Mixed Feelings about this latest installment. (Spoilers!)

Rating: Null/10 (19 May 2002)

As an original moviegoer to Episode IV way back in '77 and all the episodes thereafter, I had mixed feelings about this latest installment in the Star Wars saga. My views can be either attributed to my age showing or maybe the wisdom that comes with age. The opening scenes needed a little more action. One of the higher points in The Phantom Menace was the opening droid battle with the familiar Star Wars theme pumping in the background and the flashy new Jedi moves. There was nothing in AOTC until the speeder chase scene, which I felt, came too late and could have been shorter. I also found Anikins outbursts and undisciplined manners hard to swallow. For someone who has been training as a Jedi Knight for ten years you would think that discipline would be taught before swordsmanship or use of the force. At times, he acts more like a preschooler than a twenty year old. Then came the love story. A necessity for future episodes but sadly underwritten. I believe both Natalie Portman and Hayden Christensen are superb actors but have nothing to work with here. The scene with Anikins mother at the Tusken Raider camp is in my opinion the most important scene in the film. Anikins turning to the dark-side really begins here. Haydens evil `Jack Nicholson look' is perfect and creepy! I could feel the dark-side just by looking at him! Again we are cheated though. This scene is just a crumb of what it should have been. Although the Jango Fett scenes were very cool they were not needed. I think that Lucas added the character because Boba was so well liked in the other episodes. Boba really didn't have that big of a role in the other episodes to warrant anymore screen time UNLESS something still lies ahead in Episode III. Finally, during the last half hour we get a bombardment of what Lucas does best. The Jedi battles are superb! I almost started crying like a newly crowned Miss America during the final showdown with Yoda and Dooku! AWSOME!! To sum it up, the movie starts at a medium pace, slows to a crawl, and then jumps into lightspeed. Although the last action packed scenes are the best in any Star Wars film to date the movie as a whole ranks in last place in the saga so far.