 Movie
Reviews
with Andy Gough
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (M)
Directed by George Lucas
 Jedi
Master Yoda - one mean green fighting machine...
One of my favourite childhood memories is going to the cinema with my dad at
the age of seven to see Star Wars. The Star Wars saga has been a huge cultural
phenomenon in my lifetime, and George Lucas and ILM have made incredible and influential
breakthroughs in filmmaking, cinema, and digital technology. With Revenge of the
Sith he's raised the bar once again.
In keeping with the 'family tradition' I took my mum with me to see the final
chapter, almost 30 years later, much to her initial reluctance. I had my reservations
about how she would receive it, knowing that it was going to be pretty dark and
potentially gory, but she came out of it as excited and in awe of the Lucas' magic
as I was. She made comment on a number of scenes that she had enjoyed and favourite
characters. Yoda is officially an all round favourite. And he kicks butt.
Although the two earlier prequels have drawn criticisms of Lucas' epic space-opera,
especially for 'wooden' performances, this one delivers. Big time. From the familiar
John Williams fanfare opening, this one is on the money. George has obviously
been listening to the criticisms and definitely pulls better, more convincing
performances from his cast, and with good reason. This is the one that answers
the questions we've been asking since 1977. Who is Darth Vader? Answer: George
W Bush. "You're either with me, or you are my enemy." Sound familiar?
Lucas, when he wrote the original Star Wars at the end of the Vietnam War,
wanted to explore the issue of how a democracy turns into a dictatorship. "The
parallels of what we did in Vietnam and Iraq are unbelievable," he told reporters
at Cannes. He also reckoned the US was in danger of losing its democratic
ideals, reflecting the theme in the movie. "I didn't think it was going to
get this close. I hope this doesn't come true in our country." Lucas also
pointed out "A lot of bad people think they are good people."
Not wanting to give away any plot spoilers, lets just say that George Lucas
has tied together all the loose threads nicely, and even though we know what happens
in the end already, it's still one hell of a ride and there are a few surprises
in store, even if you've been following all the pre-release hype. And you can
go home and watch A New Hope again in a whole new light.
There's talk of Lucas making a spin off TV series in the future, like he did
successfully with Young Indiana Jones. Just don't push it too far, George, like
the Star Trek franchise did with Enterprise, which has just finished production
in it's fourth year and ended the Trek franchise with a whimper, rather than a
bang.
So that's it. The end of an era. Closure. That's all folks, and what a ride
it's been. Don't despair, fellow Jedi - by the time you can re-watch all the films
in sequence, there will be the Revenge of the Sith DVD release with, no doubt,
a bonus special features disc loaded with extras.
Rating: 
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