Revenge of the Sith 2 out of 5 by Peter Kuebler
We did it. We sold out. We paid George Lucas 12 dollars to see his most predictable and anticipated Stars Wars installment. Our first film of the summer 2005 Blockbuster season.
Visual - Visually the film is stunning. The man is a master of creating a spectacle of effects on screen. There is so much going on at times you wish you could slow down the film to take in all the visual effects.
Story/Plot - Someone needs to steal Lucas' pen. The man cannot write. He cannot write dialog, he cannot write plots, he just cannot and should not. I will give him credit for having the vision so long ago to write his outline for what became, Episode IV, A New Hope. But that is all.
Direction - I don't know who to be more annoyed with the director for getting nothing out of his actors, or the actors for giving nothing. This was just a plodding movie with cut scenes of amazing visual stuff.
Acting - Where do I begin... I don't care how many people tell me Natalie Portman is intelligent, she stinks on ice. Hayden Christensen, what a putz. This guy's can only handle acting two emotions, which are whining and brooding. Suddenly Keanu Reeves looks like Sir Alec Guiness against this clown. With these two acting choices Lucas may have broken the back of his beloved franchise. The finest acting in this plodding behemoth of a movie has to be from the little green muppet Yoda.
My advice, wait for it on video. If you can't. Make sure it is a matinee.
One interesting item I discovered about the Star Wars saga, is that Lucas did not direct my favorite film, "The Empire Strikes Back". This was a deal Lucas had to work out with Fox Studios to make sure he got funding for the movie.
It was directed by Irvin Kershner. An old Hollywood studio director, who certainly knew how to keep a plot movie.
More on the acting. The first movies were not triumphs of acting either, but there was enough talent there to draw you in and care about the characters. Perhaps the first ones were so compelling because of the talent of Harrison Ford who stole the spotlight each and every time he had a scene.
Personally I wanted Hayden to put on the Vadar mask so that I know longer had to hear him cry.
Posted by pkuebler at June 12, 2005 11:06 AM