a review of 星球大战前传3：西斯的复仇

OK, so for whatever reason with this viewing something about this movie clicked for me in a way I don't think it even did in the theater back in '05. For one thing, Hayden Christensen's performance in this is far better than I remembered; He totally hits all of the different levels of Anakin's heroism and irreverence and headstrongness that I appreciate from the Clone Wars animated series, and this time I really believed his conflict and turn. And I completely bought into everything that Ian McDiarmid was doing with his performance as Palpatine, really masterful work and I'm honestly pumped to have him back in IX. I know in my brain that not everything in this movie makes logical sense, but viewed as pure cinema (or as a space opera laced with old fashioned melodrama) it all works in a way that I wish the other two movies also did. I'm bumping this up a half-star from my previous rating to ⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of 5 stars. It's a great movie that I don't know if I ever properly appreciated before. Out of the six pre-Disney films, it's my new #3, behind Empire and New Hope, and just ahead of my former #3, Return of the Jedi.