I guess I must warn you this review is not going to be a passionate one. I’m not a Star Wars fan and find the films to be distinctly simplistic (I am not talking about the action or effects here). After the shockingly dull The Phantom Menace and the better but still disappointing Attack of the Clones I prepared myself for another unfulfilling experience.

The series touched on interesting ideas in The Empire Strikes back but chickened out on exploring them in any depth. I feel this is the same with The Revenge of Sith. Whilst admittedly, Lucas has dared to get darker with this final episode,he still missed out on a fantastic opportunity to explore the psychologies of obsession, greed and hate.

The CGI in this film is some of the most stunning I've ever seen and is seamlessly merged with live action. The action set pieces are superbly choreographed, however I felt at times that they were overly intricate and complicated, paricularly during the many light sabre battles. Someone should tell Lucas that just because he can do something, doesn’t mean he should. I found the simplicity of the light sabre fights in the early Star Wars films far more engaging.

I admit that The Revenge of The Sith was a better film than I thought it was going to be. Lucas managed to tidy up things effectively and in a way that didn’t feel forced or hurried. The pacing was good and the last thirty minutes showed that, at times, Lucas can show real artistic flair. However what he re-enforces with this film is his inability to write decent dialogue or get a decent performance from anything that isn’t rendered in CGI.

Hayden Christensen had the opportunity to throw himself into the complex and spontaneous personality of the confused Anakin Skwalker. The opportunity was missed. What we get is a performance that is bland and ultimately lacks ambition. Perhaps he felt stifled by the vastness of the film franchise and the pressure that comes with starring in such a poplar series.

Perhaps there just wasn’t any depth in the script. Perhaps the green screen gave him nothing to work with... It says something, however, when you find more humanity in a midget green alien (Yoda) than the entire human cast. Ewan Macregor was better in this film than in the previous two, but for Samuel L Jackson, well there’s phoning in your performance and there’s posting it in from the dark side of the Moon…without a stamp.

There are some very entertaining moments throughout the film including the opening rescue scene and one later involving Obi Wan’s battle with the cyborg droid leader General Grievous. At times the film also effectively captures the sense of dread and impending doom. But the sheer pointlessness of both prequels becomes very apparent and the lack of depth cannot save this film from being another unfulfilling experience. As a Star Wars fan, like this you will. If you are a film lover, then a touch despondent you may be.

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