"A good film, but just not the classic it could have been." Edward Havens FILMJERK.COM "Goodbye, Star Wars, and thanks for everything. It's been a wonderful ride." Jeffrey Chen REELTALK MOVIE REVIEWS "Revenge of the Sith was the film that should have salvaged the prequels. It doesn’t." Devin Faraci CHUD "There will be so much hype driving this last episode that it's guaranteed to swamp everything at the box office in it's opening week. Once the feeling of nostalgia, euphoria and sentiment have worn off, I am sure that many cinemagoers will come to the conclussion that it wasn't much better than the last two episodes. Better, but not much better." Richard Surfield THE MOVIE PAGES "Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith ... is without doubt the best of the three most recent films. That's not exactly high praise..." James Verniere BOSTON HERALD

"Lucas manages to turn the audience's familiarity to his advantage: like a jigsaw puzzle whose final form has always been known, the fun is in discovering how the last pieces fit." David Ansen NEWSWEEK "Perhaps the Dark Side is stronger after all; it certainly makes the conclusion of this journey a memorable one." Rob Vaux FLIPSIDE MOVIE EMPORIUM "Mercifully, Revenge Of The Sith is (deep sigh) light-years ahead of the turgid Menace and the undercooked Clones." Colin Kennedy EMPIRE MAGAZINE UK "Oh my...it's not near as good as you may have heard." John Venable SUPERCALA.COM "The more casual fan may be left feeling like Revenge of the Sith scores a technical knockout rather than the real thing." Brent Simon NOW PLAYING MAGAZINE

The Inside Story

"For every thrilling space battle or lightsaber dual you get, you get two scenes with embarrassingly bad dialogue and line delivery." Stefan Halley HERO REALM

It's hard to imagine that the "Star Wars" journey which has taken many of us across two centuries, spanned nearly three decades in time and six episodes has finally [as we are led to believe] come to an inglorious end. What started off way back in 1977 as a wonderful piece of film-making, orchestration, characterisation and technological innovation that grossed over $US3 billion dollars to date, has in its most recent episodes, "The Phantom Menace" [1999] and "Attack of the Clones" [2002] failed to provide either the excitement or the entertainment value of those three earlier editions, "Star Wars" [1977], "The Empire Strikes Back" [1980] and "Return Of The Jedi" [1983]. To many it has been a slow and terrible death. One to be pitied. It's sad to report that the last film, Episode III: "Revenge of the Sith" is once again very much a 'middle of the road' cinema experience. Not every one will see it that way of course. Die hard "Star Wars" fans will sing its praises [and you'd expect that], critics will rave about the transformation of good guy Anakin Skywalker to the evil Lord Darth Vader [but even a drowning man will grasp at a single straw] and others will waffle on about how its all finally come together and that this is fulfilled cinema, the culmination of remarkable storytelling [but don't hold your breath]. Well don't you believe it. Sure there are some spectacular moments in Episode III: "Revenge of the Sith" but they are few and far between and let's face it, many cinemagoers have reached the stage where the feel overdosed from the barrage of computer generated images [or CGI]. Then there are the opening scenes where Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker are undertaking a secret mission to rescue the Supreme Chancellor Palpatine who has been kidnapped in a daring raid by the Clone forces. The dialogue between the two Jedi Knights in these opening minutes is emotionless, and the lack of feeling, expectation and excitement, can be, at best, labelled pathetic. Almost as pathetic as the promotional trailer giving away, what should have been a well kept the secret, the identity of who is the Lord Sith. The biggest problem though for Episode III: "Revenge of the Sith" is the lead role of Anakin Skywalker. Hayden Christensen just doesn't fit the bill. He lacks the ability to come across as believable. It's amazing how many cinemagoers that are Star Wars fans, appear to have the ability to read my mind. They echoed the same sentiments that I do. Christensen is terrible as Skywalker but did you see him with Kevin Kline and Kristin Scott Thomas in "Life As A House"? Wasn't he terrific in that film? And their right. He was! And he produced a far better performance than his Skywalker role when he appeared in the film "Shattered Glass". But in the two editions of the Star Wars saga he's now appeared in he's been bloody awful. The role of Skywalker is just not him. He's what you'd call a real sap. And while I'm on about it, Ewan McGregor hasn't grown on me either. His performances in the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi have been serviceable and that's about as far as they go. They're nothing to write home about. Funnily enough, even though Episode III: "Revenge of the Sith" is far from inspirational, it's not a total write-off. The last twenty minutes of the films one hundred and forty minute run time is worth waiting for. Viewers get to see why Lord Vader was sealed in his suited black outfit; we find out about the beginnings of both Luke and Princess Leia; and why, in the original 1977 edition of "Star Wars" [later dressed up as "Episode IV: A New Hope"] there were only two Jedi Knight Masters, Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi. Episode III: "Revenge of the Sith" completes the odyssey for those of us who were there at the very beginning and in many ways are lucky to be there at its demise. Now, at long last, we can all move on. May which ever force you believe in, "be with you". Episode III Film Facts The sound stage filming was shot at two locations. One in Australia and another in the UK.
Other scenes for the film were shot in China, Thailand, Switzerland, Italy and Tunisia.
A film crew travelled to Sicily to film the spectacular eruption of Mt Etna in 2002.
On June 30th 2003 at 8:07am, Ewan McGregor, Hayden Christensen, R2-D2 and the film crew commence filming.
The shoot took place at Fox Studios in Sydney, Australia.
In 2004, the crew would spend 11 days filming at the Shepperton Studios in England.
In January 2005 the crew moved to Elstree Studios in Borehamwood, England
Elstree's Stage 8 was the same stage where Lucas committed the first soundstage shot to film on A New Hope in 1976.
At 2200, Revenge of the Sith has more visual effects shots than any other "Star Wars" movie.
"Revenge of the Sith" has, at 90 minutes, more animation than any previous Star Wars film.
Production designer Gavin Bocquet and his crew designed 72 physical sets for the film.
"Revenge of the Sith" uses a new technology called "444" which was developed to shoot the film.
Costume designer Trisha Biggar and her crew designed 500 costumes for the film.
Biggar brought in materials from all over the world including New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, London, Paris, Japan, China and India.
The dress worn by Natalie Portman in her final scenes as Padmé Amidala was made of devoréd velvet that was hand-painted.
Hayden Christensen followed a rigid training schedule to get fit for his role as Anakin Skywalker spending six hours sword fighting every day, an hour solid of weights and an hour of cardiovascular work. To keep his energy levels up he had to eat about six times a day. That helped him put on the 9kg of muscle he needed to carry the role.
Only one actor has had a speaking role in all six of the "Star War" movies. Anthony Daniels, who plays C-3PO.
Actor Kenny Baker has played R2-D2 in every "Star Wars". He is only 3 feet 8 inches tall.
Academy Award winner John Williams has scored all six of the "Star Wars" film.
Yoda has appeared in five episodes of "Star Wars". He didn't appear in the first "Star Wars", Episode IV A New Hope.
Ewan McGregor, Samuel L Jackson and Natalie Portman have all appeared three times in "Star Wars" movies.
Ewan McGregor is the real life nephew of Denis Lawson who played Wedge in the first "Star Wars" trilogy.
The sink hole planet seen for the first time in "Revenge of the Sith" is called Utapau.
Chewbacca returns for this final episode. His home planet is Kashyyyk.
Chewbacca's costume weights 3.6 kilograms.
Padmé Amidala is a native of the planet Naboo.
Luke Skywalker grew up on the planet Tatooine. Star Wars Sound Facts Chewbacca's voice is a combination of Bear growls mixed with a dash of Walrus, Lion and Dog.
The sound of the Lightsaber is the humming noise from the back of a TV set and an old 35mm projector.
The sound of the Starfighters comes from a speeding WW2 propeller aircraft.
The sound effect used for the Imperial Walkers came from a squeaky trash dumpster lid.
The sound effect used for the TIE Fighters comes from an Elephants bellow.
Casting About "EPISODE III: REVENGE OF THE SITH" stars .......
EMMY Award winner Ewan McGregor ["Trainspotting", "Moulin Rouge", "Black Hawk Down" and "Down With Love"]; Ian McDiarmid ["Dragonslayer", "Gorky Park", "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" and "Sleepy Hollow"]; Golden Globe Award winner Natalie Portman ["Mars Attacks!", "Cold Mountain", "Star Wars: Episode I & II", "Garden State" and "Closer"]; Samuel L Jackson ["Goodfellas", "Shaft", "XXX 2" and "Coach Carter"]; EMMY & Golden Globe Award winner Jimmy Smits ["NYPD Blue", "The West Wing", "Price Of Glory" and "Bless The Child"]; Two Times George Foster Peabody Award winner Frank Oz ["Return Of The Jedi", "Little Shop Of Horrors", "Bowfinger" and "The Score"]; Kenny Baker ["Labyrinth", "Sleeping Beauty" and "Armadeus"]; Anthony Daniels ["The Bill", "Prime Suspect", "I Bought A Vampire Motorcycle" and "Urban Gothic"]; Christopher Lee ["Dracula", "The Wicker Man", "Sleepy Hollow" and "Lord Of The Rings"]; Bruce Spence ["Stork", "The Year My Voice Broke", "Matrix Revolutions" and "Lord Of The Rings"] and Hayden Christensen ["The Virgin Suicides", "In The Mouth Of Madness", "Life As A House" and "Shattered Glass"] as Anakin Skywalker/Lord Darth Vader. Crew Bytes "EPISODE III: REVENGE OF THE SITH" was .......
directed by George Lucas ["American Graffiti", "Star Wars", "The Man And His Dreams" and "Mishima"]; screenplay by George Lucas ["Raiders of the Lost Ark", "Star Wars", "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" and "Radioland Murders"]; costume design by Trisha Biggar ["Silent Scream", "Wild West", "Beautiful Creatures" and "The Magdalene Sisters"]; production design by Gavin Bocquet ["Cry Freedom", "The Adventures Of Rocky & Bullwinkle", "XXX" and "XXX 2"]; edited by Ben Burchett ["Raiders Of The Lost Ark", "E.T The Etra-Terrestrial", "Alien" and "The Dark Crystal"]; and Roger Barton ["Gone In 60 Seconds", "Pearl Harbor", "Bad Boys II" and "The Amityville Horror"] director of photography David Tatttersall B.S.C ["Moll Flanders", "The Majestic", "Lara Croft: The Cradle Of Life", "The Matador" and "XXX 2"]; original music by Five Times Academy Award winner, Three Times BAFTA winner, Three Times Golden Globe winner, Eighteen Times Grammy Award winner and Four Times EMMY Award winner, John Williams ["Close Encounters Of The Third Kind", "Saving Private Ryan", "E.T The Etra-Terrestrial", "Catch Me If You Can" and "The Terminal"]; produced by George Lucas ["Twice Upon a Time", "Labyrinth ", "Willow" and "The Land Before Time"] and Rick McCallum ["Heading Home", "Hare's Strapless", "I Ought To Be In Pictures" and "Link"]. What It's All About

"Revenge of the Sith is not the "masterpiece" some make it out to be. It is, simply, a far more worthy installment than we've recently been fed." Glen Oliver IGN FILMFORCE

High above the home planet of the Jedi Knights, in the skies over Coruscant, the final stages of the battle in the Clone Wars is taking place as it is in many parts of the galaxy. News comes that in a daring raid, Supreme Chancellor Palpatine has been kidnapped by followers of General Grevious. Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi mount a desperate and dangerous rescue attempt. Their mission is successful but there are powerful forces at work on the Dark Side. Chancellor Palpatine works at Skywalkers weaknesses, especially the feelings he has towards the beautiful Senator Padmé Amidala to whom Skywalker is secretly married. Chancellor Palpatine uses Skywalker's youthful impatience to his favour. Slowly he is turning the young Jedi his way. Towards the Dark Side. The Verdict "While there is a real lacking of 'the force' in this final edition Episode III: "Revenge of the Sith", most viewers will come away satisfied that in the end, the answer to a whole lot of questions is revealed. If you've seen all five previous episodes there's little point in not seeing this. It isn't the best in the saga of "Star Wars" and it isn't the worst by any stretch of the imagination. Don't expect a whole lot and you'll enjoy it more." The Cast

Ewan McGregor Hayden Christensen Ian McDiarmid Natalie Portman Samuel L Jackson Jimmy Smits Frank Oz Kenny Baker Anthony Daniels Christopher Lee Keisha Castle-Hughes Silas Carson Jay Laga'aia Bruce Spence Wayne Pygram Temuera Morrison David Bowers Oliver Ford Davies Ahmed Best Rohan Nichol Jeremy Bulloch Amanda Lucas Matt Sloan Peter Mayhew Rebecca Jackson Mendoza Joel Edgerton Claudia Karvan Matthew Wood Matt Rowan

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Obi-Wan Kenobi Anakin Skywalker Supreme Chancellor Palpatine Padmé Mace Windu Senator Bail Organa Yoda R2-D2 C-3PO Count Dooku Queen of Naboo Ki-Adi-Mundi & Nute Gunray Captain Typho Tion Medon Governor Tarkin Commander Cody Mas Amedda Sio Bibble Jar Jar Binks Captain Antilles Captain Colton Terr Taneel Plo Koon Chewbacca Queen of Alderaan Owen Lars Sola Naberrie General Grievous Senator Orn Free Taa

The Crew Directed by George Lucas Written by George Lucas Produced by Rick McCallum Executive Producer George Lucas Original Music by John Williams Cinematography by David Tattersall Film Editing by Roger Barton & Ben Burtt Casting by Christine King Production Design by Gavin Bocquet Director of Concept Design Peter Russell Set Decoration by Richard Roberts Costume Design by Trisha Biggar Production Supervisor Stephen Jones Run Time 140 minutes Rated TBA [AUST] Copyright ©2005 - 20th Century Fox - All Rights Reserved Copyright Protected © 2005 - Impact Internet Services - All Rights Reserved