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SPOILER ALERT! Contains storyline of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Read on at your own risk.

It’s been more than a month in anticipation since I’ve booked my tickets. The final countdown began at 22.30 last night after a hasty Nandos dinner. Waving my friends a (temporary) goodbye, I stepped out, alone, of the chicken joint, collected my Master Replicas Force FX Darth Vader Red Lightsaber from my speeder… with wheels, and duly entered the lairs of Vue cinema, Staines, planet Earth. Waving to the ticket guard “You do not need to see my student ID”, I arrived at the Corridor of Darkness where a dozen of like minded creatures have already formed a queue, with a good two hours to go before the beginning of the end of the Saga. Three or four of them were rather enthusiastic and engaged in heated debates and, where diplomacy failed, episodes of lightsaber battles. I, of course, am above all that. My reinforcements arrived in stages and at around midnight, we were allowed into the auditorium.

Let’s fast-forward to the film, skipping the PR exercise put on by the cinema manager (no, I don’t want a raffle, just put the bloody film on!). Overall speaking, I’d certainly give it a thumbs-up. There’s no doubt that it’s the best of the prequels by far.

Through a better screenplay and dialogues than Episode II, you do feel the close brother-like relationship between Obi-Wan and Anakin, and their mutual respect is apparent. The sequence towards the end of their epic battle on lava was particularly powerful, with Obi-Wan having defeated Anakin, almost in tears, shouting “You were the chosen one!”

The storyline is much what you’d expect, as there’s not many degrees of freedom being sandwiched between Episodes II and IV. Anakin’s descent into the Dark Side was always going to be difficult to portray. George’s attempt is passable but not entirely convincing. This is partly because the “dark forces can prevent death” approach taken by Palpatine lacks subtlety and party due to the unconvincing “love” between Anakin and Padmé.

Visually, the CG effects are by and large top notch as you’d expect from ILM. There are quite a few new planets, spacecrafts and vehicles, robots, and what feels like non-stop wieldings of variously coloured lightsabers. And that’s all good in my book.

In summary, it’s no Episode V quality, but I did enjoy it without having to try to hard. Still, I think I need more time to mull over the film, and how to cope with a post Star Wars (movies) life.