The best Star Wars movie ever

Rating: 10/10 (17 May 2002)

Yeah, yeah, I can hear the cries of 'blasphemy!' already. But it is, this is not only better than The Phantom Menace and Return of the Jedi, but it's better than both A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back. Let me explain the reasons why.
The acting. I don't know what people mean when they say Natalie Portman is wooden as Padme Amidala, she's obviously been raised to be a politician from birth, which is why she talks like one. Her 'we live in a real world' line did not strike me as bad writing, but as something a person like her would say at a time like that. Ewan McGregor was Obi-Wan Kenobi to bone, brilliantly walking the fine line between imitating Alec Guinness and still remaining ín actual character, not content to being a copy of another actor's work. And Hayden Christensen was nothing short of brilliant, again, what some people have called bad lines, I consider things that I would say if I as him. And the frustration, both with Obi-Wan and his fate as a Jedi Padawan, slowly growing, and then the rage at his mother's death and his inability to stop it. He acted like any good man would act in the situtations that he faced. And he WAS Darth Vader for a while there. And Yoda... I consider Yoda the first completely believable CGI character ever. I of course knew that Yoda was CGI in this movie, but I forgot about it after the first scene with him in it. He was more alive than he's ever been before, which I credit to the combined work of the animation team and Frank Oz, who I can now honestly call an actor - he invented the way Yoda moved and acted, and if he ever seemed fake in the original trilogy, it was due to the limitations in presenting a rubber puppet on screen. So, in all, character-wise, this movie had my two favourites: Darth Vader and Yoda. And it lacked ANY annoying sidekicks, no Jar Jars or Chewbaccas here (yes, I never liked the furry guy, I've always found his wookiee yelping at inopportune situations and general incompetent behaviour almost as annoying as Jar Jar's), no hammy actor Luke Skywalker here, no Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford looking like they don't really want to be there. Just what made the original Star Wars great - high adventure, amazing action scenes and a truly epic tale of never-before-seen proportions.
And then there's the way this movie looks. The special effects are the most incredible ever made, actually, there's hardly a scene in the movie that doesn't have some CGI in it, but it hardly ever feels like CGI anymore, 95 per cent of the time my disbelief was suspended and I felt like I was looking at a real world, in all its epic Star Wars glory. The direction and pacing were excellent, unlike in TPM, and the fights and action were brilliantly executed, but it never seemed to be 'hey, look, now it's an action scene'. Everything was there to tell the story. Lucas says he's a storyteller first and foremost. I agree, but I also have to add 'artist' to that. This movie went straight to my top 5 of all time (in the company of Fight Club, LOTR, Requiem For a Dream and Aliens), and I can't imagine how great Episode III will be. George Lucas, thank you, thank you very much for this movie.