Revenge of the Sith

I finally saw Revenge of the Sith Sunday afternoon. I know reaction has been mixed, but I actually enjoyed it. The story flowed well, the action sequences were entertaining, and the film did a really nice job of leading into the "original" trilogy. Thankfully, the cheesy love scenes between Anakin and Padme were mercifully brief. Ian McDiarmid was excellent as Palpatine/Sidious, with the exception of the scene where he killed Mace Windu (Samuel L. Jackson), where he was a little over the top with the evil cackling. Particularly powerful were the scenes where the Jedi were slaughtered by the same clone troopers they had led into battle. The film was not without problems. For one thing, it ran a little too long. I felt like the movie could have been about 15 minutes shorter. As with the other prequels, much of the dialogue was stilted. Finally, as far as the much ballyhooed Bush-bashing, it was pretty minimal.

Overall, I give Sith 3 of 4 stars. Not quite Lord of the Rings, but a vast improvement on the other two prequels.