The release of episode three of the most popular saga of all-time was released ten years ago.
For some time, we have believed this to be the last Star Wars film to be released.
Despite the beginning being the weakest part of the film, it still manages become the strongest episode within the prequel trilogy by some distance.
The opening 20 minute action set-piece may have great visuals. But it has awful cheesy moments with amateur slap-stick comedy that does not give it a promising start by any means. Even the light-sabre battle between Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker and Count Dooku has awful dialogue and the on-looking Senator Palpatine makes unusual facial expressions that don't make sense of that character. There is a comedic sub-lot during the battle with R2-D2 and the battle droids. The voice of the battle droids have changed for the worst. It sounds like a bad children's cartoon on a Saturday morning. The comedy is un-watchable.
Thankfully, everything after that is a pretty solid and entertaining watch. The visuals are still good to watch, especially during the scenes at night. Ben Burtt's sound design remains of high-quality and will always gives us that childhood reminiscence of the original trilogy.
The addition of new villain General Grievous gives us something new. The design of the creature is great. His battle with Obi-Wan Kenobi is a strong part of the film I felt.
One great thing for the fans throughout is seeing everything slowly take shape that will eventually merge into the original trilogy seamlessly. I enjoyed seeing the gradual destruction of the Jedi's as I felt that that was well executed and I felt it to be a heart-breaking moment.
Being the big attraction was always going to be the final battle between Kenobi and Skywalker. The build-up is solidly executed and most of the light-sabre battle is great to watch except for a few unnecessary moves that were done just for show. One nice surprise was what video game fans called a 'boss battle'. The nice flow between both fights made for an exciting finale.
The performances were not exceptional, but luckily not terrible. Hayden Christiansen shows improvement from Attack Of The Clones, but is still nothing to shout about. His transformation into Darth Vadar is key to the success of this film and I feel it was done fairly well.
His talks with Palpatine were becoming quite dark, especially during one scene that felt really sinister. His eventual change into Darth Vadar is a well made scene in the final act and yet it still manages to ruin it with the unnecessary "noooooo!" moment.
Natalie Portman was quite unremarkable. However, there is a surprisingly good moment between hers and Christiansen's characters. Even though they are far apart, there is a wonderful scene that makes them feel connected.
Ewen McGregor was fine, but Ian McDairmid I felt started to falter. A lot of McDairmid's scenes felt awkward and yet he still has some strong scenes. The scene that uncovered Palpatine to be a Sith Lord felt uncomfortable to watch for the most part. McDairmid just can't do light-sabre skills and the execution of hiding that flaw is awkwardly done. Some parts had potential, but overall I was expected more for such an important scene.
One supporting role I managed to enjoy and that came from Jimmy Smits' performance as Senator Organa.
The big negatives are still the same ones from its predecessors. I still don't believe Anakin and Padme's love throughout. Every scene with them together looks forced and never seems believable. The dialogue has improved, but still has steady moments of down-grading the quality of everything else on screen.
Despite these films explaining the events before the original trilogy, they managed to rush a lot of important moments. Rushing important events from three films seems quite disappointing. I think extending events from Revenge Of The Sith into Attack Of The Clones would be a good idea, as it would also make episode two more enjoyable.
Seeing this makes you feel proud to be a Star Wars fan again and it gives some redemption to the prequel trilogy. It is helped by gradually hinting a references to the original trilogy. Some of it felt forced and unnecessary, but most of it was nice to eventually both trilogies merge into one saga.
The final act will be the most memorable part of this film. The way we see Anakin become Vadar and the birth of Luke and Leia happening at the same time felt as poetic as the choice for the final shot of this film.
The prequel trilogy may have a tough ride, but seeing this made us rememeber enough of why Star Wars is special.
Rating: 7/10
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