George Lucas is an immensely capable director. He changed cinema forever, and did it multiple times. All those superhero movies you watch today are built on the blood, sweat, and tears that went into making the PT, reinventing moviemaking as an art form. And before he made Star Wars (reinventing cinema in the late 70s), he was an acclaimed director with multiple feature films under his belt that hold up beautifully today.
Hayden gave the performance Lucas wanted him to give. In Attack of the Clones, he didn't want Hayden method acting. He didn't want any of the actors method acting. Was very clear about it. Wanted it melodramatic, very old school. Whether Lucas nailed the style or not, which is a fair debate there are undeniable parallels to melodramatic 30s silent cinema. They don't make films in that style anymore, and some might argue there's a reason for that.
Revenge of the SIth is stylistically different, and Hayden's acting in that film is superb.
