One of the advantages of having a second run theater in the neighborhood is the chance to catch a really good popcorn muncher one last time on the big screen where it belongs.

For West Seattleites the Admiral is that theater, and this October "Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith" is that movie.

"Revenge of the Sith" is peculiar in that we all know, long before we've seen the movie for the first time, where it's going to take us: Anakin Skywalker is about to be seduced to the dark side and become cinema's most famous asthmatic. Moreover there are very few plot twists that a reasonably astute six year old couldn't see coming at him from about a mile away to keep us glued to the narrative, and the dialogue...(don't get me started). So what is it that makes "Revenge of the Sith" such a satisfying "sit" in a dark movie theater? It takes all of five minutes to find out.

The movie opens with that famous yellow copy receding into space, a charming reminder that we are back in familiar territory - a galaxy far, far away.

Then suddenly, the bottom drops out and we find ourselves careening through a formation of starships, mid-battle, hanging onto the coat tails of Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) and Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) as they weave and dodge their Jedi fighters through a gauntlet of ordinance and exploding wreckage. Your mind is yanked in several directions at once, torn between the visceral G forces of the chase, the anthropomorphic charm of the digital characters (the buzz droids are kind of spiffy), and the inventive, intricate starships that add a backdrop of eerie serenity to the chaotic action (Director George Lucas, ever the elegant scavenger of fantasy literature, even tips his hat to Hayao Miyazaki (Laputa, Spirited Away) with some wonderful retro-industrial cannons on one of the starships). The battle goes on, manic and unabated, for the better part of half an hour and when it's over you notice that your breathing is a little fast and you have popcorn all over your lap.

Lucas' art has always been taking the viewer on a roller coaster ride through incredibly imaginative digital environments, and you have to admit, even if you don't keep Star Wars action figures on your mantel piece, it's a heck of a lot of fun.

Where Lucas' art stops, and suddenly, is when human beings have to interact without whacking each other with light sabers. Lucas, who made such a promising start with American Graffiti, now settles for performances that are remarkably bland. Honestly, if you met Chancellor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) and Count Dooku (Christopher Lee) at a party for the first time would you be able to tell them apart? And what director could produce a more wooden looking Samuel Jackson? It is the great irony of "Revenge of the Sith" that the most nuanced performance comes from Yoda - who, come to think of it, isn't even real.

But in the end, I think, you just have to forgive Lucas for his failings, wait for the action to return, as it always does, and surrender to the joy of watching General Grievous speeding off in his big wheel scooter.

Bruce Bulloch write regularly about movies at The Admiral Theatre and can be reached at wseditor@robinsonnews.com