Money obviously can't buy a script...

Rating: 6/10 (6 June 2002)

Lucas goes all out to bring back some life into the Star Wars saga, but forgets that style, acting and a good script are actually required.
From the very start of the film it is clear that Lucas is trying too hard to recover some of the quality of the original films. Action, no matter what the reason, it seems is on the menu. Jedi warriors are now insane acrobats , jumping from ship to ship in flight at hundreds of miles an hour? In the original films, 'The Force' was a subtle almost mystical thing. Now Lucas simple uses it for cheap thrills without any true style or thought.
Jar Jar Binks thankfully makes only a small appearance in this film, however, Lucas has now handed the role of Star Wars buffoon to C3PO. Cheap inane attempts at humour fell flat on their face and reduced the crowd in my showing to groans of dispair.
Don't get me wrong, some of the action scenes are very good, but without a strong script they are simply islands of visuals in a lack-lustre story full of holes, poor writing and weak dialogue.
(*spoilers*) Not for a moment was there any true sense of attraction between Padmé and Anakin. Anakin finally finding his missing mother just as she finally died (within a minute) to try and evoke some emotion is one of the weakest pieces of writing I've seen in many a film. The assassination attempt of Padmé by putting psychotic centipedes through a window - rather than a bomb, toxic gas, or indeed a good old laser blaster - comes a close second.
Before writing this review I took a look at the votes, which are overwhelmingly 10/10. If this level of script is what people believe deserves the maximum score they can give, I shudder at the thought of what films we can expect over the next few years in a world where it appears visuals mean all, and story/script appear to mean very little. I logged my 6/10 with a glimer of hope the 10/10 crowd may think a little harder in future...