Tonight at midnight fans will get their first look at the final installment of George Lucas’s Star Wars epic, Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith.  The release of this final installment shows the public excitement for the franchise hasn’t died down over the decades, we’ve waited a long time for this final conclusion where we get to find out exactly why and how Anakin Skywalker was seduced by the dark side.

The original Star Wars in 1977 stands as my favorite of the bunch.  It was the first, I was the perfect age for it to have blown me away.  This was the film that collectively blew the minds of a generation of moviegoers who would forever become fans of not just Star Wars per se but also fans of film.  You can’t put your finger on any one thing that made Star Wars so successful.  The story was nothing unseen in fairy tales.  Neither the acting nor dialogue was particularly fantastic.  The special effects showed us things we’d never seen before and the innate simplicity and familiarity of the story gave us a point of reference in this strange new universe.  As absorbed as I was at the time with Star Wars (to this day I count among my very favorite movies of all time) I never considered George Lucas to be a particularly good film director.  Ultimately George Lucas’s genius wasn’t being one of the great film directors of our time but his ability to accomplish what must have seemed impossible.  Lucas created a universe, civilizations with a detailed sense of history.  He created colorful characters that must have seemed laughable in meetings with board members to finance the project before it was a success.  With the success of Star Wars, Lucas created the “summer blockbuster” that is still a recognized film feature today.  And best of all he introduced a generation of kids like myself to film.  At a time when the art of film had really reached such a creative high point it was mostly too high brow for a ten year old boy in 1977.  Important film makers like Alan Pakula, Milos Forman, Martin Scorsese were all making movies with artistic value or social commentary, the period was a boon for the art of film but largely lost on someone of my age.  Then Star Wars came on the scene and changed everything.  It was immediately accessible to teens and pre-teens but didn’t talk down to them or make efforts to create some sanitized message.  It was an action adventure film that took generation Xers on a journey much like the westerns had done for the youngsters of a generation before. 

Fueled by 21st century marketing, the commercial behemoth of the Star Wars franchise coasts on the momentum of a creative spark that vacated George Lucas decades ago.  Why else does he primp and preen with his own twenty year old work?  I’ve never been a fan of his updates to the original movies, not because I’m a Star Wars purist, it’s his work and he can do what he wants.  I just have to wonder about a director that hasn’t yet moved on from one great idea pursue more perhaps even greater ideas.  I only hope the rumors are true, that this might try to capture some of the darkness of the Empire Strikes Back.  And hopefully Lucas will give us some of that run of the mill action formula he’s so adept at presenting.  This is to be the first Star Wars movie to receive a rating higher than PG, this one is rated PG-13.  Here we are on the eve of the final installment and I must admit despite my reservations I am excited about seeing this one, but you’ll have to excuse me if my expectations aren’t exactly stellar.