The Prequel Trilogy: The Pretty good Silent Films? (What style, tone was Lucas going for?)

I posted this in another thread, but I thought I would make it it's own thread as it is a topic that has to do with style, tone and possibly other things.

What was lucas attempting here? I think I see what Lucas was doing, whether I like it or not is a complete other discussion. Lucas was truly doing a silent film, or at least some sort of costume drama or some visual feast of some sort, whether it worked i think we must wait for a while till star wars sort of dims down, i think.
But yeh, the prequel trilogy is Lucas' attempt at a costume drama, which is interesting because Lucas is not really that type of filmmaker, i mean, he is visual, but he isn't the filmmaker that makes "The Duchess" or whatever, he is George Lucas, the man behind THX 1138.
Lucas' movies have a lot to do with the sound, the music, the sort of pace that it goes through, this sort of moving image poetry that i think can sometimes put viewers out much like Michel Gondry or something.
But yeh, as far as the acting goes with Hayden and some of the others, i think most are right, the dialogue is clunky, the acting is sort of bleh and just sort of frustrating some times, but I think with Lucas, at least for these prequels, and the style of the prequels it fits in a whatever way you want to call it; I mean, there are some "good" performances by Liam Neeson, Ian Mcdiarmid, Ewan Mcgregor and some others but he is much more of a visual guy, and i remember someone commenting on hayden's stature, well, you're right, he has that darth vader stature, and maybe that's all Lucas was looking for, and the delivery of the lines wasn't at the top of the priority list or at least, that was his sort of vision. Lucas really likes silent movies, and that sort of visual side of cinema, the editing portions, that moving image portion, literally the art of the moving image, at least with the prequels. I mean, he could of gone with Matt Damon for example, but in a Lucas movie, or at least these prequels, it wouldn't fit his vision, which i stress again isn't necessarily "good."
Now, the original trilogy i think is a different story, i mean, its all one story, but it's a different tale and almost a different style(almost). The actors are much more front, the characters are definetly more believable and funner and you know, the movies are just more care free i suppose in a sense. I think many agree that the characters are better in the OT, or maybe that's a bad word to explain the issue, how about the characters are not as stiff i guess, not as committed to the background or not showing off their costumes.
Sorry to be all over the place, but I guess what I'm trying to say is that Lucas vision for the prequels was the "silent visual costume drama movies.......on a side note: oh yeh, i forgot there are some words in the movies too." haha. In a sense, Lucas could sort of care less about the words, i mean, don't get me wrong, i'm sure he "cares" about them, but i think you all know what i mean.

Will the prequels ever get any recognition? Probably not, but who knows. all I know is that it's an interesting vision from a man who brought us the Original Star wars.

Now, Do I enjoy the prequels, i do, but in more of a I respect them rather than loving them. I mean, the music is always phenomenal, their are some good scenes, great worlds, great looks, great poetry, In a sense, Lucas made a pretty good silent movie, only if it were silent. I mean, some of the words were good, again, Ian Mcdiarmid, Liam Neeson, they all have their place, but i guess the bigger picture, the words sort of fall flat.

In the end, at least, or so I think, I somewhat understand what Lucas was attempting with the Prequels and that was "The Pretty good silent films that weren't silent."

P.S. Obviously, the story is great, and all, the fall of a hero, Empire rising, all good story, but I'm speaking more about the execution.

P.P.S. I'm not the biggest star wars fan, so maybe my view is a bit different from really strong fans, but i thought i'd give you some insight from someone who sort of picked up the mo