Can anyone save Lucas from himself?

Rating: 5/10 (4 October 2002)

I gave this episode 5 stars, only because it was "Star Wars" and because it looked pretty cool.
But let's face it, folks- Lucas needs to get someone who can actually WRITE and who understands story structure to handle scripting duties.
In fact, I'd love to see him toss out the current "Episode I" and "Episode II" films and start over completely.
Why?
Take Episode II. The entire point of this episode should be, SHOULD be, the focus on the budding Darth Vader. Anakin's battle with his darker impulses and turn to the Dark Side of the Force is what this movie should be all about.
The side stories should be the junk about the Clone Wars, the setting up of the other characters... but the main thrust OUGHT to be how Anakin's choices, and how he is thrust into making them, lead to his downfall.
After all, the entire battle in episodes 4-6 is about the good guys fighting the forces of evil. Darth Vader represents the Old Republic and its fall from grace into the Empire; his rehabilitation, at the end of Return of the Jedi, represents how the Good Guys have managed to get back on top of the Emperor.
So what do we get, in this film, instead? We get about 3 minutes, maybe less, of the singular event that should be showing Anakin going to the Dark Side- the kidnapping and killing of his mother.
And we get a bunch of really neato-looking crap.
Sigh.