Fading Away

Rating: Null/10 (22 June 2002)

This is a good movie... if you only watched it once. To make things simple, this is not a classic and does not (absolutely postively) deserve to be in the Star Wars trilogy. Sure, its better than 'The Phantom Menace' but what isn't? The characters were better used this time, thankfully, and Hayden Christensen did a wonderful portrayal of Anakin Skywalker which really balanced the otherwise tilting movie. A couple objections to the film... first, they should've shown more of Anakin's rampage on the raiders; i mean, not all in detail, but at least enough to make you cringe. Secondly, the romance between Anakin and Amidala just wasn't happenin'... i didn't feel the connection like I did with Leia and Solo in the original trilogies and I thought the two just didn't have chemistry. The main problem with this 'so called' love was that it based the whole movie on it when it only spanned a quartet of clips. At least with Leia and Solo, it wasn't hyped up and it just happened- if Lucas did not blow the love out of proportion maybe the movie might've been better. Nonetheless, nobody can forget Ewan McGregor's performance as Obi Wan also- who in my opinion was the cream of the crop here. Some shocking moments in this film that never really happened in any of the previous Star Wars films- i won't tell but has something to do with Jango Fett and Mace Windu. Definitely was creative and delivered quite well. Also, the final lightsaber sequence with Count Dooku... guess who came to the party? Yoda! I don't think Lucas intended on making the scene funny, but not one person in the theater the 1st time I saw it, did not laugh. I don't know how to make a critique on that except Lucas did something wrong there because I am confused whether its comical or normal. Anyways, the movie was alright but not something you would want sitting on a shelf beside the "Star Wars" or "Empire Strikes Back", that's for sure. Out of 10 stars, I give it a 6. Hopefully, the next film (Episode III) will bring out dorment "true" Star Wars fans like myself.