Better than TPM and Jedi, almost as good as Empire

Rating: Null/10 (21 May 2002)

This movie succeeds in every way that The Phantom Menance failed. The story is more cohesive and compelling and the performances are uniformly better (Samuel L. Jackson especially redeems himself after his terrible cameo in episode 1).
I had feared that Hayden Christensen would be an absolute zero as Akakin, but I was wrong (Lucas must have chosen all of his worst moments from the film for the trailer). Natalie Portman and Ewan McGregor finally get to show at least some of their considerable acting chops. Horror movie legend Christopher Lee looks like he's having a blast in his role as Count Dooku.
None of these performances are going to start any Oscar buzz but they are more than acceptable for this type of movie. People who view the first trilogy through rose-colored glasses often forget that neither Mark Hamill nor Carrie Fisher were grand masters of the thespian arts.
Some have panned the romantic dialog as sophomoric and awkward, but even at its worst, it never descends to the depths found in Jedi ("I have it... my sister ... has it."). I was less troubled by the sometimes purple prose than I was by the occasional uses of American slang. It wasn't often, but when it happened, I was briefly jarred out of my suspension of disbelief.

Making a welcome return to Star Wars universe is a sense of humor. I mean real humor, not forced, unfunny Jar-Jar slapstick but character-driven dialog humor. What little physical humor there is in AOTC is at the expense of C-3P0 (as it should be in a Star Wars movie).
The effects are uniformly a step ahead of Phantom Menance. The final battle scene is just plain spectacular. Yoda's fight scene (I won't say more) is a sight to behold, getting the biggest cheers from the audience.
After the Phantom Menace, I was only mildly enthused about the release of AOTC. After Episode II, however, 2005 can't come soon enough.