12A, 140mins) Starring Hayden Christensen, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Ian McDiarmid, Samuel L Jackson, Christopher Lee, and the voices of Frank Oz and Anthony Daniels. Directed by George Lucas

We've endured pod race storypadding, midichlorians, clunky dialogue and the most irritating galactic character of all time - Jar Jar Binks - all in anticipation of the most eagerly awaited chapter in the Star Wars saga: Darth Vader's story.

When The Phantom Menace hit our screens in 1999, we all wondered how the harmless young Anakin Skywalker would fall prey to the Dark Side of The Force and become the face behind that fearsome black helmet.

Then Attack of the Clones arrived in 2002 and the accomplished Jedi apprentice of Obi-Wan began throwing adolescent temper-tantrums. His hand is then severed by evil Sith apprentice Count Dooku in a lightsaber battle.

Replaced with an eerie robotic one, Anakin's transformation into Vader seems to have begun.

Now, after nearly 30 years of waiting and speculating, we learn exactly how and why heroic Anakin Skywalker (Christensen) - prophesied to be the Chosen One, the single individual who would bring balance to The Force and ensure peace throughout the galaxy - becomes the dreaded Darth Vader.

Revenge Of The Sith represents the tragedy of Anakin's fateful decision.

Three years after the Battle of Geonosis in Episode II: Attack Of The Clones, the final catastrophic battles of the Clone Wars are taking place.

The corrupt Chancellor Palpatine (McDiarmid) has been taken hostage by the nefarious General Grievous, leader of the droid army. Obi-Wan Kenobi (McGregor) and Anakin Skywalker embark on a daring rescue mission to save him and destroy Grievous - giving us the first of five epic light-sabre battles.

On Anakin's return, his wife, Senator Padme Amidala (Portman), tells him that she is pregnant. Anakin says the news makes him happy, but his anxious face tells a different story.

After a having a prophetic dream in which Padme dies in childbirth, Anakin becomes determined to save her from this fate any way he can.

Meanwhile, Chancellor Palpatine has proclaimed himself Emperor. Suspicious of his loyalties to the Force, the Jedi Council ask Anakin to monitor him - the outcome of which is cataclysmic.

Palpatine manipulates the vulnerable Anakin by persuading him that the Dark Lords of the past have had the power to stop death.

Faced with a choice between losing Padme or giving up his soul to gain the power to save her, Anakin turns to the Dark Side.

Compared with The Phantom Menance and Attack of the Cones, Episode III is the chosen one.

Christensen's acting is light-years ahead of his wooden performance in Clones and McGregor looks much more comfortable in his Jedi robes.

McDiarmid's performance as the gleefully evil Palpatine reveals the film's unmerciful darkness and tragedy, and the whole is topped off by some intense and brutal light-sabre fights.

The dialogue is still ropey in places and Yoda's gramatically mangled prophecies become more and more unintentionally comic as the film progresses, but you can't have everything.

Episode III achieves everything it sets out to do: It nestles itself nicely into 1977's Episode IV and satisfies our thirst for Vader's story.

The circle is now complete.