Somewhere in the Middle

Rating: 3/10 (7 September 2011)

Enough time has passed since this movie premiered. By now it made it's producers happy and still is by making money out of merchandise and what not else.
As far as movie itself is concerned, only one thing matters. How will it stand the test of time. This is climatic final chapter how Sith become to rule the galaxy again, and more importantly how our hero Anakin become anti hero Vader. If there was ever a chance for Lucas to make things right again this was it. So how does this one stands, both, on it's own as a movie and as part of 6 episodes.
Maybe luckily for fans, to this episode belongs one task that previous episodes did not have to full fill, and that is teeing it all together with episodes 4, 5, and 6. I said luckily as that forced Lucas to pay more attention to the story and episodes he filmed first, something he forgot in episodes 1 and 2 that allowed him to ignore them.
Still weakest link here is acting by soon to be Vader. Even Natalie, which proved her acting qualities, fails faced with stupid dialog. I think this proves that Hollywood is desperate for one good dialog editor, someone whose vocabulary extends beyond TV commercials. Other did a fair job of acting with what was offered. Not surprisingly, best acting is done by Emperor, as given best material to work with.
And how about imagination, you know that core star wars quality? What producers fail to see, intentionally or not, is that old movies are more loved than new ones for one very simple, yet essential reason, and star wars provide perfect example. When Lucas filmed New Hope he was fighting to make his vision believable. As said, he was very frustrated because he could not get 50 percent of what he wanted. In that, for him, painful process he achieved something great he may not intended. He left audiences imagination fill the gaps he could not. And that made Star Wars even better even more believable.
Here on the other hand with army of effects producers to back him up nothing is left to accident. And that is what this movie needs. Some randomness, to make you wonder, to spice things up. But no, everything is super clean and super perfect and that is why it ultimately fails as a movie.
Yet despite all that there are great highlights. Final duel between Obi Wan and Anakin, attack on Jedi temple, Yoda vs. Sidious, Vader transformation...
So, finally at the end, this one falls in the middle between perfection driven Lucas and not so "perfect" old episodes loved by true fans. Neither are happy with it, so each should grab a scene he loves and ignore the rest. This movie and episodes 1 and 2 are filmed in such a manner you can simply ignore half of it if you wish, but for better or for worse is individual opinion.