May the farce be with you!

Rating: 7/10 (22 May 2005)

It's a good piece of entertainment (hence 7/10), and I would heartily recommend it to anyone with a couple of empty hours on a Saturday evening, but I couldn't stop thinking, 'why on Tatooine did anyone bother making these movies?'.
I saw the original movie when I was 7 years old, and episodes 4,5 & 6 (naturally) hold a special place in my heart. They were great tales of a simple band of characters forging a 'new hope' out of the old empire. They came at a time when the world was emerging from the grip of recession and reflected something of the (well-founded) youthful optimism of Lucas and Spielberg. The movies were good fun, and their natural successors seem to be the Indiana Jones series which continue a tradition of the individual battling the forces of evil in an amusing, knock-about adventure.
The most recent 3 movies in the Star Wars cycle, however, seem to be an indulgence. The first two were especially complex, and I have no real idea what the story around the central theme of Anakin's development actually was. Something to do with trade. Anyway, not very interesting, and a world away from the 'band of heroes save world' theme of the first 3! So, in summary, it was a good movie, very entertaining, beautifully made, and as long as you can focus on that and not wonder why Lucas needed to make 8 hours of movie to explain why Ani went bad, then you'll love it!