In addition to my previous post regarding a lack of substance and emotional punch in the prequel triology, I have a few additional thoughts. Episodes IV, V, VI aren't perfect movies, but they succeed. The viewer loves the goodies and hates the baddies. There is a sense of mystery, complexity and adventure to them. Because they did not fall into the trap of many 70s era studio movies with strong themes of sexual repression/expression, socialism, and other "malaise" topics, they have aged very well. One can still enjoy them today. Most Holly wood movies from the 70s that don't have Clint Eastwood in them are laughable or even unwatchable. George Lucas tapped something in ourselves, a sense of manliness or adventure or nobility-against-the-odds that resonates. We desperately want Luke to blow up the Death Star. We don't want Han to run off with his reward. We want Vader crushed. The Force is a pleasant mystery.
All those feelings are gone. I am supposed to feel sorry for Darth Vader? Really? That line was completely overdone. Wait for ROTJ for me to feel sorry for him, let me hate him for a while. He is the BADDEST guy around. I think now the Vader character has been ruined even in the old trilogy, to my sincerest dismay. Also, the original story wasn't all about Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader, I now propose that Lucas overdid his committment to that story instead of mixing in a clever subset of plot lines, like the OT (original trilogy) did.
I don't think it is unfair to hold up the PT (prequel trilogy) to the OT. They were meant to be roughly equal in quality and watchability. The PT cannot stand on its own in any way. Does anybody care about any of the characters? There is a difference between not knowing a lot about a character, but yet being intrigued and simply not knowing a lot about a character. For example, the character of Mace Windu, while able to do some fancy lightsaber tricks, is not intriuging, even for a minor character. Yoda was awfully misused, as I found his acrobatics and lightsaber action ridiculous and potentially destructive to the character generally.
ROTS does not have moments of high art. It does have moments of fantastic art design, acrobatics, eye candy and flashy effects. But that just doesn't make up for the faltering of film in other ways.
Qui-Gon Jinn kept me interested in Phantom Menance. The possibility of intrigue with Count Dooku kept me around in AOTC. Nothing doing in ROTS. The movie keeps your attention but leaves you empty. I now fear that the emptiness of this movie will drag the OT down into a quagmire of Star Wars mediocrity. All good things must end, and I believe the mightiness of Star Wars and its effect on America and moviemaking is at that end. Pity.
