I don't think we could disagree more about movies. I loved LotR and thought every Star Wars prequel was uniformly awful and boring. It's not even Hayden Christensen's acting. He's perfectly fine, really. A bit wooden but he did all he could with the writing he was given. They spend the whole movie telling us what a great guy Anakin is and how he and Obi-Wan are best pals and how much Padme loves him, and meanwhile he is nothing but a selfish, violent, whiny prick to everyone the whole time with nothing redeeming about the character at all, in an ostensibly character-driven plot about him. And they cap it all off with boring CGI video game cutscenes of battles that mean nothing and utterly break all the characterization in favor of flips. It's amazing that Lucas somehow made lightsabers boring.
You're exactly right. He's actually quite a good actor (check out Life as a House for example). And even if you take hime out of the equation - let's see, if you could assemble a dream team of actors from the late 90s, in my book it would include Samuel L. Jackson, Liam Neeson, Natalie Portman, and Ewan McGregor would be at the top of the list. Leave it to George Lucas to take what could somehow be one of the great ensemble casts and make it into an embarassment for anyone involved. Sure - I'll admit to being entertained at times. But as a whole? Considering the budget, the visual effects, the sound engineering, the costume design, and the star power, and did I mention BLOODY FRIGGIN LIGHTSABERS-- you might think you'd have a film for the ages. but instead we got the phantom menace. So it isn't Hayden, or any other member of the cast to blame. With sub par writing and nonexistant direction - all of that other stuff is just cool stuff crammed together on a screen. It's sad really.It's not even Hayden Christensen's acting. He's perfectly fine, really. A bit wooden but he did all he could with the writing he was given.