The force is strong with you, but you are not a jedi yet

Rating: 9/10 (16 May 2002)

Much like Luke Skywalker trying to fight Darth Vader in ESB there is much to be admired about in this movie, but it is not quite to the level of ANH or ESB. It is very good star wars and does not deserve the critisism it has recieved from some of the harshest mainstream critics of star wars. Indeed some of the critics most in tune with the dark side would almost make you believe this movie was in the league of "Plan 9 from outer space". Don't take the quicker and more seductive route that they did, for This is a very good movie striving to make the prequel trilogy reach the same level of greatness that the original trilogy attained. It didn't quite achieve that for me but I can see the effort and the promise for Episode III. I greatly look forward to the final chapter, and in the meantime will watch this want multiple times in the theater and on DVD. I love the performances of Hayden Christensen and Natalie Portman. The love story did not detract at all and there was humor to be found in it. I would like to have seen more of the Obi-wan detective story, but Lucas has said that the trilogy must focus on the Skywalkers, so I was not suprised that the novel went into more detail on obi-wan and Jango/Boba Fett.
My only real criticism for this movie is the horrendous sound editing. There were multiple times when I had to strain to understand what was being said because unneeded sound effects were louder than both the dialogue from the actors and the music. With all the money at Lucas' disposal and his insistance on Digital Sound in theaters that play this movie I would have thought he could hire better people to edit the sound in his movies.
This is still a must see picture for anyone who loves star wars and with a little more training this prequel trilogy will attain the status of Jedi.
8/10