Use the force Lucas...

If I was able to summons up the powers of the world-famous "force," made famous in the original Star Wars movie, I would immediately travel back in time to circa 1977, when director George Lucas first began entertaining the idea of making subsequent Star War's-themed movies. Bad idea George. My mission would be to stop him. Lucas' subsequent releases are proof-positive that you should never willingly follow a legend.

That's the problem with hitting a "Grand Slam" the very first-time you ever step up to bat, anything you do after that pales in comparison. But like that proverbial baseball player, Lucas just keeps on swinging--and missing--from a movie-making standpoint. Business-wise, Episode III: Revenge of the Sith is nothing more than a calculated marketing effort to move merchandise. Once again, Lucas insists on crowding the latest efforts with numerous odd and unusual creatures who are there to impress us with the latest in cutting-edge special effects--and of course, lend themselves to massive marketing and toy sales. Knock it off! It's the story, stupid. And since the original, the story has been mediocre at best.

I can't help but wonder if Lucas' ex-wife, a major influence on Lucas while creating the original Star Wars, wasn't the true guiding force to the appeal of the original story. Certainly the story went goofier and goofier once she was out of the picture.

And the cast? WTF? Samuel L. Jackson? It is all I can to keep from laughing outloud each and every time Jackson appears in a scene. Am I the only person sitting in the theater who expects Jackson to utter the words "Mother F--ker" at any given moment? Natalie Portman? Come now, I've seen corpses with more spark than the performance she turns in in "Sith." She was wonderful in "The Professional" several years ago but any trace of the acting performance she gave in that movie is long gone these days. In "Sith," I felt like I was watching a high school drama class production any time she appeared on screen--which was way too often.

Herein may lie the problem. The original Star Wars cast was fresh and relatively unknown, allowing movie-goers to accept them easily as their character. The more recent releases have been so littered with well-known actors that you can't help but think about them "acting" in their roles when onscreen. Which could explain why the cast seems to be so stiff and one dimensional.

Don't get me wrong, "Sith" is the best of the most-recents, but overall it's way too "neat and tidy" and only the truest SW-geeks could think this movie is a "classic." Don't confuse complacency with real movie-making genius. Just because you feel better that all of your previous questions have finally been answered, doesn't mean you should accept a mediocre movie. But that seems to be exactly what Lucas was hoping would happen. And I can give you a few million reasons why.