Movie Review: Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith

plot: mmm... lacking. the evolution of anakin the young pod-racing pup to darth vader... blegh. what a waste of potential. george lucas is mildly incompetant at writing romance. the politics were childish, sort of like something out of the simpsons. palpatine's rise to power was just as contrived as anakin's descent into the dark side. at least that was consistent. small holes in continuity (especially leia in ROTJ, who comments that she remembered her mother being sad, but beautiful). the main villains of the piece were about as threatening as stormtroopers were to ewoks.

visuals: stunning in the 'i spent $120 billion dollars on these computer graphics' sort of way. i understand that the technology available now has far surpassed what lucas concocted for IV - VI, but the ships and technology that appeared in the prequels really detracted from the quality of the 'older' movies. obviously green screen was the only way to go with fictional planetscapes and celestial dogfights, but still... a bit overdone? maybe if lucas had spent more money on better actors... too many scene wipes. it was like me playing with the video mixer in the sanctuary for the first time.

acting: natalie portman was wasted ("hold me, anakin, just like you did by that lake on Naboo" "oh annie, you're breaking my heart!"). hayden was... uh... slighty better because he got the look, but once he tried to speak... fail! it was like watching attack of the clones, but with more sweaty hair. ewan mcgregor was a resounding meh. he looked like george lucas. jar jar was awesome. he looked shocked when palpatine announced his empire, he looked sad at padme's funeral and HE DIDN'T SPEAK AT ALL. yoda was hype. but i think he wasted all his energy on chopping up clones. mace windu was pretty uber, considering all the other jedi masters died like star trek security teams.

sound: john williams is THE MAN.

lightsaber duels: you know why people thought lightsabers were so cool back then? because it was cool and new and rarely used. now it's just overdone, like padme's hair.

rating: 2/5 if you didn't see Episode I and/or II.
5/5 if you saw Episode I and/or II.