Star Bores

Here's a major revision for you. . . .

When I saw Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith in the theater, I liked it. I really did. I thought it was easily the best of the prequel trilogy and finally approached the quality of the original series. I thought the characters seemed more real, the story made a little sense, and the special effects were spectacular.

What was I thinking? We rented the video (oops, I mean the DVD) of the film a week or two ago, and I was looking forward to watching it. But as the film moved along, I found myself squirming restlessly. Minus the wow factor of my first viewing, the film seemed very, very lame. The acting seemed as bad as in the first two prequels, the dialogue was often stiff, and the makeup of some of the characters was just ludicrous.

Having now seen all three films in the prequel, I think a big problem is the focus on the stoic Jedi. I found myself longing for an impetuous, excitable Luke Skywalker. Luke was always getting excited--or irritated, or offended, or upset--about something. Not the Jedi. Mustn't get upset, you know. The force is allowed to have disturbances all the time, but not the Jedi.

And the love story between Anakin and Padme just doesn't cut it. There's no chemistry at all. How can it be that the same director who gave us Han Solo and Leia Organa has brought us this dreck?

Anyway, I can remember films that I liked much better upon seeing them a second time: Chicken Run and The Incredibles come to mind. But Episode III easily takes the award as the film I liked least upon second viewing.