Review of Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) by F.fletch(Uk) — 21 May 2005

[Ed: Review posted and score estimated without the author's explicit permission. I doubt he would care, though. I just dug his magic trick metaphor.- md] Episode III was even worse than expected. First time I've ever seriously thought of walking out of a movie.

The only thing that kept me there was the feeling that I ought to see how it ended. And to be fair, the last half-hour was entertaining, but only because it was bluntly (spoiler-style) explaining the mythology and background that was so well hinted at in the original trilogy, and made those first films seem all the more impressive as a result.

(Starting a new, expensive film franchise on Episode IV is actually pretty inspired and brave when you think about it, eh?) An analogy. The original trilogy was the magic trick and the prequels just explain how it was done: They're not as good, they devalue the trick itself, and the best they can do is give you a cheap thrill by referencing the original and crudely filling in the gaps that made it 'magical' in the first place.