Well... here we go

Rating: 3/10 (27 March 2007)

I'm guessing no one will read this, but I have to say my piece.
I saw the movie on it's premiere, being the Star Wars geek that I am, but I let it fester on my shelf for a year to write the review...
So, I saw it again, for only the second time (it's the only SW I've seen that little), and here goes:
This movie makes me sad. Not only as a SW fan, but also as a movie lover. Lucas exploits the fact that he can do ANYTHING and still get well payed for it... it seems as if for the last two movies Lucas didn't even care. Lets start with the fact that it's filmed on Video, something that didn't really bother me in the last movie. Sin City was filmed on HDDV and looks great and film-like even on DVD. this movie looks like a glorified TV show on DVD - especially the characters that are in holograms and so on. So, it makes it look cheap.
The CGI is so grossly over-used, that it gives you a head ache by the end of the film. The saber fights are CG. Yoda is CG. The clone troopers are CG. Damn it, even R2D2 is CG... So, this makes it look even more cheap.
Now to the acting and story telling: this is why I gave it 3 stars and not 0. Yes - the acting is still pretty crappy, but it has been upgraded from the last flick that was laughable. Hayden is less than convincing as Anakin, but the transformation to Darth is done fine (still not as good as it could have been). Ewan seems more comfortable in his role, although the writing is so one-dimensional that it's hard to add any kind of depth. Palpatine is the only ray of light here, but only because he's the groovy bad guy - not a hard role to write and pull-off. Natalie is no more than OK, but again, not her fault. All other characters have NO meaning what-so-ever, they are wooden, one-dimensional and silly and so I will not give them the time of day. in this aspect this movie is a shame and I really do think Lucas should be ashamed of himself as a filmmaker (if he can still so be called...).
Story? well this is another high.. and low point in the film. it seems as though Lucas makes an effort of building up good ideas and smart plot points and then crashing them into Shiite. The story is choppy and clumsy - it jumps from one location to the other, as though it is a 2 hour long trailer/commercial. Aside from Anakin, there is no character development - everybody remains exactly the same, or dead. The end and big fight is partially pleasing, but is then ruined by the Frank'n'Darth "Nooo" sequence - what seems to be a real joke, like, I don't understand how Lucas could actually do that, seriously.
In short - this film is missed. At times you may say "wow, he still has it!" but then, a moment later, the sensation is smashed. I think this movie has a lot to say about Hollywood - A greedy man like Lucas can still have his way with a cinematic classic and destroy it for the millions of fans, because he knows that it will still be a huge success.
DON'T BUY THIS MOVIE! Copy it from a friend.