Failed to live up to the hype.

Rating: Null/10 (28 May 2005)

Can't say I was surprised that this did not live up to the hype, but I WAS surprised at how bad some of the acting was (special mention must go to Natalie Portman, who I love otherwise but who really was looking quite awful here, mostly in the scenes with Hayden Christiansen, who was not much better). Of course, Anthony Hopkins and Al Pacino would have had trouble making such inane dialog sound believable, so what are you gonna do? Lucas is clearly scratching the bottom of the Star Wars barrel. This was not really that great a movie....on it's own. As part of the Saga you have to kick it up a notch or two just for being there, and Darth Vader IS a Mythic Villain for sure, but overall I was really under-whelmed.