Arbit wrote:

Mischief Maker wrote:

I also like how in the original trilogy they talk about how dangerous and seductive the dark side is, and how it's implied after Luke cuts off Vader's hand (an evil half-robot genocidal maniac who tortures his friends and blows up planets without a second thought) that if Luke takes another step he's doomed. Meanwhile in the prequels, Annie SLAUGHTERS AN ENTIRE TRIBE OF SAND PEOPLE (women and children, too!) and he's just fine. Later he chops the head off of Darth Velociraptor with barely a moment's reflection in a remake of the throne room scene and he's STILL supposedly a good guy. And it's not until the emperor says, "dude, turn to the dark side, I'll give you a cool voice distorter like mine!" and Annie replies, "Okey doke!" only THEN does he turn to the dark side!

He's not "just fine" or "supposedly a good guy" after he did those things. The point of those scenes is to show how he's warped into a murderer - he thinks he's justified in killing his mother's captors, and doesn't Sideous tell him that the Jedi Council will let Dooku off with a slap on the wrist or some shit like that, so he's got to chop off his head NOW? (DO IT!) The movie is showing pretty clearly that he's heading down the dark side path even though he's convinced himself and others that he's still good. He even gets more sweaty and sullen as he gets more irredeemably evil, in case you're really thickheaded.