Still not an Epic....

Rating: 7/10 (19 May 2005)

History has not been kind to the Star Wars prequels. After viewing Episodes I and II, I had become more than disappointed in George Lucas, wondering why, after the tremendous impact that the original trilogy had on pop culture, he would feel the need to no longer base special effects around story elements, but story elements around the video game style effects he feels are oh so real. It was with this thought that I walked into Star Wars - Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. And, I must tell you, I was neither disappointed nor was I completely surprised by what I saw.
To begin: the script. This film had an legendary story that everyone knew, the birth of Vader. So, the main idea of the story was in place, and had been for many years. So here, it was not the idea of a story around the FX, but the script. And it shows. The vast majority of the dialog in this film is poorly written, with sly, pointless punch-lines hidden in deep, and short, to the point lines, rather than some oratories I would have preferred. It is obvious with the dialog that Lucas wanted this to be a visual film, rather than a vocal piece. And in some instances, this worked well. For instances, the light-saber battle between Anakin and Ob-Wan at the end of the film begins and ends with dialog, with little to none in between, allowing us to feel the energy between the fighters. However, when Anakin and the Chancellor are spending time together discussing "things," the dialog is weak and empty, and poorly put forth by the actors. It was at these times my focus to wander to the background and I would realize that Halo 2 sometimes looks more realistic.
Moving on to the acting. Ewan McGregor was above par in this film, despite the poor dialog. I found it refreshing to see that he was still able to go all out for this film. Unfortunately, Natalie Portman, Hayden Christiansen, and Samuel L. Jackson did not hold up as well. Christiansen gives a terrible performance, however, only when vocally interacting with others. When he is the only focus, with no other main characters around, his presence in amazing, but his interactions make the film drop a notch, Natalie Portman seemed tired with the Padme role and appears to have given up, and Jackson just did not seem to care, much was the same with Christopher Lee, a brilliant classical actor who gave one of the worst performances in his recent career. As for Ian McDirmad, his overacting of evil was his downfall. Too many times he let the Emporer slip through when he was supposed to be good, other times he was just funny in his acting abilities. Another classical actor who just did not seem to care how their acting was.
Plot for this film lacked in many ways as well. Watching this movie, I felt that there were too many story lines to follow at times. The ultimate problem with this is that at the end of many plot lines, there is no real climax. They were poorly written and left you wanting more. Much could be said of when Anakin fully crosses to the dark side, there is no logic behind it, and he seems to do it so freely that you wonder why it took him so long. The reason behind the crossover slightly makes up for it all in the end, and it is nice how the tie-in is not made in an obvious manner.
Ultimately, the downfall of the movie was Lucas himself. Too much digital, and too many pointless camera techniques. The film abounded with close-ups, too stylistic fades, quick cuts, and overactive camera techniques. I like to see fast pacing action, but I also like the camera to move at a slow enough pace for me to focus on what is trying to be filmed. Lucas is not an accomplished director by any stretch of the imagination, nor is he a screenwriter. His knack is for producing and story elements. He needs to allow others to doctor the script or com-write with him, and leave the director's chair open to someone with vision.
Additional to point out is the droid humor and the better technology. Watching this film, it is hard to believe that story wise, it takes place before A New Hope. Yet, the technology is actually an upgrade from A New Ope. R2-D2 has more features than I remember from the original trilogy. Also, the droid army is too humorous, dropping many lines to General Grievious that would be considered insubordination, but the General takes it. This greatly detracted from the feel of the film.
Overall, the first hour or so of the film will hold one's attention as well as the first prequels. After that, the film is more enjoyable and the battles Yoda vs. Emperor and Anakin vs. Obi-Wan cannot be missed, as the are better than one could imagine. John Williams did a stellar job with the score in this film, ultimately making the light-saber battle of Anakin and Obi-Wan what it was. Walking out of the theater, I gave this film 9/10. However, after I thought about what I had witnessed, I realized that the film tried to be more than what it was, and what it was, and I lowered the score to 7/10.