Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005)

Reviewing this film seems beside the point. It's not a movie so much as it is the culmination of a marketing phenomenon designed to persuade us that three more Star Wars movies were just what the world needed. And, for about an hour, it feels like the cynical and soulless product that description would engender -- it's all flash and fire without any attempt at substance. Worse than that... the first half of this film is essentially a special-effects demo reel that includes recurring characters. But then, around the time Samuel L. Jackson finally gets to do a patented Samuel L. Badass Moment(tm), a curious thing happens: Ringmaster George Lucas slowly remembers that he's here to make an actual movie. So all the stuff that's been missing from the other pieces in the trilogy creeps in; the last half hour or so of this are probably about as close to narrative and emotional complexity as Lucas will ever get. I know I'm overrating this, but I've secretly been a Lucas apologist the whole time anyway (I even liked Episode I, remember). So there it is. I kinda liked it, it's done, let's all just move the fuck on.

Grade: B-