There is a certain joy that one feels upon completing a task, especially if one can look back, see the ups and downs and realize that last note was a strong one. Last week I had the pleasure of hearing such a note. The final episode of the “Star Wars” saga, “Episode III: Revenge of the Sith,” is a fast-paced, palm-sweating, eyes-wide open, teeth-gnashing jump-start of a movie. You will love it.
Before we get to how George Lucas managed to turn his act around, let’s get something straight — I own no Star Wars costumes, and I can neither speak any of the movies’ languages nor tell you any tidbits outside of the actual movies. Read: I am no hard-core “Star Wars” fan. However,
“Revenge” is fun to watch at any level.
Preparing myself to see this flick was admittedly a challenge. I found Lucas’ last two prequels stiff, hollow and for the most part completely unwatchable (I never even saw “Episode II: Attack of the Clones” in the theater). With these films Lucas managed to dilute a thrilling fantasy action saga into a poorly acted middle school rendition of “Pride and Prejudice” set among the soporific political exploits of a democratic republic grinding through legislation.
Nevertheless, “Episode III” is probably the best “Star Wars” film since “The Empire Strikes Back.” There are no cute Ewoks, lame Jar Jar Binks (a brief non-speaking appearance) or long walks by the lake. The movie starts off with guns blazing — the opening battle is so dense it is literally hard to register the scope of all the different skirmishes — and it never really lets up. Yes, there are some stale acting moments, and yes, the crappy foam rubber Yoda puppet used 25 years ago still looks better than the slick new digital version about 70 percent of the time, but what sets this film apart from the other prequels is that the story overrides these flaws. You are so swept up in the character drama of Anakin Skywalker battling Obi-Wan Kenobi that in wondering what will happen next you have very little time to care about the realistic viscosity of the digital lava above which they float.
The movie also allows the
audience to derive a great deal of
satisfaction by forging the last missing link in the chain. As cool as the newest spaceships looked, seeing the massive wedge-like ships that defined the evil empire for me as a kid once again sent shivers down my spine. Considering the mass audience’s long history with these characters (I, for instance, first attended a “Star Wars” movie in utero 22 years ago), there is a lot of emotional momentum. When the familiar elements, characters, names and locales pop up, one cannot help but recall with delight their future significance to the story. Even the sets — such as the white cast-plastic hallway where audiences first laid eyes on Vader, which makes a re-appearance — are capable of this kind of appeal.
This sensation is heightened by the peaking character arc of Anakin Skywalker-Darth Vader. Hayden Christensen, who played Skywalker with an antsy obnoxiousness in “Episode II,” steps into the role with a newfound maturity, making his sinister performance convincingly creepy. I’m not going to touch much on story elements because although most audience members know who Skywalker will become, this movie delivers what has not been fleshed out in previous films: why and how Skywalker is seduced by the dark side.
The talk of evil and the dark side in the film is nothing to scoff at; this is the darkest “Star Wars” film ever. There’s murder, betrayal, beheading, killing children, lost limbs, disfiguring accidents, burnings and enough slashed bodies to rival “Kill Bill” (although the use of light sabers makes these deaths mercifully bloodless), all of which made this the first “Star Wars” film to receive a PG-13 rating. That said, it is less graphic than mentally disturbing. The movie doesn’t actually show a lot of these heinous acts, but cutting away at the last second can be just as bad.
Actual violence aside, Samuel L. Jackson, who I generally love for his acting and for just being an all-around badass, sticks out like a sore thumb in “Revenge” mostly because he plays Jedi Master Mace Windu like a badass who took a couple of Zen gardening classes at The Learning Annex. Ian McDiarmid, who plays the Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, steals almost every scene (quite possibly even the ones he is not in) as he subtly undermines the democratic ideals of the Republic with the “with us or against us” logic he passes onto Vader (a none-too-subtle dig at President Bush) and accusations of attempting to destroy the government while he himself destroys it.
These layers of complexity add new texture to the original trilogy and make the final episode one of the best of the series.

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