On the Anakin/Darth Vader controversy...

Rating: Null/10 (31 May 1999)

Many people have commented that Anakin seems like such a good boy, yet he becomes the insidious Darth Vader, so it just doesn't fit. I just wanted to pint out that there is a reason Lucas went out of his way to make Anakin the perfect little boy. He's not supposed to be Hitler in a child's body. He does not become Darth Vader because of evil intentions, as I understand it from the rabid Star Wars fans I am surrounded by.
As far as being the Savior, analogous to Jesus Christ: the characters in the movie seem to think Anakin is the Chosen One, but as I understand it, also from being surrounded by rabid Star Wars fans, it is Luke that is the Chosen One, not Anakin. Also, even if the story is based on Christian mythology, that doesn't mean every aspect of the story and character development has to be; the story of Jesus may just have served as inspiration for a starting point.
In any case, the point was to make Anakin completely uncorrupted, so that we realise the contrast between Anakin and Darth Vader and how far Anakin had to go to become the villain of episodes IV-VI. At the age of 10 or whatever, he has not yet begun his descent to the Dark Side; that's for the next movies. I thought the movie did a decent job of showing us who Anakin is at this point, even if the character development was not extensive. However, I would also like to point out, as there has been much criticism of the character development in this movie, that the character development was somewhat lacking in the original Star Wars as well. It was not until Empire that it was shown that Luke was not just whiny, for example. The purpose of this movie was to introduce us to the major players and settings, and to the catalysts for the formation of the evil Empire. I thought the movie accomplished this quite well, and, while I liked it a lot, I am sure I will like it even more after the next 2 movies come out to complete the story.