Check your baggage at the door - this ain't Shakespeare

Rating: 7/10 (20 July 2005)

I get the feeling that people's expectations of this movie are such that if Lucas didn't deliver anything short of "Hamlet" they were going to resentfully dig a very deep hole in the ground and toss him in. Personally, I think I finally realized something about these Star Wars movies: they are the cinematic equivalent of comic books. I don't mean this as an insult. It's just that it's hard for me to take some of the negative reviews I've read seriously - harder to take in fact than Anakin's ridiculous reasons for turning to the dark side, or the much-derided love scenes between Anakin and Padme, or, well, Anakin as a character in general. However, Anakin as comic book hero-come-villain? Post it on Ebay and I'll bid.
I really enjoyed Episode III. Perhaps it was the familiarities from the original "Star Wars" that crept in towards the end, I don't know, I just did. I was prepared for the worst, which is not to say my expectations were low. But I knew what to expect from Lucas in terms of negatives, after sitting through Episodes I and II (not to mention the Ewoks of Episode VI). Fortunately, and perhaps somewhat surprisingly, these were kept to a minimum in Episode III, while Lucas finally cranked up the positives. Seen as a comic book come to life, it's just amazing. Seen as Shakespeare it's, well, pathetic. And, my word, I've seen shorter books on the works of Shakespeare than reviews of this film (unfortunately for me, my own included).
I just don't know that George Lucas is trying to deliver the film that people seem to be expecting. That is, I don't think he's really aiming anywhere near the "Best Film of the Year" award. I think the campiness is intentional. I think the hokiness is intentional. However, I also think there are times when the campiness and hokiness is just plain bad. Nevertheless, he's up against the collective memories of everyone who saw the first three films as an impressionable pre-teen and I just don't think he has any possibility of winning. What the viewer gets out of it will certainly depend on the baggage they bring with them.
Put a completely different way, Episodes I-III are like major-leaguers hopped-up on a ridiculously large and deadly diet of steroids, such that, while performing at their absolute best within their league, they could also die at any moment. Such was the case that led to the demise of Episodes I and II. Episode III on the other hand, though suffering from permanent damage from all the steroid abuse, can certainly look forward to many years as a heroic, albeit damaged, veteran of the Star Wars World Series.