The best

Rating: 10/10 (23 May 2002)

As much as I defended Episode I, allot of elements of that film let me down. Episode II was fantastic. George Lucas realized with Episode I that he's no screenwriter, so he brought help and it worked out for the best. This film has some incredible action sequences, the FX are incredible. Each film makes me respect ILM a bit more. But what really made the film shine for me was the drama. I usually don't like love stories, especially ones involving teenagers (Titanic), but I have to say that I was impressed with this. Natalie Portman is certainly not an Oscar winner, but she has improved 10 fold since Phantom Menace. Hayden is amazing, he'll garner an Oscar in the next 5 years for sure. The jokes were mature and reminded me of Han Solo's brand of humor. ("Oh not good!"), even Jar Jar was great in this film. The film has that sense of adventure that I loved in Empire (Episode 5 in the series). The characters are rich and three-dimensional like the OT characters, well except for some of the politicians, but I believe that is by design. I've always loved the Jedi, they are my personal heroes in the SW Universe, and it was nice to really see them in action and in practice. We really got a glimpse of what life is like in the SW universe. None of the other films ever did that. Anakin's scene with his mother was an Oscar-calibre performance.
That said, EPisode II is not a film for Joe Sixpack. Most of the Star Wars films aren't for Joe Sixpack anymore. The action scenes, while incredible, are short and the film is mostly drama and love story, as are most of the SW films. Spider-Man is better suited to the action and comedy-centered needs of Joe Sixpack because the drama scenes are kept as short as possible.
Ever since we heard that Sam Jackson was gonna be in Star Wars we all wanted to see a bit of his Pulp Fictionesque hipper-than-thou attatitude, and we got to see that with lines like "This party's over," and his battle with Jango Fett.
The age-old question of why Yoda survives the Great Jedi Purge when all others die is answered. Anyone who doubts that Yoda could have survived wasn't paying attention. Anakin/Vader nor Palpatine could have challenged Yoda to a battle on any grounds and have expected to win.
But overall the only scene I really didn't like was Anakin's nightmare scene. I would have removed the dialogue and replaced it with some strangly familiar yet definately ambigious sounds, ending with a faint cry of help from his mother, Shmi Skywalker.
I'm someone who is throughoul familiar with Star Wars, I would qualify as one of the uber-geeks who knows every movie backwards and forwards, but I am also a filmmaker and I understand from that point of view as well. I really feel that Episode II is the best Star Wars film we have seen yet.