iSphere

I'll admit it right here and now; I am not a big Star Wars fan. I am remotely interested in the subject and Episode III is the first Star Wars film I am seeing on the silver screen, so for those of you who are die hard fanatics this review maybe a little discomforting.

I went into see Star Wars with a mix of trepidation and a little tear in my eye. The world's most loved icons would forever disappear from the mainstream cinema with the end of this film, so as the last film I just had to go and see it. I came out very pleased.

Episode III is more or less a culmination of certain events all of which we know, so then some would ask what is the point in seeing it? Thats where Lucas' greatness as a director comes to the fore, in over 2hrs Episode III managed to hold my attention the whole way through, yet I knew the outcome - surely there must be something right in the movie!

But first, the bad. George Lucas is a terrible dialogue writer. The words he uses are extremely clunky, border on cheesy and have nothing epic about them. As the last Star Wars movie I was expecting some epic and memorable lines, all I got was boring dialogue. Secondly, Lucas isn't a great romantist. The scenes between Padme and Anakin seem as forced as ever and often border on farce. The subplot had to be there, so Portman had to act her part, if the subplot didn't have to be there, I'm sure the film would be much better without the romantic aspect.

Thinking about the above, it is often easy to forget the good, nay, great parts of the movie. I surely didn't. Lucas for all his flaws as a director (he can't get people to act, well ok, maybe as a piece of wood but thats about it) is an exceptionally good storyteller. Episode III is undoubtedly the most powerful film of all six on an emotional level. It pains me to say this as a Spielberg fan, but no-one not even Steven Spielberg can use CG to such a level that Lucas does and make it feel a part of the movie. Throughout the movie, I couldn't distinguish the difference between the CG lava, tie fighters, cities and so on from the faces of Ewan McGregor and Chirstopher Lee. Indeed this is the most advanced use of CG yet (yes better than Shrek and Finding Nemo) and its a most wonderful marriage of "old school" acting and new age tech.

Episode III also is beautiful to look at, the sunsets, the battle scenes, the airborne fights and so on are ridiculosuly crammed with detail and life - its in a word epic. Lucas also shows some maturity as a director with his superb decision in cutting the Anakin vs Obi Wan battle and Yoda vs Sith battle and intertwining them - a masterstroke.

Episode III wouldn't be half as good without the haunting score from John Williams - its nearly flawless. Mixing the best of the original trilogy and creating something with obvious dark undercurrents, the Episode III score is brilliant in every but one aspect: Williams has reverted to a modification of some of his Minority Report work which is plainly obvious, but this hardly detracts from what is John Williams' best score for a Star Wars film in quite a while.

I'm sure that in singing the praises of the film to such a degree some of you readers may think I'm a little carried away; I'm not the film is damn good (in the Star Wars Saga). Yet I couldn't help but wonder when the film finally finished that something wasn't quite right, this film is devoid of all logic, it is wildly wavering and at the same time terribly exciting - then it hit me it's a Star Wars film!

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