Doesn't try, does fail.

Rating: 1/10 (12 June 2005)

Throughout the Star Wars movies I think that it's fair to say that George Lucas has proved the old adage that everybody steals from everybody in the movies, but in episode three I think he finally crossed the line from tipping his hat to outright stealing. I am not speaking of The Lord Of The rings comparisons, rather that old story of Hitler's rise to power in Nazi Germany, circa 1940.
Consider the following; Palpatine (Hitler) realizes that in order to create the 'first galactic empire' (third Reich) he must use political maneuvering to cement his position. In this same way Hitler gained absolute control of the government in Germany. The emergency powers Palpatine uses to take extended control during a war situation were also used by Hitler upon the commencement of the Second World War.
Two major events which allowed Palpatine to move towards his goals were the destruction of the Jedi's in a surprise attack in 'Temple'. The Jews suffered a similar fate on Crystalnacht. For those of you unfamiliar with history, on this night Hitler targeted the Jewish homes and businesses and had all the shop windows smashed and painted pentecostal stars on the doors of their homes. He then attempted to round up all the Jews and send them away to camps. It was this night where he painted the Jews as the enemies of the republic, and the state which was the truly evil figure became the symbol for good to the general public of Germany. In this same way the Jedi become the enemy in Episode three.
The other vital event which allowed Hitler to take absolute power of Germany was 'the night of the long knives'. During this one night Hitler has his top lieutenant, take the secret police and wipe out all of the Nazis enemies in a single swoop. He killed the leaders of the police and military who opposed him, leaving him in complete control. The empire in patrolled in both cases by the secret police (commonly known as the brown shirts in Germany or 'stormtroopers' in both cases). I'm sure I don't need to point out the parallels with Anakin killing the leaders of the separatists in episode three.
In the end Palpatine, an amazing public speaker despite being a man of small stature (hmm who could that be) has convinced the general public that the Jedi (Jews) are the enemy, and only he can safely lead them to the 'peace' of a dictatorship.
The fact that George Lucas believes the general public to be so ignorant of recent history is not only wildly arrogant but to me very annoying. It was bad enough that the money making adventures of episodes 1, 2 and 3 added nothing to the original movies but now I feel they have had a double negative effect on the Star Wars saga. They have encouraged people to go back and watch the original three movies but in my case this wasn't a good experience. I probably haven't watched the movies since I was a child and going back to revisit them was like going back to your high school reunion and finding that the ladies man Zack Morris style figure is now the manger of the local supermarket. In other words it's a big disappointment, and you wish you never went back. Lucas was a talentless hack who had one good idea after he made the rather limited American Graffetti, and stretched out this one note premise (local farm boy makes good) into a ridiculous over long money making orgy.
Lucas has one special trademark as a director, the star wipe. Congrats George that's a winner. In fact its so good that my mother always uses it in her power point presentations. Looking back at these three prequels even the most loyal fan must be thinking what the point was. Think back to episode one. Does that really help us with our understanding of the original trilogy? Perhaps five minutes of that movie is at all interesting. Yes Anakin was good then he becomes bad. We get it. Did it really need nine hours to convey that fact? Star Wars was OK as kids movie at the time it came out but it needs to be laid to rest next to the Never Ending Story, The Goonies, and other movies of that ilk, rather than where some would have you believe in the higher realms of actually good, original, inventive movies. George, take your money back to the ranch old man, there's nothing left for you here.