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Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 68 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
6.9 out of 10
based on 40 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 762 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for sci-fi violence and some intense images

Starring Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Hayden Christensen, Ian McDiarmid, Samuel L. Jackson, Jimmy Smits, Frank Oz, and Anthony Daniels

The final entry in the prequel trilogy chronicles that downfall of the Republic as the Clone Wars rage on and Anakin Skywalker makes the transition to the dark side of the force.


GENRE(S): Action  |  Fantasy  |  Sci-fi  
WRITTEN BY: George Lucas  
DIRECTED BY: George Lucas  
RELEASE DATE: DVD: November 1, 2005 
Theatrical: May 19, 2005 
RUNNING TIME: 140 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: USA 

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100
Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
All the "Star Wars" movies will continue to entertain us for many years to come. They were grand fun, and this last one's a corker.
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100
Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
A pop masterpiece.
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100
Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
The movie grabs us from its heart-pounding opening sequence and pulls us inexorably along its trajectory with the grip of the last gruesome act of a Greek tragedy. Its fascination is not what happens but HOW it happens.
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91
Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
The darkest, most operatic, and technologically richest "Star Wars" movie to date, "Sith" is grim, stirring entertainment and a nearly complete vindication of everything its creator has been saying for six years about where the series was heading and what its final shape would be.
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90
Washington Post Stephen Hunter
For my generation, Revenge of the Sith is a brilliant consummation to a promise made a long time ago, far, far away, in a galaxy called 1977.
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90
LA Weekly Scott Foundas
Lucas is a major figure, and Revenge of the Sith may be some kind of historic achievement -- the first movie in which it is fully impossible to tell where flesh ends and digital paint begins.
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90
The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt
The final episode of George Lucas' cinematic epic "Star Wars" ends the six-movie series on such a high note that one feels like yelling out, "Rewind!" Yes, rewind through more than 13 hours of bravery, treachery, new worlds, odd creatures and human frailty.
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90
Variety Todd McCarthy
Emerges as the best in the overall series since "The Empire Strikes Back."
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90
The New York Times Dana Stevens
This is by far the best film in the more recent trilogy, and also the best of the four episodes Mr. Lucas has directed. That's right (and my inner 11-year-old shudders as I type this): it's better than "Star Wars."
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88
USA Today Claudia Puig
Even for non-fans, Revenge of the Sith is engrossing, and fans of the series will likely be over the moon -- and into another galaxy -- with this film.
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88
ReelViews James Berardinelli
Only now can we truly step back and admire the full tapestry that it has taken George Lucas and his ILM wizards nearly three decades to weave.
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88
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
Episode III has more action per square minute, I'd guess, than any of the previous five movies, and it is spectacular. The special effects are more sophisticated than in the earlier movies, of course, but not necessarily more effective.
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88
Premiere Glenn Kenny
Once Palpatine's machinations set the cogs in motion for the creation of Vader, and the Clone Wars start getting bloody, Sith commences to cook in a way that no Star Wars movie has since "Empire."
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88
Boston Globe Ty Burr
The real deal, an often awkward but nonetheless terrifically compelling high-stakes human drama.
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80
Film Threat Pete Vonder Haar
Far and away the best of the Star Wars prequels (tough chore, that) and also holds its own with the hallowed films of the original trilogy.
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80
Empire Colin Kennedy
Star Wars really does begin here.
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80
Newsweek David Ansen
Lucas manages to turn the audience's familiarity to his advantage: like a jigsaw puzzle whose final form has always been known, the fun is in discovering how the last pieces fit.
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75
New York Post Lou Lumenick
Arguably the darkest episode in the entire series (and the first to carry a PG-13 rating) the visually stunning "Sith" is also the fastest-paced and most accessible.
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75
Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
For all its doom and gloom, Revenge of the Sith turns out to have a happy ending after all, giving Star Wars the send-off it deserves.
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75
Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
On the action-adventure level it's a sure-fire delight for fans, a punchy entertainment for average sci-fi buffs, and a colorful rocket-ride for moviegoers who just want a good time on Saturday night.
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70
Chicago Reader J.R. Jones
Two prequels' worth of scene setting pays off in the politically resonant Revenge of the Sith.
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70
The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps
Though Sith finally finds some life in the old saga, was it worth it in the end? Did we have to go through all that to get back where we began?
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70
TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
The battle sequences and lightsaber battles are gripping, and for every scene that doesn't deliver the goods, there's another that hums with surprising intensity.
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70
Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
The most energetic of the prequels, the only one at all worth watching. But that doesn't mean it is without the weaknesses that scuttled its pair of predecessors. Quite the contrary.
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67
Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
The one figure in Revenge of the Sith who taps the true spirit of Star Wars is Ewan McGregor: With his beautiful light, clipped delivery, he plays Alec Guinness' playfulness, making Obi-Wan a marvel of benevolent moxie.
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67
Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
A vast improvement over the previous two outings, but still and all, it's no "Star Wars."
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63
Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
Though it starts slowly, it lumbers toward greatness in the last third and restores him [Lucas] briefly to the top of his class.
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63
New York Daily News Jami Bernard
And still the dialogue is astonishingly feeble, the acting unforgivably wooden. To paraphrase Yoda, the only creature with ­truly human dimensions ever since Harrison Ford's cowboy-mechanic Han Solo departed the galaxy: Bored I am.
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60
Slate David Edelstein
What a shock when George Lucas finds his footing and the saga once again takes hold.
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60
Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
The scenery, effects and balletic, iconic combats are perfectly wonderful, but there's an emotional black hole where the hero should be.
50
Washington Post Desson Thomson
Revenge was supposed to be the one that really socked it to us, about Anakin's almost biblical fall from grace. But the movie never rises to its powerful occasion.
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50
Dallas Observer Robert Wilonsky
Is it enough to make us like a thing we used to love? For most, that rekindling of an old flame will be good enough.
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50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen
The greatest story ever has finally been told. Or, if you prefer, the damn thing has come to its merciful end.
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50
Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
For the casual viewer who feels like maybe all the Sith hoopla is worth checking out, well, it's like tuning in to the season finale of "24" without having watched a minute of its lead-up episodes.
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50
New York Magazine Ken Tucker
Lucas is a brilliant technician but a poor philosopher, and his lurchingly thought-out rendering of futuristic politics prevents the entire series from achieving the greatness to which it aspires. (You don’t make anything this big, for this long, without aiming for the planet Masterpiece.)
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50
Rolling Stone Peter Travers
Until the last half-hour, when Lucas actually does establish a emotional connection between the landmark he created in 1977 and the prequel investment portfolio he laid out in 1999, the movie is one spectacularly designed letdown after another.
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50
Village Voice Ed Halter
Even setting aside the clumsy inconsistency of its interior logic, Sith is an underachievement of escapist entertainment.
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50
San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
The movie drags.
Read Full Review
40
Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
I suspect this picture is pretty close to what fans were hoping for, and for their sake, I'm glad it's markedly better than the two that preceded it. But Revenge of the Sith is still crap.
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10
The New Yorker Anthony Lane
The general opinion of Revenge of the Sith seems to be that it marks a distinct improvement on the last two episodes, "The Phantom Menace" and "Attack of the Clones." True, but only in the same way that dying from natural causes is preferable to crucifixion.
Read Full Review

What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 6.9 (out of 10) based on 762 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Senselocke gave it a3:
Abysmal. Pretty, yes, as to be expected, but Lucas thin and simplistic attempts at "plot" are pathetic. Here I was expecting the mindf.ck of the century, to twist Annakin into Vader, and instead it's like the character walked through the revolving door of morality. No twenty minutes of psychological twisting to break him, nothing just "la-di-da, I'm good! I must uphold goodness!" "la di-da, I'm evil, let's kill some kids". And that's not even an exaggeration. This is the worst Star Wars movie ever made, hands down, and one of the worst movies PERIOD. NO amount of flash can take that away. In addition, Haden has the acting talent of my left testicle. He couldn't pull off a convincing CADAVER. In my mind, there are three star wars movies, only. The last three were pathetic attempts to leach money from fanboys and the unaware, with zero effort or skill put into dialogue, plot, or character development, and Lucas should be ashamed for prostituting his own creations so completely.

[Anonymous] gave it a9:
Truly the best way to end the series. This has acting that took a huge leap from Ep. 2, excellent action, the battle on Mustufar was definitely a great onscreen battle. The special effects are tremendous and the only thing I can say is that it did have some bad dialouge. Also Padme sucks, and I wished there were more wookie scenes. Oh well, definitely a great way to end it all, though not as good as Star Wars Episode IV.

Elena R. gave it a10:
The movie's great, the casting is great, it's all great.

Jared B. gave it a10:
As the "Star Wars" prequels go, this is the absolute best. It is also the most emotionally charged of the entire saga. Unlike the other films, there are moments that will bring you close to tears, unless you are a robot or completely heartless. The action scenes, the special effects, and the acting work together to craft an excellent finale to a wonderful film series. George Lucas, You da' man.

Danny S. gave it a9:
A True Gem in the Star Wars Universe Viewing the saga through the eyes of a Star Wars fan, I have rated this movie based on many factors. First you must understand the story. Second, you must understand the entertainment. Finally you must understand the message. The story seems to blend and transition well into Episode 4: A New Hope. Never before (in my opinion) has a SW movie been so entertaining. I truly was overwhelmed witnessing the final movie fold open before my eyes. Not only were the graphics/Visual Effects truly beyond their time, but the whole movie in general had humor and scenes of battle that entertained me to the very core. Finally, the message that this movie brought was unlike any other. A message of hope. A message of integrity. A message of honor and duty to ones beliefs. A message of redemption to come, which Lucas seems to implement at the end of every episode. The only downside I saw to this movie were perhaps 3 lines quoted by Hayden (Anakin Skywalker) that I felt were slightly childish and untalented. However, actors make mistakes, and these mistakes I am speaking of weren't even worth saying more than I already have. They were minor. Overall he played an amazing roll in the transition towards Darth Vader. I give this movie a 9.4/10, feeling slightly unique compared to the many other reviewers who have reviewed this movie based on the common "review methods" instead of reviewing it as a "star wars movie." Thank you again George Lucas. And Metacritic as well, for allowing me tp voice my opinion.

Jared C. gave it a10:
Its a Sci-Fi thriller, with action and adventure. It connects with the whole franchise in a resolving way. The saga is complete.

[Anonymous] gave it a2:
Ugh, it should be called "the Revenge of the Sh.t".

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