Meet the new Star Wars....same as the old Star Wars....

Rating: 6/10 (24 May 2005)

There are times as a critic and as a movie watcher where your expectations are so low that if the movie being seen has ANY redeeming qualities, it is automatically "great".
If people walk through the desert looking for water and find none, they will drink the sand.
Viewers and fans of Star Wars are intelligent and critically sound people. They have been desperate for another great Star Wars film, as they should be, because this story is a wonderful tale of good and evil battling each other for redemption and absolution. George Lucas at long last has revealed himself to be what I have long suspected since the early 80's when he was unable to duplicate the success of Star Wars: a horrible writer and a hack one-hit wonder. All he has and all that he pretends to be is a direct result of one brilliant bubble gum film made in 1977.
My frustration with Lucas' butchering of something that writes itself is at an end. Nowhere in any of the pre-quels is anything resembling greatness or aforethought. Indeed Lucas has made three films that are so benign of story that at times one feels sick. The dialogue is abysmal, the editing is sophomoric and jumpy, lacking any cohesion whatsoever. And the critical basis of Anakin's turning to the dark side is laughable.
Take a lesson from Shkespeare. In "Othello", the character of Iago is a terrifyingly evil one who causes havoc and despair with all that he does and says. His character's greatness comes from one truth: he is evil for the sake of being evil. Iago, granted, was "passed over" for promotion by Othello, but that does not justify the absolute decadence that came with his character from that moment on. Indeed, Iago was evil mostly because he was very good at it, and he enjoyed having absolute power over everyone.
My contention is this: why cannot Anakin turn to the dark side simply because in becomes hypnotized and mesmerized by the power and pleasure of being evil? What draws us to The Terminator? or Hannibal Lecter? or DARTH VADER? It is the absolute power and fear generated by an entity that can do anything it wants to any one at any time.
So no, this film DOES NOT redeem George Lucas, and yes, Star Wars III is as awful as I and II. Enough already, because trust me, Lucas is cackling the cackle of the Dark Lord of the Sith all the way to the bank.....