COUNTDOWN TO ROTS

I've been following the buzz about Revenge of the Sith for the last few weeks. I haven't gone, yet, because my son and I are waiting for my eldest daughter to arrive in town this week. Going to the movies is something we do as a family.

The reviews I'm reading are mixed. Generally, the special effects aren't faulted, but the ideology behind the movie is.

I wasn't too thrilled with the first 2 episodes. They seemed to have that European, too-cool lack of emotion in the main characters. I yearned for some over-the-top kick-ass American attitude.

Instead, I got Jar-Jar Binks. Yuck.

The whole thing about wrenching Anakin away from his mother seemed contrived, and unnecessary. It seemed to treat the kid as though his prodigy-like abilities allowed the adults to ignore his need to be a kid. Just because you need him to fight for you, is not an adequate excuse for putting him in the middle of a war zone.

Unless, of course, you're Palestinian. In which case, you not only shove him onto the front line, you hold his hand as you walk, with bomb, towards the evil ones Israeli troops.

Jackson's Junction agrees with me:

Lucas' value system is so corrupt he offers us no heroes. In Menace, Obi Wan and Qui Gon (?) meet Anakin. He's like nine years old and a slave to that purple flying thing. A slave. A slave! Do they liberate Anakin? No. Even though they could've done so easily. So, what do they do? They put a little boy in an unbelievably dangerous pod race. If he wins, he's free. If he loses, the Jedi leave him enslaved. What kind of horseshit is that? And even after Anakin wins his freedom the Jedi take him but leave his mother a slave! Those aren't heroes. Those are United Nations workers.

Come on, George [Lucas]! You needed to add humor, the gallant willingness to throw oneself into danger for the sake of another, the courage to live after your loved one dies. Instead you give us wooden METROSEXUAL MEN, and WIMPY WOMEN.