A horrifically blown opportunity

Rating: 3/10 (1 June 2005)

Only George Lucas could take the chance to give us the story of how the galaxy's biggest bad**s came to be such, and, instead, give us an effects-laden, heavy-handed, boring treatise on Palpatine's ascendancy. Who cares about Palpatine? For three movies we got Palpatine, who was never particularly interesting. Could we not simply stipulate that, yes, he is evil and badly in need of some sun, and get on with the REAL story? Anakin Skywalker could have been SO much more interesting than the shallow, moody little twit we were given.
Darth Vader is the stuff of cultural legends. The opportunity to tell what MADE him Darth Vader was there, and was squandered by a director hiding behind ILM's jiggery pokery.