Star Wars Episode III

I really, really wanted to like this movie. I really did.

I honestly don't know who this movie was made for. It was more violent than pretty much any of the preceeding movies making it unsuitable for kids. The plot, storytelling and dialogue was so bad it wasn't suitable for adults. So maybe the only people who will enjoy it are adults who've left their mental development at the preschool level.

Every scene with Padme and Anakin was just bad, in a way a film student's first "great" movie is bad. But this movie wasn't made by a first year film student, but supposedly a genius filmmaker worth billions. Every scene with Anakin and Chancellor Palpatine were bad in exactly the same way. Every scene with Anakin and Obi-Wan Kenobi that didn't include fighting was also bad for the same reasons.

The dialogue in all those scenes was simple, even child-like, the plot/character development transparent and minimal and it just plain old didn't work.

Some of the fight scenes were kinda cool, but then I've been spoiled by so many excellent and truly great action and kung-fu movies lately (Sin City, Kill Bill, etc.) that the action scenes in SW III didn't quite make it either.

For me the only great moment of the movie was the Birth of Darth Vader. The scene where Anakin gets Darth Vader getup on him and Darth Vader breathes his first signature breath was truly remarkable. Very Frankensteinian. Nicely done Lucas! That was the only time in the movie where I had any kind of emotional reaction to what was happening on the screen. I expect more from movies I see.

-TPP