Valuable modern Star Wars movie

Rating: 9/10 (24 July 2008)

This movie is a valuable piece in the Star Wars saga. Though not a masterpiece it offers great action and an interesting story and environments. Let's start from the bad points usually (over)criticized by people. Bad acting: well, is there any of the Star Wars film which has a good acting? These kind of films have much other stuff to offer: stunning visual effects, fantastic scenography, captivating mythology wrapped in to a non linear epic story, great stunts etc. Acting is relevant for movies like the Godfather (masterpiece). Let's say that Lucas is no more of any good writing dialogues (they could be much better) and that the movie generally features severe and didactic dialogue lines. Natalie Portman's talent is wasted, while Ewan Mc Gregor is successful in giving Obi Wan the aura of a wise middle aged master. The character of Anakin is not as deep as should be. The best of the lot is easily Ian Mc Diarmid, who is the most expressive and credible of all (he comes from theater experience so he's quite used in acting with bare scenography ...). Despite that, the story and the events are heart-breaking and they communicate the emotions which are not expressed by dialogue lines and this is, in my opinion, a great achievement. The details in the action/key scenes of the film are very rich and typical of George Lucas Star Wars movies: you have to see that scene more than one time to understand all things the director wants to tell you. That gives great credit to the movie. Another aspect which is always blamed is the strong use of CGI. It is necessary to use CGI in most of the movie because Lucas' worlds, places have been created from nothing, are pure fantasy and the more credible way to realize them is to do the environments with CGI. Most of them would be very expensive to do with a physical set and perhaps would be also less credible due to a lack of details and depth (e.g.: you would easily understand, nowadays, if a scene is shot in a studio). In the whole movie the CGI is surely overused (e.g.: the suit of the clones) but the real deal with that is that is not always consistent. While very good and detailed on average there are some environments that look like to much separated from the actors. Especially the world of Mustafar is a too much ambitious achievement even for modern CGI since lava can't be simulated very well yet and they had to blend Etna's videos with CGI backgrounds and real actors! That's a great effort. There are some issues regarding acting and CGI but, far from that, the movie is almost perfect. It features a well timed and dark soundtrack (the best of the new trilogy), enough pathos, stunning rich original environments, beautiful lightsaber duels, very well coordinated. Yoda, though speaks few (if any) memorable lines, is greatly animated and features great facial morphing. The story is very rich, it shows many facts and ties in a very good mix the moments of pause, action, drama. It is a pity that 60% of the new trilogy story is concentrated in this movie because it would have been great to tell some key moments with a closer and deep eye. Some people find part of the story to be boring. In my opinion is instead very functional to the second part of the movie. There would be many other aspects of the movie that would need a comment, but in a nutshell:
THE BAD : low-profile acting, over-used CGI
THE GOOD : the story (above all the ending is S-U-P-E-R-B), original marvelous environments, action scenes, the emperor (very funny and very evil at the same time), the music
Do not listen useless haters. Must see it. 8.5/10