Is that the final answer?

We, the fans of Star Wars past, have longed many years for the answers to the nagging questions that, replacing recalcitrant sugarplums, constantly filled our adolescent heads at bedtime - questions like: How could Darth Vader be Luke's father? Where did all the Jedi go? and Why did Vader turn to the Dark Side in the first place? Well, the waiting is over and all is now revealed. Purported to be the best of the "new" Episodes, 'Sith' certainly answered my many questions, and did so with some sense of satisfaction. But not as completely as I had hoped. 'Sith' falters where one expects it to. The acting isn't its strong suit - that hasn't been the case since New Hope and Empire began with dim acting hopes themselves, and it has far deteriorated since. The performers are a bit stiff having to work with virtual "fill in the scene later with computers" green-screens. The script isn't what one might call a literary classic. All the usual criticisms. But it's a massive accomplishment, too. The action is great, of course - that's a virtual given. The visuals are truly beyond belief. The story is all wrapped up, each loose end being carefully tied, including stunning visual connections to Episode IV near the end of the film. But something feels missing. The heart of things, the humanity of the drama is somehow lost in all the modern technological advance. I don't know, maybe it's me, but the thing that drew me with such Force to Star Wars in those early impressionable years was wonderful over-the-top characters immersed in an utterly involving story. Sure, it happened to be set in the future. It happened to take place in outer space. It happened to have incredible action sequences and mind-blowing battle scenes. But beyond all that, it had tremendous heart. Luke, Leia, Han, the lovable Larel and Hardy droids. They are what you remember above all else. The connection you feel to the people on the screen, not the lifeless effects that surround them. Unfortunately, the beating heart has been somehow lost along the way. Now don't get me wrong, 'Sith' is a very good film. Certainly better than installments I and II. But it exists in this era. An era that has more respect and fascination for lightsaber fight scenes and blinding speed and the blaring sounds of C.G.I. battle than for the actual human elements that happen to bring all that technological razzle-dazzle together. There is a surreal moment in this film when Darth Vader finally dons his infamous suit and looks like the villain we know from years ago, and in that moment, the sound goes out. It's completely quiet. All you hear is the pumping of blood and then that particular breathing we all remember sending a shiver up our collective teenage spines. In that moment, I felt a glimmer of the unique connection that has kept Jedi questions dancing in my head all these many years. Yes, answered my questions have been. My mind knows that. I wish, however, that my heart felt it as well.