Yo mama is so ugly, she put the "ug" in "Ugnaught"

Rating: 6/10 (11 November 2016)

Of all the Star Wars prequels, Revenge of the Sith wastes the biggest potential.
The Phantom Menace was hurt by its structure (the Tatooine mid-section is so clunky, it kills the momentum of the whole movie); Attack of the Clones is a pestilent disaster.
But Revenge... there was a great premise here. Now that the new, Disney-tagged cycle of Star Wars has begun with the depressingly safe Episode Seven (a movie which is "a bit derivative" in the same way hydrogen cyanide is "a bit unhealthy"), Lucas' ambitions with the prequels appear all the more admirable, his failure all the more disappointing. Revenge was supposed to be the climax of Anakin Skywalker's downfall, the culmination of his reverse hero's journey; bad writing and consequently weak performances turned it into a "what could have been" anecdote.
People mock Lucas as someone whose main priority was selling action figures but, watching scenes like the Jedi purge or the Obi-wan/Anakin duel, I don't see that at all. I see a once vital storyteller trying - trying hard - to recapture what talent he once possessed.
Sadly, much like Kurt Vonnegut's fictional writer Kilgore Trout, George has interesting ideas but botches the execution; his hubris got the better of him when he decided he should be the scriptwriter instead of merely the creative force which provided the basic story elements. The prequel trilogy in general and Revenge in particular were a brave, ambitious project which didn't deliver its full potential. And that's why J. J. Abrams overcompensated in terms of caution.
5,5/10