Very good ending of the series but problems with the characters

Rating: 8/10 (22 May 2005)

I am probably one of the very few Star Wars enthusiasts that prefer Phantom Menace to Clones. Why, well I never could put my finger on the issue. Now comes Revenge. Now let me say from the start I thought it was good. Better than Clones, but again Phantom Menace somehow had more of an effect on me. Again why? Revenge had all the elements that I would say to anyone go see this movie, but hey, you will need to see it a couple of times, as it has so much going on.
After Revenge and a couple of days of reflection I realized my unease was with the characters. Lets face it Anakin, Padme and Ben are no Luke, Leia and Han. I liked the twins and the boyfriend more than the parents and their guardian. I cared what happened to Luke & Co. But with Anakin & Co I was an observer not a participant. The final fight between Darth Maul and Obi-won in Phantom had an emotional context, which may explain my preference. Clones & Revenge lacked any emotional connection. There was a story behind the flashy effects you just had to keep your eye on it. The most uncomfortable aspect was the relationships between the 3 main characters. Luke & Co really liked each other, Dad and friends put up with each other.
Lets face it Anakin was not a person to like. He was arrogant, selfish, ignorant and just plain vain. Obi-won did a lousy job training him and Padme was a victim. She reminded me of the batted girlfriend syndrome, abused physically and emotionally by a bully who would fix things up by apologizing and telling her he loved her after the abuse. I had no respect for the characters, whether this is the fault of the actors or script is debatable.
But may be in the end its to do with Lucas casting of Hayden Christensen he just never invoked any sympathy in his character.
At the end of the movie I could understand why Kenobi\McGregor just left Anakin\Hayden, his supposed friend on the bank to burn rather than put him out of his misery. Think about it, faced with his greatest failure who bashes pregnant women, kills little children, defenceless women and bad acting, old Ben\Ewan went on the dark side and thought "Burn you little s^*t."