Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

Director: George Lucas
Year Released: 2005
Rating: 2.0

More or less the same deal as Episode II: the special effects and battle sequences are masterful but the scenes that involve emotion in any form (and the accompanying soap-opera dialogue) - in particular, the Hayden Christiansen and Natalie Portman scenes - are simply dreadful. It begins with an extended action bit to subdue the audience enough to get then through the extensive plot exposition and sci-fi blather about space wars ... and speaking of which, yes, some of the dialogue about the "Republic" (the United States) dominating the galaxy by force (to restore peace!) does sound a little too close to our country's modern-day imperialist tactics and rationale (read: Iraq), but Lucas is too fascinated with cockroach-like robots that carry four light-sabers to make a giant huge case out of it. For me, at least, it's really a game of counting the "cool" moments, like seeing Chewbacca for the 'first' time, Yoda dismantling pretty much everybody, Samuel L. getting his arm cut off and thrown out a window and of course, surgery in the near future, turning a mutilated body into the notorious Darth Vader. And hey, is it just me, or is the Jedi Extermination sequence homage to The Godfather (where Michael orders the death of all of his father's enemies, including Mo Green)? Coppola did help get him get started, after all....