The traces of amateur filmmaking are hard to ignore

Rating: 4/10 (17 July 2012)

There is plenty of Star Wars stuff going on here, but so much of everything else borders on amateur filmmaking, that it becomes harder and harder to just endure the talky parts. Or to be totally precise, almost every part where there is any talking going on. I suppose after so much appreciation along the preceding 22 years George Lucas couldn't resist but to take his place in the directors chair again, maybe forgetting, that while he might be a visionary, he did not collect any profound experience as a director since 1977. Liam Neeson and Evan McGregor kind of keep tight, but from the horrible delivery of the blunt lines by the supporting cast, to all the stupid little nuances of the extras, the discoordinated settings, to the messy cinematography and editing, everything is a testimony to Lucas' inability to run a tight ship. Or generally a ship at all. If this wouldn't be a Starwars movie, with tons of expensive, state of the art CGI overshadowing clumsy filmmaking, the movie wouldn't have made it into the B category.