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List Price: $19.98 | | Label: 20th Century Fox
Salesrank: 2944
Released: November 1, 2005 |
| Our Price: $7.92 |
| Used Price: $2.91 |
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MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
The Star Wars saga is now complete on DVD with Episode III REVENGE OF THE SITH. Torn between loyalty to his mentor Obi-Wan Kenobi and the seductive powers of the Sith Anakin Skywalker ultimately turns his back on the Jedi thus completing his journey to the dark side and his transformation into Darth Vader. Experience the breathtaking scope of the final chapter in spectacular clarity and relive all the epic battles including the final climactic lightsaber duel between Anakin and Obi-Wan.System Requirements:Starring: Ewan McGregor Natalie Portman Hayden Christensen Ian McDiarmid Samuel L. Jackson Christopher Lee Directed By: George Lucas Running Time: 140Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: SCI-FI/FANTASY Rating: PG-13 UPC: 024543212768 Manufacturer No: 2231276
Description of Star Wars - Episode III, Revenge of the Sith (Full Screen Edition):
Ending the most popular film epic in history, Star Wars: Episode III, Revenge of the Sith is an exciting, uneven, but ultimately satisfying journey. Picking up the action from Episode II, Attack of the Clones as well as the animated Clone Wars series, Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) and his apprentice, Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen), pursue General Grievous into space after the droid kidnapped Supreme Chancellor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid).
The Star Wars Family Tree (click for larger image) |
It's just the latest maneuver in the ongoing Clone Wars between the Republic and the Separatist forces led by former Jedi turned Sith Lord Count Dooku (Christopher Lee). On another front, Master Yoda (voiced by Frank Oz) leads the Republic's clone troops against a droid attack on the Wookiee homeworld of Kashyyyk. All this is in the first half of Episode III, which feels a lot like Episodes I and II. That means spectacular scenery, dazzling dogfights in space, a new fearsome villain (the CGI-created Grievous can't match up to either Darth Maul or the original Darth Vader, though), lightsaber duels, groan-worthy romantic dialogue, goofy humor (but at least it's left to the droids instead of Jar-Jar Binks), and hordes of faceless clone troopers fighting hordes of faceless battle droids. But then it all changes.
Star Wars Time Line (click for larger image) |
After setting up characters and situations for the first two and a half movies, Episode III finally comes to life. The Sith Lord in hiding unleashes his long-simmering plot to take over the Republic, and an integral part of that plan is to turn Anakin away from the Jedi and toward the Dark Side of the Force. Unless you've been living under a rock the last 10 years, you know that Anakin will transform into the dreaded Darth Vader and face an ultimate showdown with his mentor, but that doesn't matter. In fact, a great part of the fun is knowing where things will wind up but finding out how they'll get there. The end of this prequel trilogy also should inspire fans to want to see the original movies again, but this time not out of frustration at the new ones. Rather, because Episode III is a beginning as well as an end, it will trigger fond memories as it ties up threads to the originals in tidy little ways. But best of all, it seems like for the first time we actually care about what happens and who it happens to.
Episode III is easily the best of the new trilogy--OK, so that's not saying much, but it might even jockey for third place among the six Star Wars films. It's also the first one to be rated PG-13 for the intense battles and darker plot. It was probably impossible to live up to the decades' worth of pent-up hype George Lucas faced for the Star Wars prequel trilogy (and he tried to lower it with the first two movies), but Episode III makes us once again glad to be "a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away." --David Horiuchi
DVD features
Say what you will about the new Star Wars films--and plenty has been said already--but the DVDs continue to set the standard for technical excellence. From the opening of the first scene, the Dolby 5.1 EX sound is thrilling, and the picture, transferred directly from the digital source, is fantastic. A commentary track is again provided by a combination of people, including George Lucas, producer Rick McCallum, animation director Rob Coleman, and ILM visual effects supervisors John Knoll and Roger Guyett. Lucas admits that the film is political and that he was influenced by Vietnam, but makes no mention of the Bush administration, as is widely speculated.
The main documentary on the second disc is probably the most granular DVD feature ever. "Within a Minute: The Making of Episode III" takes 67 minutes to deconstruct one minute of the film, an excerpt of the duel on Mustafar. The idea is to cover all the aspects that go into creating that minute, from writing to set construction to accounting. Fortunately, many of the concepts such as costumes apply to the movie as a whole, but having producer Rick McCallum tell us the importance of food seems a bit overkill. Two other featurettes are "It's All for Real: The Stunts of Episode III," an 11-minute discussion focusing mainly on the lightsaber duels, and "The Chosen One," a 14-minute examination of Darth Vader's evolution over the six films.
The six deleted scenes were no great loss from the film but are all worth watching. Natalie Portman in particular gets some much-needed screen time as one of the co-plotters of an anti-Palpatine movement, and an early action scene ties in to the Clone Wars animated series. There's also a 15-part series of 5 to 7 minute Web documentaries on topics such as the creation of General Grievous and Ewan McGregor, and an Xbox sampler of Battlefront II (if you're lucky, you can play as Obi-Wan Kenobi cutting through an army of droids) among other supplements. --David Horiuchi
The Complete Star Wars Saga
Episodes 4-6 Trilogy (widescreen) | 
Episode I: The Phantom Menace | 
Episde II: Attack of the Clones |
Star Wars: Clone Wars Vol. 1 | 
Star Wars: Clone Wars Vol. 2 | 
The Star Wars Store |
Stills from Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (click for larger images)
Anakin turning to the dark side |
When Wookiees attack |
Yoda, Jedi master |
Mr. and Mrs. Vader |
Saber training with Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen |
The cast |
Star Wars - Episode III, Revenge of the Sith (Full Screen Edition) Reviews:
"You were sent to destroy the Sith, not join them!" 
2008-09-28 - So the time has come that I review "Revenge of the Sith." As those who have read my reviews for Episodes I and II will know, I do not have much sympathy for the people who continue to claim that these three films have wrecked their lives forever. What life is this that you ever had, Universal 1-Star reviewer, if a few movies you didn't like devestated you THAT much? "George Lucas raped my childhood". Get real... or at least get therapy.
Alright, so George Lucas is a much more creative--and, in all likelyhood, much more intelligent--person than these one-star reviwers who somehow seem to think that they could do what he's done better than he's done, but even HE was facing a tall order in delivering "Star Wars-- Episode III: Revenge of the Sith" to viewers successfuly. Not only was he looking at a fanbase in which many had completely lost faith in him after the previous two films, but he was also releasing a climactic story that brought with it close to thirty years of hype and expectation. (Of course his job was theoretically made somewhat easier in that all the fans who were THAT disatsified with the first two prequels should have learned to lower their expecations by the time the third one came along. In practice, however, some things simply never change.) Nonetheless, against the odds of ever satisfying these people, some of whom literally wanted him in court for the supposed rape of their childhood memories, George Lucas resolved to finish his great life's work... and "Revenge of the Sith" is the final result of that resolve.
As the film opens, it is made clear that the Clone War, which started in the previous segment of the series, are still very much in full swing after of the passage of three whole years. The Seperatists, led by Jedi-turned-Sith Count Dooku (Christopher Lee), aided by General Grievous of the battle droid army (an ILM creation voiced by sound editor Matt Wood), have landed the most devestating blow as yet to the Republic by kidnapping Supreme Chanellor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid.) The first 20-25 minute portion of the film deals with the rescue mission headed by Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor), and Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen), who is now a full Jedi Knight rather than an apprentice. They are now fast friends with a good history of great comradship throughout the war.
While Palpatine is eventually rescued by the Jedi--and Count Dooku ends up removed from the picture swiftly--General Grievous has escaped once again, and so, says Palpatine, the war must continue until he is captured. Meanwhile, Anakin's secret wife, Padme Amidala (Natalie Portman) has gotten pregnant; but good news turns sour when Anakin has what he believes is a prophetic dream of Padme dying in childbirth. He has good reason to suspect that this dream represents an event that will come to pass, as he had a similar experience with his mother several years previously. Simaltaneously, Obi-Wan is sent, based on received intelligence, to get rid of Grievous, who is hiding on a distant planet, once and for all, and Yoda goes to Kashykk, the Wookie planet, to lead another battle, so Anakin gets left alone with Chancellor Palpatine to battle his conflicting emotions and desires. Without divulging any excess information, it is from this point on that the real story, twisted and twisiting, begins.
I cannot emphasize enough that this film, in its every element, dwarfs its predecessors. The space battle that opens the film, through which Anakin and Obi-Wan force their way to rescue the Chancellor, is the gigantic and exciting space battle in the entire series, rivaled in thrills only by the final battle from "Return of the Jedi." And fittingly so: this is the final space battle we are very likely to see in this series. Some have complained about the CGI use, but A)It looks GREAT, completely realistic and B) the battle itself is so exciting and invigorating that one hardly thinks to imagine how it was created while it's happening. (Plainly, I've never understood how CG can bother anyone as much as it has some. It could have something to do with growing up in the '90s and early 2000s, but I don't get what annoys people so much about CGI versus puppets. The Coruscant interiors are often breath-taking, and I don't know anyone can deny that the 2005 digital Yoda isn't WAY more realstic looking than his puppet form. OK, he needed a little more work in 2002, but I'm hardly complaining since he looks so *real* in 2005 that I could reach through the screen and touch him.)
As great as the opening space fight is, the lightsaber battles are even better. In spite of the fact that most of his fight work was done by a double, Christopher Lee commands incredible presence in his one scene as Dooku. It's also a great three way fight, with a lot of clashing swords, tension, and at least one brilliant piece of dialogue delivery from Lee. The ending also puts to shame much of what came before (hint: the long trail of severed body parts throughout this series is taken to a whole new level with a beheading. Like producer Rick McCallum, I greatly appreciate that Lucas had the courage to put this moment in the film.) There are four other saber fights in the film. Of them, Grievous' fight with Obi-Wan is the most fun purely in the sense of great action. Grevious isn't Darth Maul, but it is extremley cool that he fights with four lightsabers at once, and, for that matter, that he is in fact a gravely injured human being cobbled together in a manner similar to Darth Vader. Add to this the resourcefulness of Obi-Wan--who, at one point, can be seen landing Grevious a good blow or two with an Electro-Staff, possibly the *coolest* weapon introduced to Star Wars since the saber itself--and you have a more-than-worthy action sequence before you.
Oustide of this, it really is hard to decide on a favorite lightsaber duel in this film. Mace Vs. Darth Sideous allows Sam Jackson one more opportunity to be the baddest purple lazer-wielding Jedi in the galaxy, and shows of Ian McDiarmid's acting skills superbly, winding up one of the most exciting sequences in the whole series. But I really have to give the props to intercut face-offs of Darth Sideous and Yoda, and Obi-Wan and Darth Vader. I seem to remember reading some criticism around the time of the film's release about the decision to have Sideous and Yoda's duel placed directly alongside Anakin and Obi-Wan's, but from the moment it began, I thought it was a brilliant sequence: at the same moment in time as two friends turned bitter enemies are fighting each other, the ultimate forces of Good and Evil in the Galaxy are facing off. It's a superb idea... and it looks great, too! Not only do we have the two greatest and most epic sword fights in the series, but there is a visually amazing segment in which Sideous begins hurling objects in the Senate room at Yoda; this is worth seeing not only for the incredible tenson and the struggle for domination between these two characters, but also because Ian McDiarmid hams it up deliciously opposite his "little green friend" in shot after shot. He's like a kid playing with a new toy--and that approach could not be more appropriate than it is. Tiny Yoda is, at times, like a toy in Sideous' palm.
So the action is great, but what about the other elements? As I keep saying, this movie completely dwarfs its predecessors in all areas. Ian McDiarmid, in the role of Darth Sideous, is likely to be the first actor to jump out at you as being absolutely brilliant. McDiarmid is a Royal Shakespeare Theatre actor, and he performs with all of the excellence associated with such qualifications. While he eminates the role of a ruthless villain in some scenes, perhaps his greatest triumph is the scene at the opera (not kidding-- a scene in a Star Wars movie that takes place at an opera) where he begins to cajole Anakin into joining him with the implicit promise that he can teach Anakin how to save Padme from certain death. Apparently, McDiarmid's unusual, crackling tone has more to do with a soar throat than anything else, but either way it enhances an already excellent scene. Elsewhere, he slips chillingly back into his Emperor voice (to wit: "I can FEEL it.")
I am confident that almost every reviewer who posted here with praises extoled Ewan McGregor's excellent take on a younger Obi-Wan. His range--from silly, completely over-the-top humor, right to utter pain and disapointment--has to be seen to be believed. It is that brilliant and moving a performance. He is certainly one of the greatest young acting talents we have today-- even if just for his uncanny ability to chanel Sir Alec Guiness' role minus 20-30 years near PERFECTLY. Elsewhere, Frank Oz manages to leave the viewer wondering that he has never broken into an acting beyond all those muppets; his voice performance is stirring and, again, dwarfs what he has done in past installments of this series. Samuel L. Jackson shifts admirably between his stoic and battle-ready sides. While he actually gets to *act* MUCH more in this installment, he is not as memorable as in Ep. II. He shows off his range at times, but he doesn't have the opportunities, as in previous pictures, to reveal his personality, and that's part of being in a *series* of movies: you're probably going to be more memorable when you first revealing your personality than later on when everything has been established.
Natalie Portman has surprisngly little to do, all things considered, but makes the viewer feel her character's emotions with all the necessary weight. She really nails her last scene with Anakin, especially considering the wordy dialogue, and the scene in which she and Anakin are staring out of their windows, looking in each other's direction, says it all with no words and a lot of artistic excellence from all involved.
Hayden Christensen. Hayden, Hayden, Hayden. It's hard for me to believe that so many can absolutely cruficy him for his work in this series. To some, he will be forever "wooden"-- if these people were to ever admit otherwise, they would lose their pride, it seems. The truth is, however, that, perfect or not, he nails the role of someone who, blinded by and consumed with power and greed, turns against his friends, against the principles he has lived for his entire life, and is brimming with an agony of conflict that eventually must overflow. From tender scenes of love to thunderous outbursts of anger and darkness, he rarely misses a beat. It's hard to believe that anyone could wood behind any of his work in this film. He improved greatly from Attack of the Clones (where, again, he seldom missed a note where it counted), and is now able to play a completely three-dimensional, inherently tragic figure. Kudos to him! He has an uncanny ability to role off virtually the most flourid lines Lucas can conncot for his character.
Elsewhere, some say the film was predictible... DUH! We've already seen parts 4-6, so we know what has to happen, at least at the most basic level. It's predictible for us, but it wouldn't be for someone coming to the series with no prior exposure generations from now, beginning logically at the point of Episode *1*. The bottom line is that it simply isn't fair to hold predictibility against this or any of the Star Wars prequels. For today's audiences, it was an inherent problem. However, George Lucas is a great storyteller, so he was able to overcome this. The storyline of this movie is strong-- it keeps suspense going, and is well-paced and believable within the context of the Star Wars world. The characters are well-drawn, with strong motiviations for their actions; what, other than the unmatched power of love, is likely to turn one to the ever-present Dark Side of the Force? Ultimately, this whole series is a masterwork of storytelling, whatever else it may or may not be.
"Revenge of the Sith" certainly has imperfections. The acting isn't perfect, the dialogue still triggers a shake of the head from time to time, but it is a wonderful and tragic film taken in total.
W.O.
My Favorite but not the best Star Wars
2008-09-25 - I loved this movie so much I saw it in the theater 5 times. It is action packed and has great visual effects but the script and acting but Vader wans't the best. Oh well, the ending was cool...
loved this movie
2008-09-24 - loved this movie from start to finish.nothing about this movie i did not like and no part of the movie i did not like great movie and so was the first movie but i do not know what happened to the second ond that one was completely off the chart dead.
Payback, and about time 
2008-09-19 - Okay, here we go: you waited patiently for Episode I and felt let down. Episode II was an outright betrayal. There's something left here in this franchise, right?
There is a heartbeat here. If you can hear it through the clutter of Jedi Counsel del iberations, Mace Windoo doing his haughty strutting thing, and ignore the Chase of General Emphysema On a Lizard thing, you can watch and enjoy this movie. Hey. I'm here to help.
We all wanted to see Yoda and Obi Wan do that fighter pilot thing, and here we finally do. The filmmakers owed us, big time, for the wretched Yoda performance of Episode II ("Dawson's Creek in Space"), which looked like it had been choreographed by the same guys who did "Xena: Warrior Princess" and shot by a team of CG artists instead of photographers. Hence, the camera work and fight choreography are vastly improved over Episode II.
The plot is still loopy and ridiculous. (In a cut scene, we see that Padme took part in a high school Model UN to prepare her for her role as elected Queen. Yes. Really.) Never mind that. We want to see how Anakin became Darth, and that's saved for the Last Battle. Aside from the fact that Padme tells Anakin "I don't know you anymore," (WHAT?!), the battle is epic, sweeping, well choreographed, scored, and cut, it pays off big at the end and you get to see Anakin fully transformed into the bloodless and wrathful Darth. (Although he does yell "Noooooooo", which subtracts somewhat.)
Lucas tried to wrap up a lot of things here, and there are a lot of skeins left lying around and aren't really tied up. Leah goes to live on Alderaan (we knew it as her adopted world) and Luke is busted back to Tatooine. Obi Wan goes there, too, to "look after" Luke from afar. In a bizarre moment, Yoda gives Obi Wan a calling card so he can hook up with Qui Gon. Okay, it's more like meditation, but does that make it better?
Episode II left all us True Believers in a trance and desperate to salvage anything from the series gone amok. Lucas finally put out a movie without romantic interludes, some real drama, and without too much absurd racist stereotypes. This is as good as it gets, kids. I for one was glad to eat up.
The fans have it wrong!
2008-09-05 - The other reviews are longer to read than the movie itself! The fact is, all six films are wonderful! If Lucas had filmed in order part one, two, three, four, etc. We as an audience wouldn't have cared by part five and the better fims would have been lost forever, selling nothing! But since Lucas filmed 4,5,6, and then returned to 1,2,and 3, focusing more on special effects, he kept his fans far more interested and sold millions, possibly billions!
Lucas is a genius! I loved the Phantom Menace! It is a cool name and wonderful movie. Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith just got better and better!
You love these movies! Go on admit it! You can keep complaining but you're not fooling anyone!
