Spectacular but Anakin is not given enough motive to turn

Rating: 8/10 (19 May 2005)

ROTS is spectacular and of course irresistible for any lifelong Star Wars fan. I became a huge Hayden fan on his debut in AOTC, which I loved for its romantic plot line. For me it was close to a modern day version of Romeo and Juliet, two young lovers whose love is forbidden by circumstances beyond their control.(I was shocked to see so many here who are so critical of AOTC.) But. This movie totally fell apart for me when Anakin turns to the dark side. He is not given enough motive to make this pretty sudden, totally complete turn to the dark side. Padme should have died first, and in some fashion it should have been because of the Jedi-----whether by something they did do, or something they failed to do.
THEN his turn to the dark side would have been credible, and would have held so much more emotional depth and anguish. The first two prequels establish Anakin's character so thoroughly, with such strength, that his mild frustration at not being allowed to become a Master Jedi immediately, and his fear for Padme from his nightmares, is not nearly a strong enough motive to account for him falling to his knees before Palantine and saying, "Yes Master. I'll do anything you ask." If he had lost Padme first . . . . but without powerful emotional anguish driving him into the darkness . . . . Anakin's abrupt "fall" into the darkness merely seems gratuitous. It happens purely because it has to happen for the sake of convenience so that this final installment of the Star Wars legacy will tie neatly in to all of the previous films. Blah.
It is an insult to Hayden and an insult to Anakin's character.
Worse yet, Anakin does not seek out every and all sources of help to save Padme. A "real human being" would have left no stone unturned. We are asked to believe that "only" Palantine and the dark side could ever possibly save Padme. We are asked to either believe that, or that Anakin is so dumb and so stupid that HE believed that, contrary to all of the prior building up of his character as being brilliant, strong, and "THE Chosen One." To rub salt into this wound, the entire idea that he "did it all for Padme" is on the misogynous side. (Men who hate women basically just because they breathe. lol!) In that it is a trite repeat of the sexist cliché: "Love of a woman is the downfall of every good man." OUCH, George.
Anakin is a noble, haunting, tragic character. His creator owed him greater depth than this. Although I think Hayden has a fabulous career ahead of him as an actor, I also feel he was owed better scripting than this. Not to mention the amazing legacy of the entire Star Wars phenomenon.
Not content with having screwed up giving Anakin emotional motivation powerful enough to turn to the dark side and to utterly abandon and betray ALL of his lifelong relationships, we are then ALSO asked to believe that every single element of Anakin's entire character is then abandoned with such finality that he then, without so much as a whisper of doubt, pain, or remorse, goes out and gleefully slaughters any and all Jedi including the little children.
I call that playing fast and loose with the emotions of your audience. Careless and even arrogant indifference. In the first two prequels we are to love and admire Anakin. Yes, we've all known for decades that he would eventually "fall" into becoming Darth Vader. But after waiting that LONG for this by-now-absolutely-legendary "fall," one expected it to be the most spectacular fall of all time. Just this side of Satan's big fight with God.
For me, Anakin's motive for his "fall" was just a big, huge miss. I fell in love with his character. I could bear up under "losing" his character, (especially since I've known it was coming for my entire life practically,) but I just really needed for his reason for his fall to be nearly unimpeachable. And this didn't even come close.
In fact Anakin's thought process about "How can I save Padme?" seems loopy, inexplicable, zany, and lacking all credibility.
That's the down side. The up side is of course, the entire Star Wars experience has been worlds of fun.
The contribution to our "entertainment" has been priceless down through the years and I am sad to see it all end. Thanks for all the wild, wonderful, thrilling memories!