astonishing special effects, however film is barely rescued by Ewan McGregor.

Rating: 6/10 (22 June 2003)

Whereas the story of how the old democratic republic slowly comes to an end could be very interesting, it is simply not told. "Ten-thousand (!) solar systems have joined a separatist movement.." Why? This is one part of the story which I would like to have been told. Of course, this is only one of the numerous plot errors in the film. Furthermore, the acting performance of Mr. Christensen is devastating for the film in its totality, only to be saved by the light-hearted hints at humour and excellent performance of Ewan McGregor.
The special effects of this movie would have positively astounded anyone in the seventies, however, nowadays this is often the case, and although I was impressed, it is simply not enough. In sharp contrast with the "old" trilogy, in which a desperate rebel force is ridiculously outnumbered by an evil empire, the choices that the so-called wise Jedi make seem somewhat ridiculous at times. Why, for example, send in a Jedi force to deal with some droids near the end of the film? The best trained warriors ever to exist fighting a couple of mass-produced droids in a local conflict? Naturally, some of this can be explained away by the presence of the Dark side of the force, but SOME logic would be nice.
Lastly, what was dearly missed in this episode is some sense of fun. At no time did this film bring even as much as a smile to my face, despite the heroic efforts of McGregor, as mentioned before.
On the other hand, the story told is, indeed, extremely serious, since there is no "New Hope", more the other way round: The menacing threat of the upcoming evil empire on the horizon.
In its entirety , it remains an interesting film to watch, despite the non-existent chemistry between Natalie Portman and Hayden Christensen, which make the romantic scenes very non-convincing. The story, of course, continues, and I'm very curious how part three will link up with the "old" trilogy.