This article was written for and was originally printed in the Manchester (UK)  magazine City Life - issue of Wednesday 18th May. It was posted on this website on Thursday 2nd June. Click here to find out about the magazine and order the latest edition.



NO MORE WARS

Revenge of the Sith proves a fitting conclusion to the movie serial of our times, says
 Neil Young


Star Wars Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (PG-12)
George Lucas, 2005, USA (140 mins). Hayden Christensen, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Ian McDiarmid.

"This is where the fun begins!" So says Anakin Skywalker (Christensen) to his mentor Obi-Wan Kenobi (McGregor) in Revenge of the Sith's first few minutes, the young Jedi hero piloting his spaceship into unimaginable dangers. As everybody with even a rough knowledge of the Star Wars mythology already knows, of course, the movie proves to be anything but fun for Anakin himself. Tormented by visions of his pregnant wife Padme (Portman) dying in childbirth, he's seduced by the Dark Side of the Force and switches allegiance to the devious Senator Palpatine (McDiarmid). Problems rapidly ensue, culminating in the mortally-wounded Skywalker's transformation into evil half-robot tyrant Darth Vader.

Reviewers don't normally give away a film's ending, of course, but if you're reading this review, it's odds-on you already know pretty much the whole plot, including which of the main characters bite the space-dust. So there's not a great deal of suspense involved. What matters is how writer-director-producer Lucas gets us from the end of Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) to the start of Episode IV - A New Hope (aka 1977's Star Wars) - bridging the two trilogies by finally filling in all the the hows and the whys.

He manages these crucial tasks pretty well - perhaps not surprising, since he's been working on this story for over three decades and now has both the kind of creative carte blanche and mastery of technological wizardry unprecedented in Hollywood history. But that was true with both Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) and Attack of the Clones, and what ropey duds they turned out to be, especially disappointing since we know Lucas is capable of something like greatness - 1974's American Graffiti.

Revenge of the Sith isn't in that kind of league, but it does (eventually) deliver that promised "fun" for the audience. Lucas certainly seems to have learned one heck of a lot from his recent mistakes and this time plays to his strengths - dialogue and comic 'relief' are therefore kept to a minimum, which means the dreaded Jar Jar Binks is seen but (pointedly) not heard.  Lucas has never been very comfortable dealing with actors, of course - especially top-drawer ones like McDiarmid, who barely breaks sweat while bossing the show. And so while Revenge of the Sith has a cast of thousands, most of these are either cannon-fodder androids (with comedy working-class American accents) or equally faceless clone-warriors.

Non-action sequences are economically brisk - to the point that the picture sometimes like an extravagant. lavishly illustrated, slightly incoherent summary of a much more complicated story. And in a way, that's exactly what Revenge of the Sith is - the full details to be provided via the ensuing books, DVDs and other spinoffs. Fans of the series will lap it all up, and while non-devotees may find the going tough in the choppy early stretches, Lucas really hits his stride in a second half that alternates between of slam-bang set-pieces and tearful emotional confrontations.

The highlights are the one-on-one lightsabre duels: Obi-Wan vs skeletal uber-droid General Grievous (voiced by Matthew Wood); Jedi-master Mace Windu (Samuel L Jackson) vs Palpatine; Palpatine vs Jedi-gnome Yoda (voiced by Frank Oz). But these are really only warm-ups for the big one: Obi-Wan vs Anakin on a vast river of volcanic lava, the scene upon which the the whole overblown saga pivots. The epic clash and its grisly aftermath prove well worth the wait. Even the most skeptical viewers may find themselves gripped and maybe even moved as our era's most successful pop-culture myth finally comes to an end after 28 long years and six long movies. As Yoda might put it: with Lucas, at last, the Force again is.

**** (out of 5)




The original Jigsaw Lounge review of this film can be found here