lost my interest

Rating: 6/10 (5 November 2005)

Lucas's grand finale was a grand fizzle. The story to end all the others stories just fell flat. The script was good, and the acting absolutely first-rate. I could tell that they took great pains to make certain that there was continuity between this film and Episode IV. Near the end, when Darth Vader's helmet is placed on his head and he draws that first very audible breath, was a "goose bump" scene. There simply weren't very many of them in the film. There is one major continuity issue that I noticed. In Episode IV, Princess Leia talks about her mother as if she knew her as a child, and mentions her being sad. But in this film, Padme (Leia's mother) dies immediately after giving birth, so Leia couldn't have known her mother. That didn't bother me too much, though. What DID fall flat were the special effects. Nothing in this film can compare with the work of Weta Digital in the LOtR trilogy. I'm afraid that ILM just hasn't quite caught up with the Kiwis. Lucasfilms relies on technology that's been superseded. The entire lava planet fight scene, which is the "kick butt" sequence, looks so faked that I couldn't get into it. That's where the film lost me...and it never regained my interest. Sorry, George. I gave it only a 6 and I think that's being generous.