Lucas is still a pioneer in the industry

Rating: 6/10 (18 May 2002)

The movie, finally here, delivers. Yes it is over 2 hours long, but in the end we all want it to be that long don't we? With another 3 years to wait for the final installment, we need all the Star Wars screen time that we can get. All the Star Wars films are around 2 hours long, so why would this one be any different?
I, considering myself an extreme movie buff who has seen literally thousands of movies, have never seen anything like this movie before. It's not just the scenery, but the depth of the battle scenes. It makes any battle scene of any movie look like fodder (including Episode I's climactic ending battle scene which was impressive).
The critics of ALL the Star Wars movies are a bunch of self-proclaimed astronomers who expect space laws to be followed to the ninth degree. Give me a break. I'm so sick of hearing about how Yoda didn't act very well or how Hayden and Natalie didn't portray their on-screen romance very convincingly. They did just as well as any. Their performance was hardly worthy of any criticism at all. Considering some of the lines of previous installments (i.e. "No I'll not leave you, I've got to save you"-Mark Hamil, Episode VI; "Let's try spinning, that's a good trick"-Jake Lloyd, Episode I), this movie has an excellent dialogue for a Star Wars film.
Lucas has really out done himself this time, though, imagery wise and story wise. Unbelievable twists, young Boba Fett (a newly sworn enemy of the Jedi), pre-technological artificial limbs, etc. We are all so glad he agreed to have someone help him write the script as you get a few extra ideas and less not-so-great lines.
In the end, the movie is excellent. I have seen it only once so far, but will definitely make it out to see it many times in the theater not as a tremendous fan of Star Wars, but a fan of the awe that the imagery leaves you with.