The Force is Still Not With It

Rating: 3/10 (6 March 2004)

The continuation of the star Wars saga proves dramatically (plot wise) better than the previous film, but is even more wooden and stiff than before. George Lucas simply can not direct, he never could and never will be able to turn out anything other than an okay film. Fortunately for him, that one okay film, Star Wars, has been paying his bill for years.
Lucas seems to think that bigger is better on every level so he cranks things up an extra fifteen notches thanks to the leap frog jumps in digital technology.
Lucas has now built his entire movie against a blue screen which he fills with many wonderful sights. The locations and the designs are indeed wonderful, the problem is that in a year that brought Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, Lucas' special effects are far from special since its the one film of the three where you know instantly where the real people end and their animated versions begin. The animation in this film is some of the worst computer variety ever put into a film with a budget this big. The failure of the visual effects keeps pulling you out of the story especially when its so badly acted by everyone on screen with the exception of Christopher Lee, Samuel Jackson and Yoda.
Star Wars as a franchise effectively died with the previous film and despite the occasional flash of life in this one its best to pull a sheet over its head and mourn the loss of a cultural icon.