Star Wars and classical themes are alive and strong.

Rating: 10/10 (16 May 2002)

The movie was great, one of the ten best movies in a long time. First off let me say that at the time of writing (approx. one hour after seeing the film) my head is still swimming in the turmoil of this movie. This installment of the Star Wars saga is the most involving chapter to date.
AotC suprised and scared me in that i could empathize with Anakin's issues of love, hate, duty, and revenge. This got under my skin because it made me realize that all those undesireable traits reside in us all. Hayden Christensen played his part to the hilt in one scene you saw the sixteen year old child who only understands the now and acts on raw emotion in the next scene we see that same child learn about sacrifice and greater needs than our own. Anakin seems a little stiff at times but i think any actor would have trouble portraying a charecter with that much going on in his head.
Obi-Wan is the true essence of the jedi, he understands that he isn't perfect. This installment of Obi-Wan as a Jedi Knight does a great job of bridging the gap between the reckless padawan and the wise old sage he will become. I say knight because he is still a little rough in his teaching skills, not quite the gentle teacher we see with luke much later. Obi-Wan is a true greek hero. He has faults but attempts to overcome them rather than give in to them.
Amidala gets a much more fleshed out role in AotC. We begin to see where Leia gets her spunk. Natalie Portman is a beautiful actress does quite well as senator and also gets into the action. Like mother like daughter.
One of the best and subtle themes in the movie is when you find out which jedi trained which dark jedi before they turned to the dark side. this gives a more human quality to classic Star Wars charecters, whose wisdom and abilitys were thought to be beyond reproach.
After watching the movie and writing this review I must say that a little catharsis is a good thing. This is a great movie because it is a greek tragedy in its purest form. The heroes all have flaws the villians all have qualities you can empathize with, and in the center you have Anakin who could make Oedipus look like the best decision maker ever.