Leagues better than the first two prequels, but far inferior to any of the original Star Wars films … this puts the third (or last, depending on your opinion of continuity) chapter of Lucas’ epic squarely in the “Contentious” zone with a sky-high FCQ of 52.32 (FCQ = Film Contentiousness Quotient: details here).

There’s not much argument that Revenge of the Sith was easily the best of of Lucas’ much despised trilogy of prequels. The simple lack of screen time for Jar Jar Binks guaranteed that much. But this one also had true drama as opposed to cutsey kids playing laser tag in a radical, futuristic F1 race. Hayden Christensen met early criticisms of his questionable acting talent head-on by providing a decent portrayal of Anakin Skywalker’s descent into the dark side. And was that a faint whiff of political commentary I detected? Lucas, you dog!

But it didn’t convince everyone. The dialogue (particularly all the hilarious romantic scenes) was awful. And the CGI, while improved, was still pretty bad. But what do you think? Did George Lucas redeem himself with Revenge of the Sith or not?

Revenge of the Sith

• Great! (57%, 25 Votes)
• Terrible! (43%, 19 Votes)

Total Voters: 44

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Here are a couple battling opinions from Criticker users.

Filligan: “The best of the Prequels, definately. McGregor is sadly unimpressive, but Christensen is surprisingly not! It’s dark and moody, like Empire, and the lightsaber battles are superb fun. I thought the score was Oscar-worthy, too.”

the_phil: “Ugh. Lucas left himself far too much to do, and Anakin’s downfall is tedious, moronic and far, far too easily achieved. Add terrible dialogue, a dire performance from Christiansen and you are left with a very bad taste in the mouth.”

Last week, we put The Life of David Gale to the vote, and are pleased to announce an all-too-seldom verdict of terrible! This one wasn’t even close.

And here’s our up-to-date list of the top 10 most contentious films at Criticker:

1. Across the Universe – FCQ 58.72 – Poll Result: GREAT!
2. Eyes Wide Shut – FCQ 57.17 – Poll Result: GREAT!
3. The Rocky Horror Picture Show – FCQ 54.97 – Poll Result: GREAT!
4. Stay – FCQ 53.6 – Poll Result: GREAT!
5. Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith – FCQ 52.32 – Poll Result: Pending!
6. The Butterfly Effect – FCQ 49.84 – Poll Result: GREAT!
7. The Life of David Gale – FCQ 49.33 – Poll Result: TERRIBLE!
8. Chicago – FCQ 49.07 – Poll Result: GREAT!
9. Dumb & Dumber – FCQ 48.79 – Poll Result: GREAT!
10. Saw – FCQ 48.67 – Poll Result: TIE!