Bloggystyle -- The Greatest

Despite being raised by someone who proudly called herself a Trekkie, I (thankfully) never became part of the Star Wars cult following. I have seen the original trilogy countless times, and I have no problem admitting that they were very good movies.

I went to see Phantom of the Menace and Attack of the Clones after the initial crowd, and I think I speak for any objective movie-goer in saying that those first two were bad, especially the first one. And the only thing cool about the second one was the way Talib Kweli could rhyme it in Get By. Throw in the fact that we know everything that happens in Episode III as soon as Attack of the Clones finished, and I wasn't exactly anticipating it like most people I knew.

But sometime in these past 3 years, George Lucas learned how to tell a story all over again. And my other concerns for this movie proved to be unfounded.

First, I read critiques of the acting, especially Hayden Christensen as Anakin, but I didn't see any problems with his acting. Playing Anakin isn't exactly an easy thing to accomplish, so I think he played the role of Anakin all right. Ian McDiarmid did the best acting as Palpatine, and it's hard to believe he was only in his 30s when he played Palpatine in Return of the Jedi. Natalie Portman had nothing to work with except to look hot, and she was only average at doing that given her capabilities.

Here comes the spoilers section, but I'm guessing just about 99% of you bastards have already seen this movie.

The dialogue absolutely ruined the last two, and it wasn't Tarantino this time, but it sufficed. Only one line was terribly out of place, Padme's "You're breaking my heart" line near the end, but I guess it helps convey to any potential retards out there why she dies during childbirth.

Finally, the story was so much better this time around that I can't believe they were done by the same people who did Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones. Lucas has plenty of fun with CGI and that was fine, the only dragging parts were with Padme and those weren't too long, and the last hour or so, especially the paralell story lines in the last 30 minutes, is perhaps the best storytelling in any of the 6 movies.

My only critique of the movie is that Anakin's final turn toward allying himself with Palpatine was too contrived. The story was doing an admirable job of pulling Anakin in all directions and sending him down the path, but the final push over was too forced.

All in all though, this movie was probably 3 stars, and it does a great job of tying the trilogies together. I don't think Lucas will tackle Episodes that come after Return of the Jedi because there would no longer be any characters that the Star Wars fans are familiar with or emotionally vested in. But if he does try it, I hope they're comparable to this one.