Director: George Lucas, US, 139min
Stars: Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Hayden Christensen, Ian McDiarmid, Samuel L. Jackson
On general release from Thursday

Of all the Hollywood franchise behemoths, the Star Wars prequels seem to me to be the least deserving of the feverish anticipation that greets each new movie. Episodes I and II were horribly acted, leadenly scripted and indulgently overlong. And yet still the Star Wars faithful have been frothing with excitement over the imminent release of the third instalment.

George Lucas, meanwhile, is all too keenly aware of the iconic status of his creation. And the problem is that he takes this very seriously indeed, to the extent that any spark of humour or irreverence that might have been present in the earlier films has been all but extinguished.

Episode III certainly had the potential for a character development that has been conspicuously missing from its predecessors. This, after all, is the episode in which Anakin finally confronts his destiny as a Sith Lord. Surely a few scenes of psychological torment are in order? However, the same problem that plagued the first two episodes sinks this one, too — concerned that a young audience will not be able to follow the political wrangling in the narrative, Lucas keeps the dialogue declamatory and explanatory. Anakin’s defection to the Sith is achieved in little more than a couple of exchanges.

A testament to how little faith Lucas has in the film’s dialogue is the fact that he chooses to carpet the film with a bombastic and overbearing score. And while the movie is an impressive showcase for CGI technology, there’s almost too much going on. Plumes of erupting lava one moment, a vertiginous city future-scape the next — the backdrops to the action rapidly lose all meaning and bearing on the story itself. It’s a textbook example of style over substance and, more importantly, soul.

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