The Best of Times, the Worst of Times
Melancholy at the End of the Star Wars Saga

A chapter of my life came to a close this week as I watched the final installment in the Star Wars saga. Sure, I thought this moment had come once before, when I was 16 and saw the spirit of the redeemed Anakin Skywalker shimmer into the Ewok village at the end of Return of the Jedi. I never believed George Lucas would revive the series over a decade later. Now, with Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, the story of the rise and fall of Darth Vader is complete. This is the end.

While the first two prequel films met with fan and critic derision, I enjoyed them. Both gave me moments of nostalgic pleasure, even if each was flawed by politically-mired subplots and poor dialogue. Despite my personal belief that the new films did not always maintain the spirit of the originals, I still enjoyed them as an extension of the original trilogy. What I expected of Episode III was a continuation of the prequel formula: stunning visual effects, forced dialogue, manipulated emotional scenes, and dull subplots that would drag the story down. To my genuine surprise, Episode III surpassed all my expectations and gave me the movie I didn't dare hope for.

Revenge of the Sith begins some unspecified time after the end of Episode II – Attack of the Clones. While the army of the Republic (a vast army of cloned troopers) fights in a galactic war with the Separatist droid army, the Jedi are leading the "peacekeeping" forces. The action begins on Obi-Wan (Ewan McGregor) and his padwan learner Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) as they try to rescue Chancellor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid), who has been kidnapped by Separatist forces. The story starts with a bang and never slows down.

The film continues the Clone Wars, begun so spectacularly in Episode II and continued in the Cartoon Network micro-series Star Wars: Clone Wars. While Yoda leaves to assist the Wookies on their home planet of Kashyyyk, Obi-Wan tracks down a lead on the droid army's General Grevious. Anakin, left behind to stew in the political tension between the Senate and the Jedi Council, discovers that his secret marriage to Senator Padmé Amidala (Natalie Portman) is about to become more complicated because Padmé is pregnant. Like many concerned fathers-to-be, Anakin's reaction is conflicted and his joy seems forced.

As the Jedi Council extends its influence to the hot spots of military engagement, they must also do battle of a political nature on Coruscant. The Chancellor has extended his military powers, much to the concern of the Jedi. He has even appointed the hero of the hour, Anakin, to be his personal representative on the Council.

For Star Wars geeks like me, the real test of Revenge of the Sith was in its ability to grasp all the dangling loose ends that were necessary to tie together Episode III and the original Star Wars film (a.k.a. Episode IV – A New Hope). To do so, the film needed to answer some big questions including, "How did Anakin Skywalker become Darth Vader?" To my delight, the answer is not as simple as one might think. Like the best villains, Anakin doesn't see himself as evil or his choices as wrong. He merely makes choices based on his beliefs, flawed though they may be.

Anakin's descent into the Dark Side is truly compelling. There are many shocking moments along the way. The right choices he makes are sometimes as surprising as the wrong ones. As he slips further and further into his own obsession for power, he becomes a not a villain but a tragic hero. It is impossible to look on him as some faceless bad guy, and it is Obi-Wan's grief at his pupil's mistakes that made me want to cry.

While the special effects of Revenge of the Sith threaten to overwhelm the senses at times, it is a wonderful bit of eye candy. The battles – both in space and on the ground – are thrilling. The lightsaber duels are edge-of-your-seat intense. There are a number of new characters (and returning ones) brought to life through CGI, but it is Peter Mayhew's return as Chewbacca that gets the most smiles.

Parents have asked me if Episode III is too dark for children. That's something that I can't answer. For some kids, the science fiction setting makes the violence no more real than a cartoon or a video game. For others, the dark tone of the movie may be too frightening. There are two scenes in the film that were shocking to me, but both (in the context of the story) were necessary.

I don't know if I will ever accept the fact that the Star Wars saga is over. I know that it will live on in countless books, comics, and other movie tie-ins. There has even been talk from Lucas about a television series set between Episodes III and IV. Regardless, these six films are the only true stories because they came to life on the silver screen. These were the stories that fired the imagination of my youth and rekindled my youth as an adult.

MY RATING: 10 out of 10.

RATED: PG-13
RUN TIME: 140 min.