"Every shot there's a bluescreen, even if it's at a window"

Rating: 3/10 (13 September 2013)

The only thing positive I can say about this film is that it is better than Phantom Menace. That is the only thing I can say that makes this movie remotely recommendable... That doesn't necessarily mean its a great film, let alone a good one. The film suffers from being too creatively controlled by George Lucas. The reason why Empire was good was that Lucas only wrote the script... And it had to be revised. It is his usual tension-free, bland dialogue script that gives the movie a minority of its problems. This was a classic example in the fool me once shame on him, fool me twice shame on me. The producers should have seen this coming and should not have given Lucas as much creative control as he did. Most of the plot devises he sets up crashes and burns. It is a catastrophe of epic proportions. The "romance" in this film between Hayden Christensen and Natalie Portman crumbles because of bland dialogue and implausible plot devises. "I'm a senator" Samuel L Jackson, Ewan McGreggor and Christopher Lee give decent performances. The problem is is that they are so detached with their environment. Like their only purpose was to take out a lightsaber each scene. But with Hayden Christensen... Good God what happened there? Some of the worst acting, no, worst line delivery I have seen in a while. Tommy Wiseau could give better line delivery than that man. But no, The script isn't the downfall of the film, nor is the acting. The use of CGI in every scene, literally every scene is what killed the film for me. The effects added zero tension zero thrills and had zero purpose. In the end, this film had to be the darkest of the trilogy because it was the second act, the characters needed a challenge they could overcome. The only purpose this film will ever have is that this is some minor details between Episode I and Episode III.