Anakin, We Hardly Knew Ye

Today (all right, yesterday, really), I went with Joe and sat through a showing of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. Although I agree with most of the critics who praise the film as the best of the final three in this prequel series, I came away from the theater with a sad feeling: Is this all there is?

Tolkein, Lucas isn't. Hell, he's not even JK Rowling. The man cannot write a decent bit of dialog between two lovers. The scenes with Annakin and Padme fall flatter than yesterday's biscuits. "Anni, I just don't know you anymore," Padme tells Anakin in the climactic scene. This turgidity is compounded by Haden Christenson's lack of depth as an actor. Even the beauty and grace of Natalie Portman couldn't hold the love story and its tragedy together.

One critic remarked how the actor playing Palpatine (Emperor....) handles the role "like an old queen." The theme is the seduction of the young man by what the Church calls "the glamour of evil." This seduction is brought about by the "queen" Darth Sidious in mentoring Annakin. It made me think of two much better stories (and films) on the same subject: "Apt Pupil" by Stephen King, and "Gods and Monsters." In both those films an older man seduces, or attempts to seduce, one much younger. In "Apt Pupil," the glamor is Nazi violence. In "Gods and Monsters," it's the glories of Hollywood's faded golden decades.

All the above being stipulated, the movie is still a lot of fun and should be something that will "grow on" the viewer as time passes.