A DVD trip to the Dark Side

Rarely in cinematic history have films begun with a money shot, but such is the case with George Lucas' latest, and most likely final, astronomically budgeted, multi-billion-dollar-grossing "Stars Wars" installment. Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi pilot their Jedi Starfighters over the expansive surface of a massive cruiser ship, then plunge headlong into the biggest and most chaotic space battle (or battle, for that matter) ever seen in any film. The first 25 minutes of "Star Wars: Episode III" is crammed with non-stop action, almost to the point of geekish delirium. As expected, there are upwards of 20 scenes nearly as breathtaking as the opening, and countless lightsaber battles to feast the eyes on, but the real question on everyone's mind was if George Lucas could overcome the tepid critical response to his first two gorgeous but nobly flawed "Star Wars" prequels with this final installment. Thankfully, George came through on multiple levels for casual fans as well as the thousands who showed up to the multiplex at midnight wearing their Boba Fett costumes.\nIt's no secret Lucas has always been a far more effective ideas man and producer than a director in the traditional terms, but with "Episode III" he seems to have found a particular strain of narrative he felt strongly enough about to actually direct the actors. There are scenes of honest emotional weight in "Episode III," represented best in a dialogue-free scene where Anakin and Padme stare pensively in each other's direction across the bustling urban expanse of Coruscant at sunset, backed perfectly by an eerie snippet of John Williams' score. Sith gets under your skin for the first time in a "Star Wars" film since Darth Vader revealed his paternity after lopping off his son's hand at the elbow, and that's more exciting than any lightsaber duel.\nIn the extras department, Lucasfilm has bestowed upon us an insightful audio commentary track featuring Lucas, producer Rick McCallum and some of the film's animators and FX supervisors. Disc two houses several meaty, for-fans-only deleted scenes (see Yoda arrive on Dagobah and sit through even more intergalactic political banter!!!), a mini-doc on green-screen stunt work and a featurette on the six-episode evolution of Darth Vader himself. Perhaps most valuable to film buffs, though, is the hour-long doc "Within a Minute," which chronicles, in near-obsessive detail, all aspects of the production of a mere 49 seconds of footage in the finished film.\nWith the Star Wars saga now complete (pending Lucas' highly unlikely pipe dream of Episodes VII, VIII and IX coming to fruition), "Revenge of the Sith" occupies a strong third place position in the series after 1980's "The Empire Strikes Back" and 1977's "A New Hope." Despite occasional flourishes of awkward, tin-eared romantic dialogue or the ultimately ignorable undercurrent of childish jokes (far less present here than in Episodes I and II), Lucas has presented a first-rate action movie that manages to look and sound twice as good on DVD as it did in theaters.