worth the wait - ?

Rating: 4/10 (20 May 2005)

While I was desperate to see this film I have to admit I left feeling disappointed. I don't think that this film faired much better than the previous two in this trilogy for the reasons I will list below.
*SPOILER ALERT* The enormous space battle promised at the beginning of the film was never fully realised and all we got was mugging about with Anakin, Obi-Wan and R2-D2 that added a lot more time to the film which could have been used to develop Anakin and Padme a bit more. General Grevious had kidnapped the chancellor yet didn't seem to be in much of hurry to go anywhere - ?.
The acting was once again woeful. The script has a lot to blame for that but George Lucas cannot be totally held responsible. At times Hayden's acting is similar to Joey from Friends doing his best on "Days Of Our Lives". I thought I could smell the fart too, but it turns out it was just crap. Ewan and even the mighty Samuel L Jackson probably turned in the worst performances of their lives. I couldn't help but cringe when Obi-Wan told Anakin he loved him (aren't Jedis not supposed to have those kind of feelings?) Yoda was extremely cocky in his fight at the end with the Emperor. He seemed over-cocky and in the end "failed". Yoda was out of character for that part of the film.
The other big battle at the end of the film between Anakin and Obi-Wan was also blown out of proportion by the film's publicity. They were supposed to fight for over 12 minutes but it seems like they had a bit of a duel and then the film cuts away and back again. In total the fight couldn't really have been more than a few minutes. The fight also featured a river of lava which was not the greatest special effect I have ever seen. This fight was not a patch on the Darth Maul 3-way from episode 1.
Natalie/Padme was underused and could have done with some scenes to help us give a hoot about her.
Something I noticed about this film too. Yoda says goodbye to his old friend Chewbacca. Yet Chewie never asks how he is doing after he knows Luke has been visiting Yoda in the original Trilogy - ? Did Chewie get his mind wiped too? Certain scenes were certainly darker than anything featured before in Star Wars. Dooku losing his hands, Anakin losing 3 limbs (how did Obi-Wan do that anyway?), Anakin on fire (why did Obi-Wan not put him out of his misery if he loved him) and Anakin slaughtering kids. I was rather appalled by the latter two scenes and felt they were very strong for a film kids can see.
Samuel L Jackson did die like some punk (or however he put it).
Darth Vader was a big let down. He was turned into a pathetic Frankenstein's monster (shouting NNNOOOOOOOO!!!!!) and not the chilling man/machine we know and love. I did like when Darth took his first breathes when he was in the black body suit.
The film in general felt rushed and crammed. Too much explaining and things to do and not enough plot or character. The low standard of episodes 1 and 2 were unfortunately kept up by episode 3.