I actually got out to the theater this weekend to see Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge Of the Sith. So much for not getting excited about the movie! At least I didn’t take the day off from work this time around.

Anyway, I went in with very low expectations. And that might have helped out a lot, because I ended up quite liking Sith. It’s definitely the best of the three prequels. I definitely would not go so far as to say it’s as good as any of the original three movies, but it is still definitely enjoyable.

There are a few things that I really loved about Sith. First and foremost is Obi-Wan Kenobi. Obi-Wan was awesome; he was practically the star of the movie. Second, Yoda was pretty awesome this time around, too. He still had a couple of light saber battles, but at least this time around he seemed less like a CGI pinball and more like an actual Jedi Master. I still think that Yoda’s battles should’ve been more Force Powers and less lightsaber, but I can accept Yoda’s battles as they were.

The strongest part of the movie was the collapse of the Republic and the hunt of the Jedi. It was violent, jarring and very emotional. I actually felt outrage at what was happening. I didn’t expect to have a strong emotional response from this movie, yet there it was. Very well done.

However, this being a Lucas movie, there were downsides. The biggest of which was dialogue. Some of the dialogue had me groaning out-loud in the theater. The second worst was Padme’s “Hold me. Hold me like you did on the shores of Naboo.” [shudder] The absolute worst bit of dialogue is also a major spoiler, so I won’t discuss it here. Instead, I hastily . The quote is at the bottom of the file.

Second on the downside was pretty much any scene between Padme and Anakin. Lucas can’t write love scenes, and apparently Lucas can’t write scenes that take place between a husband and a wife.

Third were some major plot holes. But my example is another major spoiler, so again I refer you to the spoiler text file.

Actually, the absolute worst part of Sith was Anakin Skywalker. Anakin was, once again, a whiny little bitch through most of the movie. Instead of responding to circumstances with the anger one would expect from Darth Vader, he would pout and whine about them. This whiny bitch becomes the baddest man in the entire universe? How? I don’t buy it. Anakin should’ve been responding to challenges in anger. When he perceived unfairness, he should’ve made a passionate speech against that unfairness. Instead, he cries to Obi-Wan or Padme. That’s completely out of character.

Fortunately, Sith is able to overcome these problems. A strong opening half-hour and closing 45 minutes helped a lot, as did the performances from McGregor and McDiarmid. Sith served as a great bridge between the original and prequel trilogies (so much so that I actually contemplated finding some place to buy the original trilogy from at 1:30 in the morning).

This is the absolute coolest of all cool things: the BBC has a number of Doctor Who eBooks available for free! You have to read them online, but that’s more than worth it for these wonderful Doctor Who stories.