You gotta take the good with the bad.

Rating: 6/10 (20 May 2002)

Though Lucas delivers eye-popping visuals and blood-racing action sequences, this movie has as many (though different) problems as The Phantom Menace. Any viewing audience should go in expecting the most trite and cliched love story imaginable and the sacrifice of a good story to the development of Anakin's character. Yes, one must account for the transformation of a seemingly well-meaning youth into the fearsome Darth Vader, but the love story subplot, riddled as it is with over-the-top declarations of the exquisite tortures of lover-hood, only emphasizes the challenges to immediacy that plague Christensen's acting. Though the plots starring McGregor have a redeeming quality, one must wonder if Christensen will replace the Jar-Jar around Lucas's neck. This isn't to say that the film isn't worth a viewing because it is, but I question that it is the successor that Star Wars fans have been patiently awaiting.