A lot to chew on

Rating: 9/10 (20 May 2005)

Being someone who was into the original trilogy for the mythology, the spiritual message about the power of Love, and the internal transformation of both Luke and Anakin, Episodes I and II were somewhat disappointing to me. And III continues what I think is a fairly shallow understanding of what might have gone through Anakin to turn him into Darth Vader. The character of Anakin would have to be a lot more complex than the one we see. Still, Star Wars doesn't claim to be any more than a B-grade sci-fi adventure with fabulous special effects. The fact that Lucas seems to channel certain universal truths within his story is sort of an added bonus. What I find most compelling about the new trilogy is the political drama - it's dealing more with the external world. And I think this is very timely. Anakin's character is asking us to look at how we both individually and collectively sell out to our longing for security and power and act out of our fear of loss. I also think it shows some depth on Lucas's part that the Jedi are flawed and the democracy is a mess and that Palpatine's position could be attractive to someone wanting change. There's a lot to this movie I'm still absorbing, but I'd of course call it a must-see. The spaceships and creatures are amazing, and the story is riveting. And it's more than a movie. In such an emotionally potent chapter of the myth, I would gladly have traded some eye-candy for some passion and complexity in the acting and the dialog (Fishburn, Mc Diarmid, Yoda, and to an extent Christensen excluded), but I'll take what I'm given for the sake of what I think is possibly THE defining epic myth of the late 20th century.