Star Wars fans, this is a must listen to.

Disc 2

Deleted Scenes (14.40 mins)
Entitled ‘Grievous Slaughters a Jedi’, ‘A stirring in the Senate (Bail’s Office)’, ‘Seeds of Rebellion (Padme’s apartment), ‘Confronting the Chancellor (Palpatine’s Office)’, ‘A plot to destroy the Jedi’ and ‘Exiled to Dagobah’ each of these SFX completed deleted scenes are accompanied by introductions by George Lucas and producer Rick McCallum.

Within a Minute: The Making of Episode III (1hr 18.31 mins)
Scene 158 - ‘The Duel at Mustafar’, a scene that lasts just under a minute with 26 shots, 1185 frames is worked on by 910 artists for a total of 70441 man hours. In the third of the extensive documentaries that have accompanied the Star Wars Prequels on DVD, producer Rick McCallum introduces the cornucopia of departments that come together to produce just one scene. The documentary looks at concept design, pre-visualisation, costumes, the actors, the stunts, cinematography, sound recording, editing, ILM visual effects supervisors and the various departments such as 3D modelling, animation, digital environments, lighting and rendering, practical models, motion control, rotoscoping and compositing, sound design, the sound mix and the score. With contributions from writer/director George Lucas, Ewan McGregor, Hayden Christensen, composer John Williams, stunt coordinator Nick Gillard, editor/sound designer Ben Burtt, costume designer Trisha Biggar, visual effects supervisors John Knoll and Roger Guyett and many other contributions from the crew of ‘Episode III’. This is a fascinating documentary that reveals how many people actually work on a film of this scale and you can finally understand why movies cost so much.

It’s all for Real: The Stunts of Episode III (11.04 mins)
Writer/director George Lucas, producer Rick McCallum, sword master/stunt coordinator Nick Gillard and stars Ewan McGregor, Hayden Christensen and Ian McDiarmid talk about the extensive lightsabre fights in the final film of the prequel trilogy. We see both Hayden and Ewan practicing for the Mustafar confrontation, as well as Ian McDiarmid and Samuel L. Jackson preparing for the Palpatine vs. Mace Windu fight.

The Chosen One (14.39 mins)
George Lucas and Hayden Christensen talk about Anakin Skywalker’s fall to the darkside as he comes the most feared man in the galaxy Darth Vader. The pair talks about Anakin’s story and his redemption as the third movie reveal how Palpatine seduced him to the darkside.

Web Documentaries
Entitled ‘Two Worlds, One Movie’, ‘… One World, Two Movies’, ‘We still do a bit’, ‘Creating General Grievous’, ‘This Weapon is your life’, ‘Video Village’, ‘Epic Designs for an expanding Universe’, ‘C-3PO: His moment to shine’, ‘Pickups and Reshoots’, ‘Becoming Obi-Wan’, ‘The Wookies are back’, ‘B-107: The life of an HD Tape’, ‘The Creatures of Episode III’, ‘Endlessly Compelling: The Music of Episode III’ and ‘Becoming Sidious’, these are the mini-docs that were posted on the official Star Wars website. Covering most aspects of the films production, these are a must watch for any fan.

Trailers
Watch the ‘Nostalgia Teaser’, ‘Epic Trailer’, fifteen TV spots and the music video for ‘A Hero Falls’.

Video Games and Stills Gallery
Watch the trailers for LucasArts games ‘Star Wars Battlefront II’ and ‘Star Wars: Empire at War’. You can also play a demo of ‘Battlefront II’ if you place the DVD in you X-Box. Still Galleries include exclusive production images with accompanying text and poster and outdoor print campaigns.

DVD-ROM weblink
Place the DVD in your PC drive and you can access exclusive content on the Star Wars website.

OVERALL

As with the two previous Star Wars Prequel releases on DVD, LucasFilm has done an excellent job with the DVD transfer and the bonus features for the last movie in the franchise. The documentary is outstanding and the rest of the supplementary material covers most aspects of the films production. Add to this an excellent commentary track and you have a DVD package that fans should rejoice in, this is a must for all Star Wars fans



Jamie Kelwick