Yay! It's Over

Rating: 6/10 (21 May 2005)

What can be said that hasn't been said already?.. Plenty!. OK, firstoff, you must see this film. You can't get around it. Just go see it. Don't put it off. Otherwise, you'll find that people will slowly and surely, through no fault of their own, only assume you have seen episode 3 and bit by bit reveal spoilers will make you want to turn to the dark side. This happened to me with episode 2. So take my advice. Go now. Oh, and avoid the digital screens, you will only run into crowds and sold out seats (digital makes no difference, really).
Having said that, this contains all *spoilers*.
Like many people I think this was the best of the three films. The special effects were fantastic, but a bit busy and confusing. The story was excellent. The acting and dialogue, dreadful.
Performances seems forced. Character bonds were scripted but not felt throughout. Really the only time I felt for a character was when Anakin was hacked and left for dead.
I'm not one of those people that expect great dialogue from a film like Star Wars. Nor would I want to sit through a monologue from a CGI Yoda. My complaint really with this film was the wasted opportunity and the tacky one-liners. C'mon, If a force field dropped down on me I don't think this would be my response, "How did this happen, we're smarter than this!".
Even worse, the audience seemed to get a rise from the moments that were never intended to get any laughs, and yet they sat quietly still as scene after scene of tragedy unfolded. I remember one perfect example, Yoda walks in a room to battle the Chancellor. He force throws two guards to the ground. Everyone in the theatre roars into laughter. Why was that funny? Because it wasn't meant to be funny! That's why! OK, Here's another example, Darth Vader is horribly injured. They have to operate. Dramatic moment, here it is, the famous suit. The helmet goes on. Someone giggles. Vader get mad! He's in pain, he rips from the restraint table. Wait a minute...he looks like Frankenstein. Someone in the theater yells "that's awful". People groan.
So what did I like?.
Well, I though the General Grievious lightsaber dual was great. Even though I have issues with adding more lightsabers just to get the audience going. (What next Darth Centipede?).
The Mace Windu death scene was great. It didn't disappoint.
R2-D2 giving the two droids "the slip".
A real planet of Wookiees! not Ewoks.
No one stepped on anyone's tail ;).
Thank God, they didn't try to create a back story for Han Solo.
Ian McDiarmid's performance was excellent, I was very impressed.
No more movies! We're done! We have our story of Vader. We now can all appreciate the original trilogy as the best. (just not the special edition)