Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith; The circle is complete (for now)

Fans all over the world were excited when George Lucas announced he would be making a new trilogy which focused upon the rise and fall of Anakin Skywalker, aka Darth Vader but after the release of Episodes I and II, even the most ardent faboy wondered if any of the new trilogy would come close to matching any of the original films. Revenge of the Sith was their only hope.

As the Clone Wars draw to an end, Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker finds himself at an impasse. His loyalty to Supreme Chancellor Palpatine is questioned by his fellow Jedi Knights and their apparent lack of faith in him and his abilities leads to his seduction by Palpatine to the dark side of the force. Anakin is then consumed by his new persona, Darth Vader, and becomes the ultimate evil in the galaxy.

The film was chock full of wonderful special effects and CGI work, but two sequences stood out above everything else. The first was the epic space battle which opened the film. Even when one was following the main characters of Anakin and Obi-Wan in their respective ships, it was hard not to become distracted by the other layers of action happening all around them. That battle was topped only by the climatic lightsaber duel between Anakin and Obi-Wan on the volcanic planet of Mustafar. This was the lightsaber battle fans had been longing to see and writer/director George Lucas delivered with more than ten minutes of the most insanely cool swordplay ever committed to film. That battle alone was worth the price of rental. And while the prior two prequels were remembered for their excellent special effects/CGI work and dreadfully wooden acting, Revenge had not only the special effects, but also some effective acting. Ian McDiarmid brought an evil glee to his performance as Palpatine and Ewan McGregor excelled once again as Obi-Wan. One of the most emotional scenes, Padme’s confrontation with Anakin on the planet of Mustafar, was perhaps the finest in all of the prequels for it dripped with actual emotion. The film was everything a fan of the series could have hoped for, complete with the births of the heroes of the original trilogy; Luke and Leia, and of the most feared villain in the galaxy, Darth Vader. There will be critics who bemoan the fact that this film had stilted acting, no real emotion and only good special effects but don’t believe them. This one delivered the goods on all accounts

Grade: A-

Fanboys: One of us! One of us!

Disclaimer: I am a giant Star Wars dork. I swear, George Lucas could do a puppet show and, so long as one of those puppets mentioned the Force or used a lightsaber, I'd see it five times and go out and buy the corresponding action figures. So when a film comes out that not only shows, but celebrates that kind of passion (or blind faith depending on who you talk to) that people like myself have, I am going to definitely check it out. Fanboys is that movie.

The year is 1999 and the world is anxiously awaiting the release of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. But four friends in Ohio just cannot wait to see it, so they hatch a plan to drive cross country to George Lucas' Skywalker Ranch home in California and swipe a copy for themselves.

Sounds ridiculous right, even more so if you are not a fanboy and your life doesn't revolve around figuring out things such as why Greedo shot first in the Special Edition of Episode IV (probably lost some of you there, let me get back on point). But to the four friends, Eric, Linus, Windows and Hutch, this is what their lives are composed of. They dress like characters from the Star Wars movies, quote the films constantly and it leads to some awkwardly funny moments as they make their way to California. However it's also cool to hear those guys have some of the same arguements regarding the Holy Trilogy that I myself have been in. This makes the film more endearing to fanboys who are aware of the in - jokes and will shout the answers to the various quizzes that the group faces throughout the film to prove their fanboy-ness. But beyond the typical road trip movie trapping which litered the film, beyond the appearance of Kristen Bell (who played Zoe) in a slave girl Leia outfit (one word, spectacular!), beyond the cameos of Star Wars vets such as Billy Dee Williams and Carrie Fisher and other stars such as William Shatner there was a soul to Fanboys. The film effectively showed how the love of a group of movies and their characters could bring friends together to just geek out and be who they are (unless you're a Trekkie).

Yes, the regular viewer might not like Fanboys because they have no clue as to why grown men and women would get so emotional over Wookies or a small green Jedi Master, and the sight of a Ewok humping a leg during a peynote enduced hallucination might go over their heads but for those of us who live and breathe with everything coming from the mind of George Lucas, it is an ode to the joys of never really growing up and still being able to enjoy adventures that happened a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.

Grade: B