A bad portent for the new Star Wars episode: Even in a carefully posed cover photo for Premiere magazine, Hayden Christensen looks like a kid standing on line dressed up as Darth Vader:

The problem is that George Lucas has not made a single movie that wasn’t composed of stock characters. When he wants a movie to be more than a Saturday afternoon diversion — for example, when he starts to believe The Force is more than a plot device, that he’s exploring deep themes of good and evil, or that he can write a love scene — he goes off the rails. He can direct large action scenes, and in every movie there’s been one or two special effects that have been imaginative and cool — jumping to light speed, those gunner bots that transform from rolling balls — but he is so unaware that he’s dealing in stereotypes that he can base an entire movie around Ewoks or dive head first into racism.

All the variables have been explored. He’s got a budget big enough to make the movie he wants. He has total mastery of digital effects — which he pioneered, and hats off to him for doing so — so he can make anything happen that he imagines. He’s got a built-in audience so he could try experimenting. He has fantastic actors, including Hayden Christensen. So why have his movies marched steadily downhill? There’s only one variable left…

Having said that, I expect the new one to be better than the previous two. And no matter how bad it is, I’ll go see it. But I will not wear my JarJar outfit. I’ve learned my lesson. [Technorati tags: StarWars GeorgeLucas]

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