Maybe I am getting too old for this stuff (5/10)

Rating: 5/10 (5 July 2002)

[I saw this in the theater. YMMV]
I was bored in this movie.
B O R E D
I was so disappointed and offended by Episode One that I really had very low expectations for this movie, and I went long after the opening crush had left the theaters. So I can't truly say it was worse than I thought, because I thought it would be horrible. It wasn't horrible, just boring.
Everyone knows the plot, so I will just comment on a few points:
(1) On the opening sequence on Corrsicant (sp?): Somebody needs to tell Lucas that a car chase is just a car chase, even if it is done with millions of dollars in special effects to simulate flying traffic. A car chase works best when it is the climax when the audience has had time to develop emotions about the characters involved. Set at the beginning, it is just a bit roller-coaster ride.
(2) Anakin Skywalker. Let me start with saying this. One of the great movies in the last few years was "Boogie Nights." It showed the complete decline, fall, and destruction of a fledging porn star. The entire movie is the self-disintegration of the hero. That is what I wanted to see here. The complete disintegration of Anakin Skywalker. We saw just a glimpse of that with this:
"Anakin: I killed them. I killed them all. They're dead, every single one of them. And not just the men, but the women and the children, too! They're like animals, and I slaughtered them like animals! I HATE THEM!"
YES! That is what I was looking for. But Lucas has no spine. He refused to show the slaughter, unlike David Lean in Lawrence of Arabia. The slaughter was critical in the decline of Anakin, but Lucas dodged the scene. Then he moved away from it as fast as possible. Anakin never lost control again.
(3) Did anyone else think of the Rancor when Obi-wan, Anakin, and Amidala were being prepared for execution? Execution by large animal? We have seen this already in Return of the Jedi. I think Lucas has run out of creative juices.
(4) Yoda. So is he faking that limp? I sure am glad that I saw his combat in the trailer so I knew it was coming, and it was placed at the end. Otherwise, the intervening was SO BORING I might have left.
I think the problem may be that Lucas is making kid movies, and I am not a kid anymore. Sigh.