A vast improvement on Episode I, however still sadly falling short of its potential

Rating: 8/10 (9 June 2005)

It starts off a little slow, however nicely paced as the audience is anxious to see Anakin and Padme's first encounter after ten years. The next noteworthy scene is when Obi Wan and Anakin are standing outside of Padme's room sharing a very informative dialog.
I love when Obi Wan so eloquently jumps out of Padme's window and catches the flying droid. The visuals of the city are breathtaking and the chase scene provides the first hint of some much-needed action sequences, which turn out to be few in number. The next, coming much later, is the flight sequence through the asteroid field, which could've been much more harrowing. This is preceded by the battle scene in the stadium, which was the most visually elaborate and well-written scene in the movie. The shots and sound effects of the light sabers and the guns leave nothing to the imagination. The last of what can be considered action sequences was the fight scene with Count Dooku, Obi Wan, Anakin, and Yoda. This was much less suspenseful as it was more or less predictable. All in all, these sequences were the type that was lacking in Episode I, but they still leave much to be desired.
The dialog throughout between Obi Wan and Anakin is fresh and witty, though I would've liked to have seen them together more. Obi Wan using the Force on the creature in the club was hilarious and provided a touch of color. R2D2 and C3PO provided some light comic relief, somewhat reminiscent of the OT. The music is beautiful and perfect for the film, each score fitting the scene in which it appears flawlessly.
And while the scenes on Tatooine are beautiful, they remain a bit slow and pointless. The writers seem to be trying frivolously to make it believable that they fall in love, but do not succeed in showing this transition. Throughout the movie, they continually reference when they saw each other last, as if it was then that they fell in love, but Anakin was just a boy, and arguably still is now, so the whole thing just feels contrived. Anakin does not know real love; he has mistaken it for lust, as evidenced by his statement, "You are in my very soul, tormenting me." Stop and think, Anakinwhy tormenting?? Love does not torment.
Something else not true to form is how Lucas set up scenes with Anakin and Padme that start to show them getting closer, but then he always cuts to something else, like he's just going 'okay, this is how they are, accept it,' and then moves on to more important things. It inhibits the audience from feeling like they're experiencing Anakin and Padme's relationship, and any further character development, as if it's enough to just infer everything. The whole 'I love you' scene towards the end was just unforgivably forced, even with as much as you want to believe in the sentiment. Honestly, it seems to me that Lucas tries to play them as simply being young and dumb, and we're supposed to let it slide for that reason, which still being reasonably young myself, I greatly resent. But I digress.
The unique array of transitions between scenes that seem to be a trademark of Lucas' add a little more distinctiveness to the film. The mainly black and white set designs for Kamino make an intriguing statement of how both the Jedi and the Sith view the world as being all or nothing, black or white, with no shades of gray in between.
And on a slightly unrelated side note, after watching this film for the first time after having seen Episode III, I got the overwhelming sense that Anakin simply wasn't allowed the space to really find himself, to grow up on his own terms, being so under pressure to stick so strictly to the Jedi code. It seems the Jedi masters do not encourage expression of emotions, most likely because they are not encouraged to have them, but some allowances must be made for having children grow up in the path of the Jedi. All must have the freedom to test their boundaries, or they do not have the opportunity to grow, and to expect this of them, particularly Anakin, is ignorance on their part.
And in further exploration of Anakin's character, later on, he makes a statement that greatly evidences his character: "I'm good at fixing thingsalways have been." This indicates his strong need to control things, which is something I as well as most people can relate to. But while as we grow, we learn that the truth of the matter is that control is an illusion, as is power. But Anakin was not allowed the room to grow and so focuses outwardly, trying to control tangible things, all the while without the ability to even control himselfthis is his quintessential flaw. So in a very sad way, he loses himself before he ever really discovers himself.
VERDICT: All in all, of the prequels, this one felt more balanced, however it fails to excel in any particular area. In general, it is a bit slow, but it maintains interest throughout. Ultimately, what I feel this movie (as do all three of the Prequels) lacks the most is adequate character writing and development. It's more inferred than actually shown, which is severely detrimental to the movies as the characters are the heart of the series. You get the feeling that the creators were more concerned with the graphics and fight sequences than anything else. It should be noted that it is clearly a *big* improvement on Episode I, but still not on par with the original trilogy. Recommended to allit is definitely worth your time and money, but do not expect perfection.
8.0 out of 10.0