Everybody has gone hoopla

Rating: 5/10 (23 May 2005)

I gave the first two parts a 1 and a 3, placing them amongst one of the worst in film history. This new episode actually surprised and relatively impressed, hence the respectable 5. One more episode and I might just give Lucas a 7... :) This is undoubtedly the only of the 'new' Staw Wars episodes worth mentioning. But is it just me or has the taste of the majority of our populous hit the bottom? I guess in comparison with part I and II this film is 'a masterpiece', but how does it rank with any one of the original movies? Let me put it this way. Part I is Britney Spears. Part II Jennifer Lopez. Part III Madonna. Part IV-VI would then probably be Debussy, Tchaikovsky and Beethoven (in that order).
The script is relatively sound, but the storyline has been forced into a two hour movie making it incoherent and seemingly forced. This film has probably the 'biggest holes' in its script in movie history, i.e. Anakin is asked to spy on Palpatine, but further in the movie Obi Van without any effort watched the cameras from inside Palpatines apartment to see 'what's up'.
Hayden Christensen deserves a Raspberry for his impressive woodenness and lack of talent. Fortunately he does a bit better than in Episode II and at times when he doesn't open his mouth you can almost imagine that he is acting. On the other hand Evan McGregor does a fair job in his role, but I guess it is hard to act if R2-D2 does a better job acting than the main character of the film. Even so watching New Hope you can see that actually McGregor did a fine job trying to 'feel' the original Obi Van Kenobi. An almost memorable performances was given by McDiarmid, whilst absolutely forgettable were shoved in your face by a tragic Natalie Portman, a curiously unconvincing Christopher Lee (guess he got fed up of being killed at the beginning of the third part of a trilogy two years running) and a lacklustre Samuel L. Jackson.
All in all the best actor is - yes, you've guessed it - Yoda! Frank Oz totally rulez in this movie. Apart from that he seems to have the best lines. It seems that all you need to do with a Lucas script to make it sound 'intelligent' is forget about grammar rules.
CGI is mostly boring and fails to impress. The 'bad guys' ultimately suck and I believe the only fight worth watching is between Anakin and Obi Van. The rest is too fast, too 'ordinary' and ultimately unconvincing.
All in all a fun watch somewhat redeeming George Lucas. But still he has once again proved that in fact he is one of the worst directors in Hollywood, earning himself a place alongside such names as Ed Wood and John Waters.