Bring some earplugs!

Rating: 4/10 (16 May 2002)

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me!
I was absolutely certain that Mr. Lucas had learned from his Episode 1 mistakes and would be packaging a wonderful treat for us this go 'round. Well, it's true that he fixed many of the annoying problems that plagued us die-hard fans in episode 1. Instead we have a whole new set of problems that make much of this film very difficult to watch, indeed. Some of the lines the poor actors have to deliver you can hardly believe are coming from their mouths. You can tell by the expressions on their faces that they are having a hard time with it also.
The human element that made Episodes IV-VI so much fun to watch is almost completely gone. It is quite apparent that George knows and cares a heck of a lot more about special effects/technical wizardry than he does about script, plot, and characters that you really care about, good or bad. I wonder if it ever occurred to him that one of the reasons that the first three movies were so popular were because he was limited with what he could do with effects and so he HAD to focus on the characters to make the movie worth watching.
Oh well, with all that said, there's plenty of neat things to watch in this movie. I would put it up on the same level as many of the Blue Angels IMAX films I've seen recently. Just replace the horrible script and dialogue with some Tom Selleck narration, and you might just have a movie that doesn't make you cringe every time the actors open their mouths.
Shame on me this time!
Ian
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"Who is more foolish, the fool, or the fool who follows him?"