DVD Review by David Blackwell

DETAILS: 140 minutes, 2 disc set, audio commentary, documentaries, web featurettes, trailers, TV spots, video game trailers and XBox demo, photo galleries, and six deleted scenes

STUDIO: FOX/ Lucasfilm

RELEASE DATE: 11-1-2005

STAR WARS is a part of our culture. Millions were captivated by the Original Trilogy. Many have complained about the poor scripts for the Prequel Trilogy and the wooden acting from some actors. Episode I to Episode II have been about George Lucas pushing the envelope of digital technology from CGI to shooting Episode II and III in High Definition Video cameras. REVENGE OF THE SITH is the best part of the Prequel Trilogy, but it still does suffer from the flaws that hurt the two installments before it. George Lucas could have written a better story about how Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader. The elements that do succeed are the arrogance of the Jedi which lead to their downfall, Papaltine's manipulation of Anakin, and the events that unfold when the Emperor decides to eliminate the Jedi.

Movie review:   https://enterline2.tripod.com/revengeofthesith.html

VIDEO: 2.35:1 (Anamorphic Widescreen)

The transfer is almost flawless due to the fact it has been directly taken from the original digital source.

AUDIO: English 5.1 EX Dolby Surround, English 2.0 DS, French 2.0 DS, spanish 2.0 DS

Subtitles: English

The sound is as good or better than the 5.1 DD on BATMAN BEGINS.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Disc 1- The only extra is an audio commentary with director George Lucas, producer Rick McCallum, and three of the special effects people: Rob Coleman, John Knoll, and Roger Guyett. It sound slike George's commentary was recorded apart from the others and edited with the other commentary to form one audio commentary.

Disc 2- Three documentaries, 15 web documentaries, six deleted scenes, the Hero Falls music video, threatircal teaser and theatrical trailer and 15 TV spots, theatrical posters and print campaign from around the world, a photo gallery with captions, video game trailers, and an XBox game demo fill up this packed disc.

Three of the six deleted scenes shown on this DVD (five with fully completed effects) should have been left in the final film since they give Padme something to do and show the birth of the Rebel Alliance. My second favorite extra of the second disc are about a few of the 15 web documentaries that look at the production of Revenge Of The Sith. You get a look at how well connected Lucasfilm is from California to Sydney. They're that well-organized. You also see the weapons made for the film, costume design, and a look at so much more.

The three documentaries range from an inside look at Darth Vader (how the Star Wars saga is the story of Darth Vader as THE CHOSEN ONE), the training involved for the Jedi action battles in IT'S ALL FOR REAL, and the feature length documentary focusing on the work that went in creating less than sixty seconds of Episode III in WITHIN A MINUTE (so many different departments involved in the making of a film). The video game trailers don't interest me a bit or the XBox demo. The posters for the film just aren't really different (boring). The featurettes, the Episode II trailers, the TV spots, and the six deleted scenes are the best things about the extras for this two disc release.

MENUS: The work that went into the menus really show with select sound bits for different sections of the menu to go with the video menus. If you hit chapter skip at the right time before making it to the main menu, you are treated to an alternate main system on disc one.

FINAL ANALYSIS: Until they unearth more extras for a future Special Edition DVD, STAR WARS Episode III: REVENGE OF THE SITH is a spectacular DVD from the presentation of the movie to the extras.

this DVD Review is (c)11-8-2005 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission (except for excerpts and a link to the review). Look for additional content at http://www.livejournal.com/users/enterlinemedia and send all comments to lord_pragmagtic@hotmail.com