Okay, but not great.

Rating: 7/10 (19 May 2005)

Well, here it is. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith is here and many would argue it lives up to the hype. Why shouldn't it? It has all the things a typical summer blockbuster should have; great action, big explosions, special effects, heroes and villains, and a climactic final battle. So why the low score? Because this is a flawed movie and it is getting the score it deserves.
Perhaps my problem is I am a Generation X-er. I grew up with the Original Star Wars Trilogy, seeing them in theatres upon their release. I think Mr. Lucas must be like Woody Allen in that he never sees his own pictures twice. It is the only explanation for all of the inconsistencies between both Trilogies. The old films had clear lines of dialogue that could have easily been written into the new films, but were either omitted or just plain forgotten. I'll try to point this out without giving away anything from Revenge of the Sith. Things like Leia and Luke's conversation in Return of the Jedi about Leia's memory of her mother. Or what about "Ben" Kenobi telling Luke he hasn't "...gone by the name of Obi Wan since, oh before you were born." in a New Hope. These are just a few things that don't add up and take away from the story for me.
Other things about this film are what I call "Look what I can do!" stuff. Namely, special effects. This movie has all the big explosions, space battles, droids, funny creatures, battle vehicles, weapons, and all the rest of the things Mr. Lucas had locked in his mind until computer animation arrived. He didn't know how to show any semblance of restraint. In the original trilogy, he had established a world that had all these things, but due to limitations of technology, he wasn't able to do all he wanted. All the added things in the new trilogy that are introduced don't follow with the rest of the story now. If you watch these movies in numerical order, you see that the many droids and alien varieties are gone. Where did they all go? It just doesn't fit together the way it could have. George Lucas could have kept with the creatures and all he had created the first time around and left it all at that. But he had to add and add and add more because of one reason; he could. To me, sometimes less is more. This movie had so much going on at once I didn't know where to look half the time. It was all overdone and it didn't need to be.
My next problem lies in unneeded characters. It is similar to what I said before. General Grievous is a new character that was added and much hyped. After seeing him, I realize he wasn't needed at all. The story could have easily been told with Count Dooku in his place. There was nothing charismatic about General Grievous. He was only in the movie for a short time and he didn't have that villainous presence that came with Darth Vader or even Darth Maul. He was just another "Look what I can do" aspect of the movie. Also, the wookies; there was no reason to put Chewbacca and his other wookie friends in this movie. They have no significance to the story. It was just another unneeded addition so George Lucas could make a connection to the original trilogy. Their presence made no sense at all.
Another issue with the special effects is that it is all computer generated. Everything looks neat and cool I guess, but what is missing is tangibility. When you look at the original movies, they used miniatures and puppets. But everything looked tangible. You bought it all because it looked like something you could reach out and touch. Things created in cyber space look incredible, yes. But you can tell these objects can't be felt or touched. For me, I'll take Yoda from Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi over the little Jedi Jet Li version from cyber space.
This is the darkest film of the entire series. So why don't I feel it? Yes, we already know Anakin is Darth Vader. But we don't see him really fall to the dark side. He isn't seduced by the dark side at all. He just hears a few things about the Sith, believes it, and turns. He has no internal struggle in dueling with his Jedi Master. His passion for Padme is completely unfelt by the audience. His care for his soon to be born child/children seems to have no real affect on him. There is no real emotional connection with anything that has to do with Anakin. If you compare; in Return of the Jedi Vader's conflict with his son, Luke, is deep and truly felt. The conversation between the two is very real when Luke tells him "I accept that you were once Anakin Skywalker, my father." All of that was emotionally real for the audience. I don't know if it is due to poor script writing, directing, or acting; but Hayden Christensen seems to have no emotional attachment to anyone in this movie. How ironic that is because it is supposed to be his emotions that lead him to the dark side in the first place.
Overall, I would say this movie could have been so much more. I could have done without the wookies altogether in exchange for Obi Wan going into hiding as Ben Kenobi before Luke and Leia were born. I could have done without all the computer effects in exchange for a few miniatures that looked like I could actually touch them. I may be old fashioned that way but I care more about quality over quantity. Apparently, George Lucas feels differently.