Great effects, if only the story was half as good.

Rating: 7/10 (16 November 2005)

If I can say one thing about Lucas it is this: he cannot write. Or very poorly.
I have to admit that I am more a Trekkie than a Star Wars fan but the first 3 movies (episodes 4&5&6) are rather memorable even if the story is not top notch.
In the 3 latest Star Wars episodes one should not expect a good story at all which is a shame because from the Star Wars Knights Of The Old Republic I know it is possible to create a very compelling and interesting story.
In both games the player can follow Anakin's path but in each that is a slow path, not influenced by a single event. It takes awhile for the character to become evil but then one is really evil. Anakin is more pathetic than evil. A puppet if you will. The emperor talks to him and suddenly he turns to the dark side? Sounds like poor story telling to me.
The same goes for Padme. She just dies because she does not want to live anymore. It would have made far more sense for the emperor to have killed her and then blame the Jedi for it causing Anakin to turn on them but no she just "dies".
Anakins transformation in Darth Vader is cool but him shouting at the ceiling does ruin the character of Darth Vader. He should have learned of Padme's death as Anakin, then had his ass kicked (along with the disfigurement) and then to return as Darth Vader. And then Darth Vader should have been responsible for the destruction of the Jedi.
Look at that, guess like many others I too can write this movie better. Not that it would be an accomplishment as Lucas is a bad writer.
In all the story was quite meager indeed but it is wrapped in a delicious mix of action and special effects. That is Lucas' specialty as much as writing is not. It does not all fan out though.
The opening battle is cool but it lacks heart. I recall seeing the battle for Deep Space Nine in the DS9 episode Sacrifice Of Angels. Of course that was broken up in parts but it is a battle I can watch over and over. The viewer knew what was at stake and also knew the odds. Starfleet was desperate and needed to go to battle even if this one that they might lose seeing they were outnumbered 2 to 1. Their Klingon allies had not sent reinforcements either so things were looking really grim.
The attack started and things were going quite badly but then all of a sudden the Klingons decloaked and turned the tide. What a battle that was! Sure it was not as spectacular as the battle in Revenge Of The Sith in terms of explosions and all that but that episode was made before even episode 1 and with a much lower budget so that is to be expected. Still it did have a large amount of ship and most of all heart and that is what I missed in this movie.
Then again, no space battle in Star Wars really impressed me after seeing the Dominion war episodes of Star Trek. Which is probably why Lucas did not even try in episode 3. The last Star Trek movie was rated negatively by a lot of people but at least that too had and awesome space battle.
Oh well, one cannot win them all but Lucas wins on a very few points. Star Wars has its charms which I really found in Knights Of The Old Republic. I really liked the Ithorians and Mandalorians, both very distinct and interesting races. A lot could be do with them, if only the time is taken.
The Force is one of the high points of the game granting the player a lot of interesting and powerful abilities. Sadly in the movies they are rarely used. In Kotor 2, the exile, can destroy droids without even touching them or stun opponents. Perfect stuff for a movie which sadly went unused.
As I noticed in both this movie and the Kotor games, there are beautiful worlds and in Kotor one spends hours on Nar Shaddaa which is quite an interesting place in its own way. Dantooine is very pretty with open plains and even Korriban has its charm. In this movie people jump from planet to planet without a viable explanation.
Not only is this highly annoying but it also deprives fans to get to "know" these planets and their people. It is just another way to show case the abilities of Lucas to show off pretty worlds. Why one should spend a boatload of money on a world that one only sees for a few minutes I do not understand.
But it does look pretty and in that aspect, Lucas outdoes pretty much everyone and rivals Peter Jackson. He needed that positive though as there were not many.
The fighting was done very impressively but light-saber duels are always very impressive.
Well, I am not sure what else to write so I am going to close off. In short, if you are looking for a movie with great story then you will be disappointed. The action is good, the special effects top notch but the story is below par. So this movie gets a 7 (out of 10) from me.
The movie is worth buying for the hidden bit. Go to language selection and enter "11, enter, 03 enter, 08.". Quite hilarious indeed!