The Film

The end of a saga. The end of an era. Yes people the highest grossing movie of the summer has finally hit the DVD shelves. The movie is set three years after the Clone Wars have begun and explores the last moments of Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) as a true man. Anakin is driven to the darkside by his love for his pregnant wife Padme (Natalie Portman). Anakin has a nightmare that while giving birth Padme will die. Even when he is told by both Obi-Wan (Ewan McGregor) and Yoda (voice of Frank Oz) that he must let go of her, he turns to the dark side and his new master Chancellor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) to try to save her. Palpatine sends out orders for the killing of all Jedi, and with complete control of the Republic begins the first Galactic Empire. In the end the two trilogies are put together when we see the lightsaber battle between Anakin and Obi-Wan on the planet of Mustafar, the transformation of Anakin Skywalker into Darth Vadar, and the delivery of Luke by Obi-Wan to Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru.

Disc One

The movie is taken directly from the digital source and put on the DVD in anamorphic widescreen. The transfer is astonishing and even if you think Lucas cannot write a script for his life, you can see he is a virtuoso in the field of computer graphics. The images look great with the transfer, the closest you can get to seeing it in the theatres. Lucas is also an expert in the sound department. The movie comes in Dolby 5.1 Surround EX. However, this option is only for English and those who wish to listen to Spanish or French are stuck with the Dolby Surround 2.0. The disc also features commentary from Director George Lucas, Producer Rick McCallum, Animation Director ILM Rob Coleman, Visual Effects Supervisor John Knoll, and Visual Effects Supervisor Roger Guyett. It could have used a commentary track from some of the actors, but as long as it has Lucas it is fine by me.

Disc Two

This DVD is jammed packed with special features. First we have the three featurettes. There is the full-length documentary "Within a Minute" which takes a closer look at the lightsaber battle between Anakin and Obi-Wan and all the different people that worked on making the most important scene in the movie, which of course lasted under a minute. Then we have the 15 minute featurette "The Chosen One" which takes a look at the transformation of Anakin Skywalker into Darth Vadar. It mostly consists of George Lucas connecting the dots of the entire six-part saga and how Anakin turned to the dark side. Then the featurette "It's All For Real" shows the stunt work and training that goes into making a Jedi battle scene. You also get six deleted scenes each with optional introduction by George Lucas and Rick McCallum. After watching them, you'll see why they were left out. The cream of the crop of the DVD is the 15-part web-documentary which goes behind the scenes of the movie. Then there is the customary section for the different trailers, posters, and TV spots used for the promotional campiagn of the movie in both the United States, and other countries throughout the world. Also, there is a John Williams' music video for "A Hero Falls" and various never before seen production photos.

The Verdict

If you already own the first five movies released for this saga, then this is a must own. The special features are enough to hold over any Star Wars freak, and can truly put together the entire series together for people that are just marginal fans of all the movies. If you don't own any of the prior movies released for this saga, then I would suggest waiting for the Super Special Edition of all six movies.

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