Really good but it could have been great

Rating: 8/10 (16 May 2002)

I liked this film a lot. It has all the good elements of the original trilogy, and Lucas has managed to at least downplay Jar Jar and the Trade Federation so that it doesn't interfere with the story. Sadly, the worst oversite, the need of a new director, has not been remedied. All the elements are there; the actors are all in top form, the special effects are quite good, and the plot, well, that is why we keep coming back. What this film needed was someone, other than Lucas, to bring it all together. Someone has to restrain Lucas from throwing in way too much computer animation than he knows what to do with. Sure the droid/clone battle may be the coolest thing we have ever seen, but it is the failures that really stick in your mind. The beginning of the "coliseum" seen is one of them. This seemed to just scream fake to me. Don't get me wrong; the movie holds water, and time only makes an audience more accepting of the problems. Still, in the end we wonder what could have been.