It's Friday 20th May 2005. It's about a day and a half since I got back from watching Star Wars Episode III for the first time. And now I'm ready at last to put my thoughts into the form of some vaguely coherent review:

If I had to sum up Revenge of the Sith, the word that immediately springs to mind is brutal. From its place in the overall Star Wars storyline, I always knew this would be a very dark episode, but I don't think I was prepared for just how gruelling it was going to be.

First off, Revenge is astonishingly violent. Body parts get sliced off all over the shop; the death count is colossal; and then there's the lingering, graphic close-up of a major character being burned alive.

Not only that, but the film puts you through the emotional grinder as well. The subject matter is deeply intense stuff - betrayal, dictatorships seizing power, the death of democracy, selling one's soul to the Devil, duty forcing you to kill the ones you love, spousal abuse, the massacre of innocents - it's all in there. And, though not everything goes his way, the bad guy wins.

Episode III pushes the 12A certificate to its absolute limits. If it wasn't for the fantasy setting and most of the maiming and killing being done with glowing energy swords, I could easily see this getting an 18 rating. That makes it very different from the other Star Wars films. This is no light-hearted, kiddies' adventure romp. This is a disturbing journey into the darkest aspects of the human psyche and the worst that men can do.

All of this is a good thing.

Don't get me wrong. I love each and every one of the other five Star Wars episodes greatly, but six films is an awful lot for one setting and one storyline (Haven't we all been spoiled!), and it's good to have some variety in that. Take The Empire Strikes Back, for example, in my opinion the best in the series: That chapter was much more of a personal journey for Luke and for Vader. It was less about having an adventure, and more about growing up and finding oneself. Attack of the Clones also had a different feel to the others, more melancholy and mysterious.

Episode III is the final film; the last piece in the jigsaw. Going into it, the audience pretty much knows what has to happen - Anakin has to fall, Palpatine has to declare himself Emperor, Obi-Wan and Yoda need to go into hiding, the twins need to be born, and every significant character who doesn't appear in the original trilogy must be killed off.

In that sense, this is a joining-the-dots film. It joins those dots very well indeed and, a few minor niggles aside (Leia remembers her real mother? Come off it! One could argue it's because the Force is strong with her, but in that case, how come Luke doesn't?), the flow of the storyline into Episode IV is seamless. This is an impressive achievement, when you consider that Star Wars is a tale that has been told inside out, over a period of 28 years.

However, it could all too easily have been just a continuity exercise. Given that I knew from the trailers and from various websites pretty much who fought who in every major battle, there could have been no surprises at all. Episode III might have turned out to be satisfying from the point of view of filling in all the plot holes, but ultimately a rather dull film to watch.

This is why it is so important that the film shocks, why it has to drag you along a rollercoaster ride of thrills and torment, refusing to let go, even for an instant. I laughed. I cheered. I was on the edge of my seat. I gasped. I cried. I was shaken and horrified. At the end of it all, I felt exhausted and drained, but I could hardly wait to see it all over again. Rarely does a film take you through such a broad range so intensely.

Full credit must go to Lucas and his actors in this one. Although the action comes thick and fast throughout, and the pace is frenetic, the script finds time to let the characters grow. There are many scenes where the camera lingers in close-up on an actor's face. There are no words, but their expression and the music tell all.

The scenes that impressed me the most (more so than any of the battles) were those in which any two characters simply talked to one another. If Lucas has one fatal flaw, it's his obsession with moving events forward at a relentless pace, with nary a moment for his characters to breathe and let us get to know them a little better. Episode III has several lengthy scenes that are just conversations between two characters, and these scenes are spellbinding.

The acting, oft-criticised in the previous two prequels, has been raised up several notches here. Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen now seem fully confident in their roles as Obi-Wan and Anakin. Their casual banter and easy-going friendship, later turning to hatred, angst and betrayal form the backbone of the film. They are also a great asset to the series as a whole, lending credence to Alec Guinness's elder Obi-Wan speaking of Anakin as "a good friend".

Ian McDiarmid is deliciously nasty as Palpatine, appearing slippery and manipulative at first, and then revelling in evil panto-villain glee once his true nature is revealed. In many ways, this is Palpatine's film. McDiarmid not only steals the show, he chews up the scenery, hacks it to pieces with a lightsaber, runs off with the film and claims it as his own personal Empire. The man is a genius, and mesmerising to watch.

The only weak character is Natalie Portman's Padme, which is a shame really, given how important she is to her husband's fall. I appreciate that she's supposed to be heavily pregnant and feeling all maternal, but she just comes across as rather weak and drippy. The Padme of Episodes I and II would have slapped Anakin into shape and told him in no uncertain terms to get his act together. She would also have never sat idly by in the Senate as the Emperor ground democracy under his heel unchallenged.

After Episode III, we will look at none of these characters in quite the same way again. Every one of them is seen to struggle and fail, including the seemingly-omnipotent masters, Palpatine and Yoda. Watching the slave boy from Tatooine become Darth Vader, scourge of the galaxy, is a terrifying and beautiful thing to watch. Not only that, but following the full path of his transformation causes him to become a much more sympathetic villain.

Vader turns to the Dark Side to protect the ones he loves, exactly the same reason that almost causes Luke to turn in Episode VI. In future viewings of the classic trilogy, it will be frighteningly clear just how close the younger Skywalker was to following in his father's footsteps.

Structurally, Revenge of the Sith is a clever film. It opens immediately into the action. The first twenty minutes or so is classic Star Wars stuff, with an epic space battle and rescue mission interspersed with cheesy yet oh-so-quotable lines and laugh-out-loud comedy moments. It is also a wonderful showcase for R2-D2, who I've long considered to be the greatest unsung hero of the saga. After settling you in comfortably, Lucas changes the tone, and intersperses the remainder of his story with the kinds of character scenes mentioned earlier and a series of thrilling personal fights.

The fights themselves are terrific, and tear along at such breakneck speed that they make all the duels in other episodes feel like just the warm-up act. It's not all perfect - there's a surprising amount of choppy camera cuts that make it difficult at times to follow the action. This is a flaw that often afflicts lesser Hollywood films, and I expected better from Lucas. However, the choreography and skill of the players (Most of the actors carried out their own stunt work) is breathtaking.

Each duel (there are five of them in total) shows us something slightly different to anything we have seen in previous films, and because of the shifting allegiances and betrayals, the emotional charge behind them is that much stronger. When Obi-Wan stands over a charred and dying Anakin and calls him his brother, it rips your heart out.

As is so often the case, it's the little touches that elevate Episode III to true greatness. Obi-Wan's throwaway line, "How uncivilised", is a deft comic touch that, with a knowing wink, forms another connection with Episode IV. The necklace Anakin made for Padme from a Jappor Snippet when he was a young boy is seen again, and used to heartbreakingly poignant effect, when seen in context with the moment it first appeared in Episode I.

The interposing of different events is used to great effect, particularly during the Jedi purge and at the film's end. The birth of the Rebellion's new hopes, Luke and Leia, is paralleled with the rebirth of their father, now "more machine than man". The closing minutes of the film are told with a melancholy grace that stays with you long after the curtains close. The end provides a satisfying closure, but simultaneously makes you want to watch the trilogy that follows it all over again.

In short, Episode III is a wildly different, yet magnificent conclusion to one of cinema's greatest stories. It is not an easy film to watch, but it is one that is immensely rewarding.

In Oscar tradition, I would like to finish this review by thanking all those people who helped complete my Episode III experience - all the friends who were willing to come along with an obsessive geek to the cinema at midnight, the random guys I met and had a lightsaber fight with in the car park outside, and all the other friends who are coming out to see it again with me tonight.

A special "no thanks" must go to the cinema, for acting like party poopers and refusing to let anyone take lightsabers into the building, and then subjecting us to a seemingly endless stream of ads and trailers.

Thanks also are due to all the Star Wars fan community, that I feel glad to count myself a part of. It's been a pleasure talking and speculating with you guys over the years, whether it's been online or in person. I'm especially proud of those of us who have kept the faith throughout the prequel trilogy, flying the Jedi flag in the face of endless media and Internet criticism. Now the circle is complete, and the final chapter vindicates it all. Lucas has given us a thrilling 13-hour epic we can enjoy in its entirety again and again.

May the Force be with us all, always.