I'm a glutton for luxury.

My idea of "camping out" is a Sheraton in the woods, for pete's sake. So it should come as no surprise that I somehow found it in my heart to forego those midnight/late-night showings of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (yes, Mr. Lucas... whatever you want to call it, Mr. Lucas...) and instead take in a comfy, 20%-full 2:00PM Thursday showing. Hey, those plastic lightsabers really hurt when you're jabbed in the back by them for two and half hours straight....

I'm not going to wax poetic on the triumphs or failures of this particular piece of Lucasana -- I'll save that for the inevitable Supreme Court review of the Sith DVD due for Christmas. But I will say a couple of things.

First, I'm going to give propz to George for being true to his word, even if other people don't. He said that this film would explain a lot of things that were left unclear or unexplained in the the first two films. It does. Maybe the answers aren't satisfactory ones in the eyes of the hard-core fanbois -- but the answers are there. He also said that the full Anakin Skywalker 6-part story would come into focus after this film was released. Again, it does. Unfortunately, to explain how the film accomplishes both these things would require spoilers -- and Homey don't play that. So unfortunately, I have to just throw them out there as unsupported assertions. But there out-throw them do I.

Second, the eye candy. Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones were each quantum leaps forward in CGI technology. Phantom made other effects films look archaic, and Clones made Phantom look primitive. Sith is not such a great leap. The effects, for the most part, don't look any better than the effects in Clones. What has improved is the overall density of the CGI elements in the shots, and the way in which the elements are integrated with the live action footage (and with each other). It's hard to describe it in writing -- the CGI shots don't look better, but they somehow feel better. Most of them do, anyway.

Finally -- the acting. Or lack thereof. First and foremost in this department -- Ian MacDiarmid is hereby granted a free pass for life when it comes to discussing this subject. He's really fantastic, given the general inability of anyone to do any acting in one of these Lucas graphics-fests. But leaving him aside, the acting is pretty much uniformly poor. Only Ewan MacGregor -- as usual -- is able to bring any true color to his character. Remember, he's working under a severe handicap: since day one of his experience, he's had to play the Obi-wan character based on Alec Guiness's original choices back in 1977, not based on any choices he might want to make for him. Here, he finishes the job he's been doing (in my opinion) very well since Phantom Menace, and leaves the Obi-wan character exactly where it should be left (albeit a bit on the young side) in order to "reappear" as Ben Kenobi in Star Wars without significant character or logic gaps springing up.

I will say this, though -- unlike the past two films, at least it appears as if Hayden Christensen and Natalie Portman were trying here. Especially Portman, who manages to bring a little life and emotion to a character that, on paper, is completely empty. Some critics have said that Christensen does a better job by just being himself than he could have done in "acting" the Skywalker role; frankly, I think they're probably right. He is what he is -- a sullen, inexplicably angry twentysomething. Just roll with it.

But Lordy mama, is some of that dialogue horrible. I once described the romantic scenes in Clones as "having the same entertainment value as watching baby seals be clubbed to death." It hasn't gotten any better here. But thankfully, there is a LOT less romance in this episode.

On the other hand -- some clever AVID person should cut together a film comprised solely of the Anakin/Padme scenes from these three Episodes. It would be, unquestionably, the worst romance picture ever made. Hmm. I may be on to something here....

Anyhow, the bottom line is that I liked the film quite a bit. I'd call it the best of the three, and close to the level of Empire. But that's just my take. Reasonable people may differ. Cheers!