Technically and Visually Marvelous, Otherwise Terrible

Rating: 4/10 (15 November 2005)

I purchased this movie on DVD to avoid having to go to the theater to see it. I really enjoyed the first three Star Wars movies but the last two were a big disappointment. I had high hopes that this movie might redeem George Lucas from the doldrums of mediocrity. Sadly, it was not to be so.
There has been a fair amount of talk about "bad acting" here but I chalk it up to "bad direction." This movie was just so dramatically flat, it was really hard to believe. So many of the plot elements and potential drama just fell flat with Lucas' direction. And there were details that were left out or glossed over entirely. I really thought it was a decent story with a bad screenplay and terrible direction. It also seemed like there was at least 3 hours of movie material here (not counting the stupid love scenes)material we didn't get to see.
George Lucas should have retired the Star Wars movies after Return of the Jedi. I actually thought Attack of the Clones was a better movie (if you left out all the love scenes). I only give this movie a 4 because it was visually and technically engaging but otherwise it was just plain bad.