Why? Why did this happen?

Rating: Null/10 (20 April 2011)

George Lucas could make films once - why can't he now? The answer may be painfully clear now that Eps I, II, and III are out - George Lucas never COULD make films. Now, stick with me on this - he didn't have complete control over IV, V, and VI. Lawrence Kasdan wrote dialog and the was SOME limit on his special effects. It has become evident that, when George is given an unlimited budget and full writing duties, he stops writing and just plays with the computers all day long. Seriously, the movie just Bataan-Death-Marches from one long, pointless CGI sequence to the next, occasionally interspersed with truly stultifying "political" sequences. Fun, huh? The love story sequences, such as they are, could not be more stilted and awkward. Whatever pleasant, magical nostalgia Lucas didn't ruin in The Phantom Menace, he ruins in this movie. Other folks have pointed this out, but THERE IS NO CLEAR HERO. For whom are we cheering here? Darth Vader? Obi Wan? Yoda?? This movie fails on that count alone - we can't even perform the basic act of choosing sides.