An awful script, screenplay, dialogue and everything

Rating: 4/10 (15 June 2005)

I have two recos: 1. If you are a fan of star wars, then watch this film just for the satisfaction of having completed the circle of 6. That's all. 2. If you are not a fan of star wars, do not watch this film. At least that will save us the fans of the series some embarrassment. It will also prevent you from thinking that all star wars movies are like this one. My reasons: 1. All sequels degenerate and this is a natural law. "Revenge" sadly enough is the worst. Somehow, empire strikes back was an exception coz it was almost as good as the first one. From return of jedi onwards, lucas has been on the downhill path with the sentimental foolishness getting the better of him. The series reaches its nadir with "revenge". Along with his hero, Lucas has degenerated from Good Storyteller to Darth Megabore. 2.In short, you will not be impressed by the gadgetry and special effects. Nothing special there. The light saber battles were already getting tiresome but the man does not give up. He had gotten into the bad habit of dragging them on. The dignified encounter between Obie Won and Vader in Star wars has degenerated into a special effects bonanza in the climactic fight between obie won and anakin (obviously all of you know this from Alec Guiness telling so in the first one). The sequence dragged on without any point. It is almost like the film makers were desperate to find special effects that have not been used. So new animals, new space craft, new planets of molten lava/ metal are introduced. Some new machines too used by that new creature General Grievous. It is very clear that the entire team is bankrupt of ideas and they were trying to fill 140 minutes with gimmickry. In star wars too there was all this gadgetry but it was much more elegantly and consistently done. For instance, the stormtroopers had one type of craft and the rebels, another. Over the years, there seem to be so many designs, that it will defy and boggle the minds of any galactic federation if there is ever going to be one. 3. Many noted that Christensen is not the best choice for the adult anakin at the time of "clones". This movie proves that. The transformation to Darth Vader is very clumsily done. And Christensen just cannot give the evil look. He does not have it in him. No one is looking for logic in this kind of fantasy. But lucas sets out to tell a "heart-wrenching" tale. If so, he should have paid a little more attention to detail such as the human mind (ok, jedi mind). The jedi know that anakin is under bad influence; but they do not tell him he should take care. It is almost like a bad boss who knows you are making mistakes but does not tell you how to avoid them. Do you think such bosses should survive? Anyway, if they are so stupid, how did they become the wise council? Moreover, the number of jedi shown since the infamous episode 1 and their forms reek of Star Trek anthropomorphism. Starwars, empire and return had grotesque creatures, and they were just that. They had effect. The jedi here on the other hand look like stupid can-can dancers. 4.If you grew up on star wars like i did (and have the same frame of mind), you will hate this nuisance intrusion of padme amidala- it sounds like a south Indian name: padma aamudala- she is a waste of precious screen time, and I do not feel that lucas achieved his objective of capturing the fears and greed of anakin with those scenes. Let us face it. Lucas has forgotten how to make drama after graffiti. And star wars does not lend itself to drama anyway. 5. Finally, I will not reveal the entire plot, but suffice it to say when you finally see who Darth Sideous is, and you step back a couple of episodes, you will start asking very awkward questions. Like I said, this is a team that is bankrupt of ideas but saddled with a lot of technology, and they put it to use without imagination. It is really sad to see that the series ended this way.