A dashing of childhood dre

Rating: 1/10 (13 June 2019)

I remember, when Star Wars first launched, I was just a child of single digits, but the movie was like nothing we had ever seen before. Weekly we would down to the pizza place with our family, have food, and after that we were each given a quarter to go and get a pack of collectors cards for Star Wars! We loved the movie and for most of us (at least those that couldn't afford a laser disc player) the theater was the only chance we would have to see it for years.
George Lucas only had one movie that anyone would call decent (American Graffiti), as he wasn't yet the star everyone knew and loved for decades. However, that all changed with the release of Star Wars and Lucas quickly became a household name that was only strengthened with each release of the original trilogy! The impact of these first 3 movies on American culture and in the minds of so many people, left most of all too eager to see the first Star Wars Movie in almost 20 years! Well, we all know how that ended up... Even those of us that liked some aspects of it, felt the kid was out of place, midiclorians were a stupid idea, and too much relied upon the bumbling antics of an extremely unpopular CGI character (don't get me started on the killing of the best Star Wars Villain we had seen in years). How did we get it so wrong about George Lucas? I can't say for sure, but we did!
Episode 3 to me, came at a time when I was fully over any idea that Lucas was some kind of Genius! My lack of faith, in Lucas, had reached such heights that this was the first and possibly the only, time that I actually watched part of it from a torrented cam video... In twenty minutes I decided I wasn't going to see this movie in the theaters, but the draw of Star Wars was too strong and I went anyway... Man did I regret that decision!!!
For me, the problem with these stories was that Lucas relied on taking ideas from movies he loved as a younger man and a lot of it was awkward at best. He stole the pod races from Ben Hur and Darth Vader's reveal from Frankenstein, and neither really added anything special to the story, they only made it more sensationalized and cheapened the memories we once had as second rate knock offs.
I saw a documentary about the original Star Wars and it was titled something like "saved in editing". The documentary went on to tell a story of how much Lucas wanted to do and how much of a mess that story was. If not for a band of editors, we wouldn't have the memories we now have, as they kept Lucas in check and kept Star Wars focused.
With Revenge of the Sith, we saw the completion of a new trilogy, a trilogy that showed just how bad an unchecked George Lucas could be at story telling! It was the literal unraveling of the George Lucas Mystique and it lead to many cheers when he finally sold the entire line off (no Disney hasn't done much better).
Anyway, to say this movie was bad, somehow doesn't quite cut it, it was horrible acting, way too much CGI that abandoned the minimalistic world of the original trilogy. and left it left a permanent stain on the face of the entire franchise. Arise Lord Vader is the point at which the whole thing jumped the shark for me and so much more was completely forgettable! Later this year, the whole Skywalker storyline draws to a close and I am looking forward to it being put out of its misery! I wish at this point Disney would release the theatrical versions (without the Lucas editing) and at least Restore some of the memories I once cherished as a boy, because this whole story line sucks now