What has happened to the magic of Mr. Lucas?

Rating: 4/10 (31 December 2005)

Dear George Lucas, What exactly have you been doing since 1983? Surely between then and now you could have hired a decent scriptwriter. Just what is it about your presence that reduces such a fine crop of actors to mostly rather bad actors? And what exactly possessed you to think that Hayden Christiansen could actually act? And that he could actually seem more romantic than a peanut? Yes, you can make pretty CGI star ships and yes, Yoda looks real, but pretty battles and real-looking aliens do not an 8 movie make. The first hour of this film was inexcusable and painful to watch. The dialog sputtered and stilted like a bad high school play, a fact which could not be ignored despite the profusion of testosterone-driven explosions. The last hour was tolerable and made me feel some empathy for the fate of the characters, I give you that, but it was no where near the caliber of what you are capable of. Mr. Lucas, I hereby proclaim that, for the above crimes, you shall be forced to leave your Ranch and return to live in Modesto until the end of your days!