Pretty Bad but still enjoyable

Rating: 4/10 (19 May 2005)

Thoughts on: Revenge of the Sith (2005)  George Lucas can be a decent director (he showed he could back in American Graffiti (1973)) but all 3 recent Star Wars movies have suffered from bad directing, this one as much as if not worse than the last two.  The dialogue still sucks.. in a bad way.  The timing of the movie felt at times to be right on and at other times to be off. Curiously this was happening within scenes. For example the opening space fight had good rhythm and moved right along, however the scenes that take place right afterward felt off beat and lacking in motion.  That opening fight looked awesome. I want to see that again.  There is some very poor acting, which is made worse by some very good acting: Ewan McGregor and specially Ian McDiarmid did a great job which unfortunately made Hayden Christensen and Natalie Portman look all that much worse. I KNOW Natalie Portman can be a very good actress but she seems to require a good director which is absent in these movies. Hayden Christensen does better in Episode III than in I or II which is to say he does badly but does not make you want to wretch in your seat.... as much.  Lucas thankfully showed some restraint in using characters (the droids) purely for comedic relief. There are still some hokey and unnecessary scenes but they are shorter and seem to belong more than the ones from episodes I and II.  I prefer puppet Yoda to digital Yoda. Puppet Yoda looks more real.  One wonders if George Lucas has ever had a good relationship with a woman because the romantic scenes he writes and directs are gut-wrenching bad. Portman and Christensen show all the screen chemistry of water and oil.  I was thrilled to hear Vader's first breath.  I enjoyed myself.
*SPOILERS BELOW* The following points contain potential spoilers for people who have not seen the movie. You have been warned:  Franken-Vader is WRONG, WRONG, WRONG! Bad George! BAD George!!  Vader screaming "Noooo!!!!" after he wakes was one of the low-points in the flick... this is particularly bad since that should have been a great moment.  I was impressed by the look of the burned up Anakin being prepped for his life support system.  Anakin giving over to the dark side was about as believable as an elephant doing ballet. One moment he is about to turn Palpatine over and the next he is swearing loyalty. I know the reasons why but either the script, the acting, the directing or all combined to make it utterly non-believable.  The art design was very well done. I am still bothered by the 'past' being more technologically advanced than the Luke/Leia era but that aside the worlds looked great and the gradual transition in look to the Episode IV, V & VI was quite enjoyable. I was specially pleased to see the Correlian Blockade Runner  All the CG clones walking around in their obvious we haven't yet gotten synthespians quite right but are using them anyway' bugged me. Specially in scenes when there was a single clone on screen and the job could have been accomplished by an actor much easier and would have looked better.  I am glad Jar Jar does not open his mouth.