Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith

The dark side of the Force suits it. Even so, I don’t think even retrospectively that it makes any more sense than the previous ones; quite the opposite, in the light (excuse me, “the darkness") of this episode I find that the absolute superfluousness of the saga becomes even more obvious. The imbalance in pace is a huge mistake. The first fifteen minutes involves a monumental battle, then we get a boring hour with starched amateur dramatic dialogs and then during the last hour it turns into a serious drama with convincing (as far as the Star Wars universe is concerned) characters. Too bad that the transformation of Anakin into Vader seems unbelievable and rushed. The idea that this mentally unstable character was in fact the embodiment of living charisma that we know from the original trilogy is ridiculous. The weaker moments are saved by the stylish over-acting of Ian McDiarmid. The greatest faux pas is that, although this was supposed to be emotionally tense due to the tragic context, sadly the opposite is true. While on screen we see something technically impressive, it leaves you absolutely cold. (20/05/2005)

Episode III ingeniously develops the conflict with the dark side of the Force and presents Anakin's entire transformation in a supremely realistic and believable way. Definitely the best installment of the new trilogy, and thankfully very close to the qualities of the original Star Wars. (30/11/2019)

Dramaturgically, it’s much more mature and immersive than the two previous episodes. It’s incredibly spectacular and dynamic in its individual attractions, which exquisitely heightens the atmosphere and, for the first time in the new trilogy, revels in fatality and visual darkness. While Lucas is absolutely incapable of any psychological level, and SW in his hands remains a cold showcase of intergalactic filmmaking possibilities and worlds, this instalment at least has the narrative balls and verve to make me gladly forgive him for the mechanical dialogue or the dull character shift by the awful Christensen. It's got major conflict, pivotal moments of the entire saga, and an ultra-cool Yoda and Obi-Wan whose separate story-arcs, capped by two parallel and iconic duels, I would sketch in the starry sky at night and always watch before falling asleep. The transition to A New Hope is finally completed, George Lucas, you have my respect... (28/12/2011)

When it came to the crucial part that was supposed to connect everything, it finally managed to tie in with the original trilogy in terms of the fourth and fifth installments. This is a stunningly dark conclusion to the new trilogy, so dark that it will chill you sometimes. Visually, it is magnificent, from the beginning, the duel with Grievous is one of my favorites, as well as Yoda's confrontation with Sidious (Yoda doesn't finish this fight) and Obi-Wan's with Vader. (22/03/2015)

The third episode, which is also the sixth one to be shot, makes its epic qualities really more than obvious. I feel that George Lucas told everyone that the first trilogy couldn’t be done in the 1970s, but he also did it on purpose so that the epicness of it could be built on the existing fame. Which actually, in the end, happened. I remember, that when I, back then, started with the newer trilogy, I was very uncertain after the second episode what would come in the third one. And the third one also started pretty slow. But the second half of the movie is, thankfully, a never-ending wipe-out that not only brings you the transformation of Anakin into Darth Vader, but there is also a solid amount of scenes some fans have been waiting for for 2 decades and which aren’t going to be forgotten easily. And that’s despite the fact that everybody even then knew very well what was going to happen and they still couldn’t help but feel the suspense that the third episode hides. For me a complete climax during which you need to wait out the first half-hour of political babbling so that you can enjoy the acting reincarnation of Hayden Christensen into one of the most powerful Sith Lord of that time. (06/11/2015)