Absurd

Rating: 6/10 (21 March 2006)

Why is this movie currently in the top 250? My six stars go entirely to special effects, musical score (which is superb), swordplay, and Ewan McGregor's performance in the final minutes of the film. As for the story, there were significant problems listed below. The script is a blatant nightmare. Lines exchanged between Anakin and Padme are actually quite painful to experience. I mean I had to cover my ears.
Let's begin with Padme. This is, perhaps, the weakest female character EVER written for the screen. Ever. She does three things in the film. She cries, she sits in a room, and she is pregnant. Is this character really birthed from the same mind that gave us Princess Leia? I can't believe it. Episode One and Two suffered from quite different problems than the one thing that really damaged this movie. In the previous two films, not a lot happened. They might have even been boring. Pretty? Yes. Interesting? Like watching grass grow.
In this film, though, too much happens. If developed properly, this movie alone could have in fact been the entire trilogy. Even a satisfying trilogy. We could have developed Bail Organa's character a little more (ahem, I mean at all), had Padme involved with the infancy of the rebel alliance from even the second film, and really taken time evolving the Emperor's and Anakin's relationship. Instead everything is heaped on us all at once. By the end, the movie proves to be overwhelming (in a bad way), rushed, and premature.
I left the film, strangely enough, entertained, because it was quite a ride, and angry. Maybe this is preferable to how I left the other two; that is simply disappointed.