angelynx

Everyone, *ignore* the whiny negative advance reviews and go see this movie! It is such an exhilarating rush it literally left me breathless. Dense political machinations balanced out by stunning visual beauty, a touch of comedy and some of the greatest science-fiction action sequences ever. Already being a SW fan will help you appreciate much of the plot-establishing material (and a lot of the dialogue), but I think ANY movie fan can enjoy it for its astonishing visuals, its exciting battle and race scenes, the calm and clever bravery of Queen Amidala and the touching scenes between young Anakin and the mother he has to leave behind. (I know this will be one of 1000 reviews - can't wait to read the rest!).

I'll be as generous as possible by saying that I can at least tell what this movie is trying to do: show the disorientation and weirdness of a living man's slow descent into undeath. However, in my opinion, it doesn't even come close to working as designed. The artsy visual effects, constant flashbacks, bizarre peripheral characters and other efforts at a "dream logic" feel only result in an exasperating incoherence. Totally unappealing characters, gratuitous gore (why would vampires be so wasteful of blood?) and too many different locations (should have stayed in Philadelphia with only flashbacks to Alaska - California and Louisiana sequences are completely unnecessary) add to a general feeling of wasted energy. (--and that...outfit...on Legion nearly made me lose my pizza.) Badly wants to be "Carnival of Souls" or even "Jacob's Ladder" but accomplishes only "The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies".