Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005) 3 1/2 stars out of 4. Starring Ewan McGregor, Hayden Christensen, Natalie Portman, Samuel L. Jackson, Ian MacDiarmid, Christopher Lee, Frank Oz, Jimmy Smits and Temuera Morrison. Music by John Williams. Written and directed by George Lucas. Rated PG-13. Running time: Approx: 139 mins.

        The moment arrives in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith when young Jedi Anakin Skywalker is standing at the crossroads.

        He is being seduced by Chancellor Palpatine, who is playing upon Anakin's fear of losing his beloved Padme, to lure him to the dark side.
Even though you know it is inevitable, that this is the path Anakin is fated to choose, you want to somehow break through that wall separating the audience from the movie and warn him, beg him, to ignore Palpatine and stay on the path of The Force.

        In a movie laden with dazzling special effects and space battles, this is the most human of moments that writer-director George Lucas has created for the grand finale to his 28-year, six-film saga.

        Revenge of the Sith is the darkest, most tragic film in the series. It is also the finest since The Empire Strikes Back.

        It is neither greed nor power that determines Anakin's fate. Love, for his young wife and for the Republic he has sworn to protect, are the tools the wily Palpatine uses to ensnare the naive Jedi into his Sith web.

        In a movie devoid of surprises — after all, we know the fate of each character — Lucas is nonetheless able to create the necessary suspense to hold his audience.

        Sith tells the how and why of the Star Wars mythos. All questions are answered, all loose ends are neatly wrapped up.

        The episode is a compendium of contradictions, spotlighting Lucas' strengths and shortcomings as a filmmaker.

        The writer-director is a wonderful storyteller. He keeps his tale moving at a breathless pace, so the two hours and 19 minutes seem to fly by at hyper speed.

        But Lucas continues his tendency to overcrowd the screen in his battle sequences, especially during the opening, a massive confrontation in space between Separatists and Republican ships.

        Lucas' dialogue continues to have the tendency to sound like comic book balloon captions. And every other piece of dialogue sounds expository and as if it should end in multiple explanation points.

        He also has problems staging love scenes. Since Attack of the Clones, Hayden Christensen, especially, and Natalie Portman have honed their acting, but Lucas' staging of their intimate moments comes across as wooden, as if they were the leads in a high school production of Romeo and Juliet.

        If one actor comes to the fore in Sith, it is Ian McDiarmid's Palpatine, whose transformation into the evil Emperor is a pleasure to watch.

        You marvel as the serpent-tongued Palpatine woos young Anakin with flattery and promises, twists his fears and anxieties toward his own end and turns the young Jedi against his mentor and the other knights.

       Despite the hoary dialogue with which he is frequently saddled, Christensen sure-footedly details the conflict within Anakin as he wrestles over which road he must travel. He cedes his soul in a vain attempt to protect those closest to him.

        On the heels of her excellent performances in Garden State and Closer, Portman's Padme is almost a step backward. She really is given little to do but worry about her Anakin, her pregnancy and the fate of the Republic.

        Her best moments come during her final confrontation with Anakin, when she pleads with him to turn his back on the course he has chosen and return to her.

        Lucas has created some wonderful set pieces, none more thrilling than the long-awaited battle between Anakin and his mentor, Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) on the volcanic planet of Mustafa.

        With fountains of spewing lava forming the backdrop, the two former friends duel over a fiery landscape until the inevitable climax, which leads to the birth of the black-helmeted Darth Vader.

        The most anticipated sequence in the saga is Anakin's transformation. And Lucas, aided by John Williams music, does not disappoint. Vader rises like a black phoenix to the thrill of the audience.

        Sith is the first film in the series to earn a PG-13. It is a violent, dark, brooding piece, with death spreading its dark wings over vast portions of the galaxy.

        One disturbing sequence shows the Jedi Temple strewn with the bodies of 'Younglings,' Jedis in training, massacred by the perverted Anakin.

        Director of photography David Tattersall, production designer Gavin Bocquet, co-editor and sound designer Ben Burtt, visual effects supervisors John Knoll and Roger Guyett and composer Williams have helped bring Lucas' vision to life, and deserve kudos for their efforts.

        Revenge of the Sith will please fans. It is as if Lucas had entered a time capsule and reverted to the young filmmaker of American Graffiti and the first Star Wars. The movie has a muscle and vitality that Lucas kept bottled during The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones.

        This is the movie people have been waiting for. And Lucas has not disappointed them.

        Bob Bloom is the film critic at the Journal and Courier in Lafayette, Ind. He can be reached by e-mail at bbloom@journalandcourier.com or at bob@bloomink.com. Bloom's reviews also can be found at the Journal and Courier Web site: www.jconline.com
Other reviews by Bloom can be found at the Rottentomatoes Web site: www.rottentomatoes.com or at the Internet Movie Database Web site: www.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Bob+Bloom