12 Films At Christmas - 11

Yes I know it's not Christmas any more, even for a perpetual student of life like OG. However I just didn't get round to finishing off my yuletide dozen. So when I was feeling pretty ropey this morning (sore throat etc, not the Black Dog I'm glad to say) I took a break from my Shakespeare/Bagehot and made myself watch Revenge of the Sith. I did so with trepidation in light of the state of underwhelmedness the first two Star Wars instalments had provoked. And here's the news - it starts unpromisingly but gets considerably better and by its end is the best by a mile of those first three episodes. All you need to know is in the prologue scroll - 'There were heroes on both sides. Evil was everywhere." A good tag off which to hang a morality tale.

Same clunky dialogue and unconvincingly star-crossed lovers but some nice filmic touches - the assassination of various Jedi echoing the seminal baptism scene from The Godfather. The descent into evil is always compelling and this descent was suitably nuanced. Get past the first half an hour (sorry but wise-cracking Obe-Wan doesn't pass muster) and you're into the territory of a good film. 7/10.