Ugh, just ugh...with a side of ugh.

Rating: 1/10 (20 May 2005)

"Ugh, just ugh...with a side of ugh."
The all too familiar words of Dane Cook had quickly drifted into my head upon exiting the ultra-packed 8:35 showing of REVENGE OF THE SITH. I had entered the theater that evening with renewed hope that for once, Mr. Lucas would actually deliver on the potential that was the Star Wars franchise. Good reviews and good word of mouth had led me to believe I was in for a treat. Boy was I disappointed.
To be fair, seeing the opening title crawl did send a small shiver down my spine; unfortunately, however, it was the only emotional reaction I had in the first hour of the film. It drags, like you wouldn't believe. I found my hand reaching for the comforting clock on my cell phone on several occasions. Even the movies above average action sequences couldn't elicit the type of reaction I had hoped to find.
As far as the nitty gritty goes, I have never seen worse performances from normally solid actors. Portman was hard to watch, McGregor's acting seemed forced, and Sammy Jackson's normally skillful acting talents were nowhere to be found. Oh, and Hayden? Simply replaced his pout for a scowl, no real improvement there. The dialog, as usual was atrocious. Yoda's dialog was laughable, it sounded like Lucas just took some tired old lines from classic action movies and re-arranged the words a bit.
The problem that this new trilogy deals with is that unlike its predecessors, its appeal lies grounded in visual spectacle rather then strong emotional connections between characters. So the viewer is left with no real connection to the film itself. I don't know about other people, but I have a hard time feeling connected to exploding star ships.
If your a Star Wars fan, check it out, you will enjoy seeing the completion of the Star Wars story. If your not a die-hard then don't bother, wait for DVD.