Great first half, patchwork and unconvincing acting make up for the rest

Rating: 6/10 (18 May 2005)

Well, just got back from watching the much anticipated final chapter to the Star Wars prequel. Fortunately it was a digital screening, which I shall predict, raises the bar on movie experience to a point where people will no longer pay premium prices for conventional screenings.
What's there to say? First half definitely kicked serious ass and delivered serious high octane action. The second half is weaker, yet still mostly entertaining and contains a number of sequences that will stick with the audience.
The weakness of the movie begins to show in the middle of the movie when Hayden Christensen and a weak script fail to convince of Anakin's motivation to slip across the line to the dark side. He continues to come off, as in Episode II, as a spoiled brat that has a great sense of entitlement and lack of self control.
This happens against the backdrop of Ian McDiarmid's slick performance as the cunning chancellor become emperor, although Lucas seems to have lost interest in keeping the character's sophistication going on as soon as Anakin takes on his new name Vader. It defies the established pattern that the sneaky politician would completely drop his act before he has the prize in the bag.
The movie, however, is taken away by two characters, one CGI, the other - well - a Scot. Yoda gets a number of scenes that will further enshrine him into popular culture. Ewan McGregor, albeit confessing to finding the work less than inspiring, clearly takes the movie home. It is only his performance that keeps the second half from drifting away in bits and pieces like a dissolving ice shelf.
It is, now that the first trilogy is complete, that you see the old movies in a new light and - unfortunately - it is not flattering. Luke Skywalker at no time looks, no offense, like a match for Vader - or one of the Jedi younglings, for that matter. The death of Obi-Wan appears like mockery, after seeing how he cuts his failed apprentice to size in Episode III. The stories do not quite connect. That, apart from Lucas' uneven scripting skills that alter between borderline genius action and settings to his dreaded dialog diarrhea, is to be expected, though. The movies are decades apart and bottom screwed to top. Something had to give.