rating:
(out of
4 stars)United States; 2005
Directed by George Lucas; produced by Rick McCallum; written by George Lucas
Starring Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Hayden Christensen, Christopher Lee, Samuel L. Jackson, Jimmy Smits, Frank Oz, Ian McDiarmid, Kenny Baker, Anthony Daniels, Ahmed Best, Keisha Castle-Hughes, Peter Mayhew
Below you will find a temporary review for this film. The real (better, more complete) review will be online very soon.
'Episode I' was a major disappointment for, and I am just taking a guess
here, many fans of the original 'Star Wars' trilogy. For me, probably more a
personal opinion, 'Episode II' showed that there was hope for the final
installment of this trilogy. My hope turned out to be misplaced for at least
three quarters of 'Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith'. By then I
realized this trilogy was kind of spoiled for me, after the disappointments
of two and a half episodes. Don't get me wrong, I liked the films as simple
popcorn entertainment, but the original trilogy was so much more than just
that.
Since 'Episode III' has to fill the holes left between 'Episode II' and the
original 'Star Wars' there are some things we already know to happen. Anakin
Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) will turn into Darth Vader, Padmé (Nathalie
Portman) will give birth to Luke and Leia, Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor)
and Yoda (voice of Frank Oz) will survive but disappear in one way or
another. Questions that are answered here are how Anakin becomes Darth
Vader, why Yoda and Obi-Wan disappear, and a lot of other little stuff I did
not care for that much.
What 'Episode III' does most of all is showing us special effects, not
really to support the story but to drag it. Like most people I liked the
effects, sometimes was amazed by them, but I was realizing too much I was
watching special effects instead of a fantasy world. The actors had the same
feeling in a way. I have seen terrific performances by McGregor and Portman
but here they just did not do their thing right. Every single actor, every
little piece of dialogue coming from an actor, was uninspired. Most terrible
were the scenes between Christensen and Portman.
'Episode III' is, like the two films before it, an experience for the eye.
It has a last quarter that is interesting to tell, mainly because it leads
up to 'Star Wars'. The popcorn entertainment is still here, but on the way
the magic is lost.