OH... DEAR... LORD...

Rating: 10/10 (16 May 2002)

I really don't know how its happened that our entire country is full of critics and audiences suffering from severe sanity issues... but despite what they say... this movie is a bloody religious experience. Under the most intense scrutiny (which is just stupid to do), its the greatest popcorn movie ever made... and under viewing it simply because you want to, its easily one of the most fantastic romps through great movie-making ever conceived. If you're there for true emotional perfection then no, its not The Empire Strikes Back (which perfected perfection) but unless you're completely out of your mind (which I suspect these days many movie-goers and even fans are) you'll actually notice quiet a bit of really sincere, really well grounded emotion and character. When Anakin gets p***ed off... you want to be p***ed of with him. When Obi-Wan gets frustrated... hoo boy he's got good reasons. There have been the never-ending complaints over poor dialog, but I honestly didn't find this to be a problem; everything moved the story forward in complete harmony with what was happening and expressed exactly what needed to be expressed without ever becoming banal. For example, whenever Anakin tries to express his infatuation with Padme, what some might perceive as unrealistic drivel, I saw as ten years of uncontrollable obsession pitted against urgency -- he's a brash lad, and he is able to say exactly what anyone with the same feeling WISHES they could bring themselves to say. Yes, I suppose if you spend too much effort looking for problems you'll probably think the computer generated effects go back and forth from mega-superb to sub-par, but its easy to realize that in considering the scope of the story and events and such, there simply could have been no way for the technology to consistently keep up with the nearly limitless imagination and grandeur involved in this flick, and I for one am glad they didn't try to dumb some of the shots and visual ideas down to match only what they could create with the technology perfectly. Maybe I'm biased because I'm such a huge fan of the series... or maybe I simply know how to appreciate and recognize the uber-fantastic when I see it. If you don't liking, nay, LOVING this movie... in the words of Obi-Wan: "You want to go home and reevaluate your life." ;)