When it comes to art appreciation, certainly I can embrace “Viva la difference!”. In politics, however, you either agree with me or you’re an infidel worthy only of death.

I don’t think it’s necessarily a “liberal-style” way of thinking at work in Sith. Anakin’s descent is much more attributal to his own hubris - else he wouldn’t have been seduced by the powers of the dark side.

As for the rest of your critique, I too was disappointed that we didn’t get to hate Darth Vader more. But the look on his face and the way he said “I hate you” to Obi-Wan after their duel promised that he would grow in his evil - especially after being told that he was responsible for Padme’s death. The disfigurement by Obi-Wan and his own psychic pain at killing Padme (even though he didn’t, he believes his master) could easily explain his character in A New Hope and beyond.

There was the brief scene when Obi-Wan reviewed the security tapes where we saw a holographic image of Anakin killing the younglings. Not satisfying enough, but a taste of evil nonetheless.

I guess the biggest problem for all fans of star wars was that we knew what was going to happen to Anakin. There was no question that he would become Darth Vader so I guess perspective on how that occurred will differ. I happened to think it was very well done. You don’t.

Viva la difference!

“Only the Dark Side Deals in Absolutes”
- Obi-Wan Kenobi

How many Jedi did we actually see Anakin kill? Zero. He stopped Mace from killing Palpatine, which allowed Palpatine the opportunity to finish off Mace, but that kill isn’t attributable to Anakin. He marched into the temple with all of those clones, and then we didn’t see a single battle. He lit up his light saber in the room with all the younglings, but we never saw him hack and slash. His turn to the dark side was too fast and dramatic, especially considering the fact that 1) it happened because he was scared of his dreams, and 2) Palpatine’s promises of saving Padme were unfounded as he didn’t have the power to do it.

I wanted a movie where I learned to hate Darth Vader. I learned that the evil inside of him was too great for the good to overcome, and that he had done terrible things of his own accord because he was just evil. I feel that we could’ve formed a better emotional response to his turn to the dark side if we had seen him kill some Jedi, seen him kill the younglings, or seen him have a true emotional moment with Padme. Lucas can’t write (or apparently direct) a romantic scene. I’ve seen more passion from cereal commercials.

One of the foundational problem areas, in my opinion, is the liberal-style thinking that went behind the movie that says no one is truly responsible for their actions. It is their circumstances and the people around them that cause them to do things out of character because they are deceived into thinking it’s the right thing to do or the only option they have. I felt like the filmmakers were trying to get me to feel the same way about Darth Vader as they would want me to feel about drug dealers in the ghetto. It’s not their fault - it’s a societal and community failure to show another viable option.

But I have to disagree with your assesment of Skywalker’s seduction. I thought the entire thing was stilted, wooden and scripted. Christensen played his role as though an original thought never entered his head. The speed with which he was turned was unbelievable and his killing of Mace was just horribly out of character. I thought the rest of the movie was decent in spite of that part of the storyline. But that’s just my 2 cents.