Flawed, But Star Wars found it's soul again

Rating: 8/10 (20 May 2005)

Like everyone else I was both excited and nervous about this film.
But as the camera sank down toward a giant war ship to the sound of John William's ominous battle drums, a mood was set that did not leave until a few hours after the film's end.
The first 45 minutes of this film is Star Wars at its best. Seamless action and enjoyable dialog (yes, I said enjoyable!) had me uttering the words "oh wow" and "cool" out loud in a cinema for the first time in years.
After the epic battle the film shifts down a gear and focuses on Anakin's story. And this is what I was nervous about. I haven't watched Episode II without fast forwarding the Anakin scenes - but to my pleasant surprise, I found that I actually LIKED Anakin in this film.
Yes, the dialog is cheesy, but the aroma of that cheese pleasantly resembles that of the original trilogy. Hayden Christentensensensen is clearly more comfortable with the role and for once you can almost understand why Padme actually likes him.
Anakin's meetings with Palpatine are bursting with suppressed darkness as the twisted future Emperor slowly corrupts Anakin's mind like a serial killer confessing his perversions to a small child.
The middle portion of this film is a let down for me. Imagine if the Hoth battle scene from Empire had been cut down to 30 seconds long and you will understand why. WHERE WERE THE WOOKIES? After all that hype I was really expecting some serious Chewbacca action, but I warn you. Blink and miss it you will.
Blink again and you will miss the over hyped Grevious as he is easily dispatched despite the fact that he can do windmills with light sabers.
Blink again and you will miss poor old C3P0 talking.
Blink and you'll miss Darth Vader talking! A tantalizingly short scene.
But the biggest and most crucial thing missing from this film and now from the whole series is this. Why does Anakin Skywalker become Darth Vader? Anakin's fall to the dark side is rushed to say the least. One minute he is about to arrest the Sith Chancellor - and the next he is on his knees pledging his loyalty to evil.
Even worse - one minute he is desperate to learn how to save lives - the next he is casually slicing down Jedi children! It just doesn't hold up. Either he has regard for life or he doesn't. Still, perhaps this was Lucas' intention - to demonstrate how slippery the slope to evil is. Slippery as a well oiled vertical cliff.
Another scene I felt very uncomfortable with was Ben Kenobi leaving Anakin to burn to death. OK he had turned to the Dark Side, but only for a few days. And it was all out in the open now. They had their fight. Ben had his say and won, and Anakin was harmless (and legless). Couldn't Ben have just taken him home and made him better? Isn't it against the Jedi code to watch somebody die slowly in agony? And why did Padme have to die in child birth? Couldn't she just have died later (Leia says she remembers her) - were they just cheap tricks by Lucas to get that tearjerker money shot? Well, it certainly worked. I cried genuine tears. And all I want to do now is watch A New Hope. Like putty in Lucas' hands! A slippery slope indeed.