Second half is fantastic, first half is questionable

Rating: 8/10 (26 May 2002)

I'll start with the first half, and my problems with it: the characters were, without fail, as wooden as a small forest. Obi-wan especially ("I swear that boy'll be the death of me..."- oh god...), with Anakin's painfully bad 'romance' coming a close second. However, three key factors saved this: First, towards the second half, C-3PO and R2D2 make a return, some of the only real-ish characters from the first 3 films, to anchor this film back to the ground after so many of these goddam Jedi with their vaguely mystical and deeply tedious dialogue. Second, it's around this time when the story proper kicks in, which is well written, and lighter on dialogue. Third, you see sides of Anakin that HAVE been well written, such as how he comes to lust after such power. It's a great film from here on in basically, and doesn't slack off coming to the end.
8/10, great if you can ignore the first half.