All hype, not good *slight bit of spoiler* (honestly not much to spoil though anyway)

Rating: Null/10 (13 July 2002)

The first three star wars(episodes 4-6) were great action / fantasy / adventure movies; but no one should have taken this as a guarantee than the new episodes would also be great action / fantasy / adventure movies. They are not. They are boring, poorly acted, poorly directed, and Lucas's gold mine of easy money (no matter how bad the movie is).
I believe a good share of the boredom is the fact that we as the audience already know whats going to happen before we even go to see the movie. There are very few suprises, and very little sense of adventure. I also believe that the time span in between the trilogies is to blame. There are all new people making the movie, Lucas is not the same person he was then, and the new actors/actresses all add to the growing boredom throughout the movie. The first hour of episode two seems like an entirely useless way to re-affirm that the princess is still in danger as she was in episode one, and to set up a weak romance. All of it could have been written into the little scrolling info at the beginning. The last half and hour was the only semi-interesting piece of the whole ordeal. I thought the best part of the movie was the few scenes where r2d2 and c3p0 were on their own (Lucas managed to not entirely wreck these characters)
It seems as though a large budget film could have afforded actors, who could actually act. Portman although extremely hot, was incredibly boring to watch, especially throughout her 'bonding' with Anakin. Her performance reminded me of the Planet of the Apes Remake, in which Mark Wahlberg is able to fall in love with the lead actress (don't remember her name) after exchanging about two lines of dialogue the entire movie. There was no emotional element to her, her diplomatic character, and personal character were the same dull person. I don't think anyone imagined Darth Vader as a whiny cry-baby before becoming himself; except apparently Lucas, who made him that way in Episode 2. His performance was one of the worst ive ever seen by an adult actor.
I feel like I could go on and on pointing out flaws in episode two but i just wish someone could have pointed them out on the set or in the editing room, because then i could enjoy the new Star Wars. Oh well, in conclusion I don't think Episode 2 is even worth the watch (especially if you have to pay for it) if you've already figured out what happened, and don't want to see the roots of the Empire and Vader skip it, if however you want to see some poor acting and dialogue to remind yourself what a bad movie is then check it out, its perfect.