The final Star Wars film to date that the proper numbering is now here! It was always a bold move to name the films with roman numerals instead of numbers and it turned out pretty well. It makes the films even more memorable. There’s a lot of pressure on Star Wars Episode III because Episode II wasn’t very good and episode I was still not quite up to par with episodes IV, V, and VI. The films had been going downhill (Except for the fun Clone Wars film) so we needed something to change. This film is a lot more serious and we get to see how evil Anakin is. Let’s launch into this!

The film starts off with a lot of action as Anakin and Obi Wan have their rematch with Emperor Dooku. It has been several years since the last film, but he can still hold up against the Jedi warriors. One thing leads to another and Anakin ruthlessly destroys Dooku. At that time, Dooku was already unarmed and completely helpless against Anakin so we can already confirm that Anakin is pure evil. Palpatine was goading Anakin on, but it’s not much of an excuse.

From there, the plots start to diverge. Obi Wan is in charge of defeating General Grievous and bringing him back to the base so that they can end the war once and for all. Unfortunately for Obi Wan, he is outnumbered dozens to 1 and he’s no Starkiller. Eventually, it comes down to a 1 on 1 fight with Obi Wan and General Grievous. It’s a pretty intense fight and this plot was much better than the main one.

The main plot deals with Anakin Skywalker…the main villain of the film. There are other big villains in the film, but Anakin must be considered as the main villain. Basically, Palpatine continues to gain his trust while also alienating Anakin from the Jedi Council. Anakin is pretty mad that the Jedi don’t seem to like him and this doesn’t get any better when he forces his way into the council. Anakin finds out that Palpatine is a Sith and warns the Jedi. Can 4-5 of the strongest Jedi in the world take on Palpatine while teaming up? Well, you may have to wonder about the answer, since Darth Vader Anakin joins in on the brawl. Next, Anakin decides to destroy all Jedi and Jedi apprentices while also destroying any life form that goes near him and becoming Palpatine’s pawn…or should I say, Darth Sidious’ pawn!?

All right, let’s talk about Anakin’s descent into madness. (It’s too bad since he was so cool in Soul Calibur IV) Anakin has always showed that he would turn evil ever since Episode II. He was completely unlikable in that film and he stays that way in this film. He’s cool for the first few minutes as he fights Dooku, but then he goes and destroys the villain for no good reason. He instantly faded into oblivion at that moment and I definitely did not buy his redemption act a few minutes later as he tried to carry Obi Wan to safety. Way too soon and it doesn’t stop the fact that Anakin is with the dark side.

Things only get worse as Anakin makes all of the wrong decisions and makes things hard on everyone. The Jedi would trust him more if he didn’t always hang out with Palpatine and he should respect the Jedi’s judgment since The Force rarely steers them wrong. He gets on the council, but then he’s still makes a racket because he did not become a Jedi Master. Did he really think that he would ascend to that rank without taking the Jedi Trials?

Things get to their low point for Anakin when he gets a vision of Padme dying during child birth. He decides that he needs to have enough power to prevent her from dying and this blinds him to the fact that Palpatine is a Sith for a while. Palpatine makes it perfectly obvious from the very beginning of the film, but Anakin isn’t exactly The Hulk, so he doesn’t piece it all together. Anakin decides that he will do whatever Palpatine wants so that Palpatine can grant him the power to defy death. Palpatine continues to make mistakes and heavily implies that he’s basically making it up or he doesn’t have the level of power necessary, but it is too late. Anakin is ready for complete servitude and he will do whatever Palpatine says without question. Most heroes who turn to the dark manage to question some things, like attacking their friends. (Sasuke didn’t murder Naruto even though Itachi wanted him too and Vegeta didn’t cross the line and hurt his friends either when Babidi “controlled” him.)

Anakin lacks the strength of heart that the other characters possessed and that’s basically the bottom line. I never liked him from the start of the trilogy and it ended with me disliking him as well. I have to say that I wouldn’t like the character at all if it was just the films that we were talking about, but I like Darth Vader in the comics and video games which helps to tip the balance in his favor. He’s definitely a good example of how to make the wrong choices and basically be the opposite of someone like Goku. Some characters like Medaka Kurokami are far too noble to commit such vicious acts as Anakin, and even mind controlled, she had enough inner strength to prevent herself from causing any permanent harm to her friends.

Obi Wan gets a pretty big role in this film and while he has a tendency to get knocked out at the wrong times, he does manage to keep it together when it counts. He’s a pretty skilled warrior and he looks good during the final battle. He also puts up a solid fight against General Grievous and he was one of the better characters in this film. He tried for everyone to have a happy ending, but Anakin made that impossible, so they were forced to have a climatic fight!

Padme doesn’t get as big of a role in this film since some of her scenes were cut out, but she still tries to convince Anakin to turn to the light. Anakin’s too far gone and even though his objective was to save her, he barely comprehends this anymore and nearly takes her down for the count. Obi Wan convinces him to stop, but it makes you face palm whenever you think of Anakin.

Yoda is definitely at his best in this movie and he finally shows off his abilities. Don’t get me wrong, we all knew that Yoda could fight. He proved it in the last film, but they’ve been hyping up his abilities as possibly being the strongest Jedi, so it was about time that he got to truly fight. The outcome of the fight may have been disappointing, but it was good to see him fight again after so long. I still can’t say that I’m a big fan of the character, but I can safely say that he was much better in this film than in the previous ones.

General Grievous is a pretty big villain in this film and he’s definitely fun. His Lightsaber skills may not be on par with Obi Wan or Starkiller, but he makes up for this by using 4 Lightsabers. He was beating Obi Wan in the Lightsaber battle, but eventually Obi Wan gave up and just used The Force to win. This shows that Grievous is a very powerful combatant and he is one of the stronger Star Wars characters. He was likable, so it’ll be fun to see him in the video games. He came in very suddenly and didn’t last very long, but his appearance was very impactful like Jango/Boba Fett.

Count Dooku gets a pretty small role, but his abilities are definitely impressive. The fact that he can take on two powerful Jedi at once is something that can be bragged about. He may not be as powerful as Darth Vader or the all powerful Starkiller, but he may be in the top 5 Strongest Star Wars characters. If so, that’s definitely a feat. Chewie also gets a role and it’s a pretty good one. Apparently, Chewie was an extremely hardcore/powerful fighter whose ear piercing roar was not his only weapon. It’s too bad that he could not appear any longer. R2D2 and C-3PO are still around, but what could I say about them? They’re essentially the same and if you (did not) like them, then you still will (not).

Mace Windu finally gets to fight in this film and it’s a pretty solid scene. He is the only Jedi capable of standing against Palpatine and he manages to get the upper hand. He’s easily one of the strongest Jedi out there and it’s a shame that he did not get any other fight scenes before this one. I have to say that I gained a lot of respect for him, since he is not all talk as the other films have made him out to be. Granted, Mace Windu did fight a little in film II, but even C-3PO could defeat some droids.

Palpatine gets a big role in this film and it’s still hard to take him serious. You can’t help, but grin when he pulls off a fancy spin tackle and destroys three Jedi in a matter of seconds. I know that he’s tough, but that’s a little insane. What about The Force!? Well, either way it was definitely interesting. I’m glad that Mace put up a better fight. It’s a little scary to remember that Palpatine will get away with everything for years and years until Episode VI. I definitely don’t care for him, but you have to admit that he did the one thing that many villains want to do..he conquered the Galaxy!

If I had to name a negative in this film, (Aside from any talking scene that involved Anakin) it would be the unnecessary kids scene. We know that the kids don’t make it since the Jedi go (seemingly) extinct, so do we really need to see Anakin destroy them? We already knew that he was pure evil and a despicable person, but seeing the kids die was definitely a little much. I could also due without the Padme giving birth scene, since those always make me shudder. The process looks overly painful considering the technology at their disposal.

So, this film was definitely the darkest in the series. Was that wise? Well, the fight scenes were awesome in this film and it got to go back to its roots. The film starts out with battles in space, which is all kinds of awesome. As mentioned earlier, the Lightsaber duels are also great and easily the best ones in the series. We got at least 3-4 of those, which is more than usual. I definitely don’t mind having a somber end when the action is this good, as long as “dark” doesn’t mean unnecessarily violent. Without the kids scene, I thought that the film handled it pretty well. All of the Jedi dying so easily was pure plot hax, but you had to expect that at some point. There wasn’t a logical way to have so many powerful fighters be defeated.

The franchise will continue with the next film in a few years. That will definitely be fun and there are a lot of ways that they can play it. I’m expecting Luke Skywalker to appear and maybe be the main character, although it’s not very likely. All I know is that there better be space battles and the new main character should definitely be an improvement over Luke and Anakin. I hope that Starkiller also gets a movie because that would be awesome.

Overall, this was a solid Star Wars film. It is definitely darker than the others so you probably wouldn’t watch this one quite as often, but it did end the saga. Anakin wasn’t likable, but he makes for a villain that you really want to defeat. I recommend this film if you are a Star Wars film, but if not, it makes for a good film to watch before Episode VI. This way you can see what the fate of these fighters is. This film still couldn’t beat Film IV, but it definitely beat I and II. It dragged on less than films V and VI, so I dare say that it may have beaten those. You’ll like this film if you enjoyed The Dark Knight, but if you want something that’s a little happier, check out the new Star Trek film.

Overall 6/10