Finally.

Rating: 10/10 (23 May 2002)

This review is littered with spoilers.
After how average the previous two movies were (The Phantom Menace and Return of the Jedi) Star Wars has made the return to the fun and greatness of the first two films (A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back). THIS IS STAR WARS. Make no mistake about it. Everything just says Star Wars. Even the acting is more relaxed, and they're given more to do than just react to Liam Neeson. Lucas has been redeemed. He has made a great movie for the hardcore fans to love. I've heard at least a dozen fans say how much they love the movie and how it's better than TPM. However, the average movie goer might not be as happy as the fans, this film is more for the fans.
You can't deny that this film rules. A lot of the critics have forgotten how wooden the acting and bad the writing is in the first three movies. The action sequences are great, gone are primitive armies fighting advanced armies. We have battle droids from TPM vs. Clone Troopers (future stormtroopers?) in an enormous battle, we have hundreds of Jedi vs. the battle droids and some creatures. Yoda we have talk funny and butt kick with his light saber we do. We have Obi-Wan and Anakin speeding through the skies of Coruscant looking for a Bounty Hunter. And we have Obi-Wan vs. Jango Fett on the ocean planet of Kamino. It's all a lot of fun that the critics forget to easily.
However the scenes on Naboo with Anakin and Amidala aren't as good as the love scenes in TESB. The writing and directing is very mediocre here. But you sense the foolishness of youth here. They lack maturity and are getting married after having only been with each other for maybe a month at the most. On the other hand, the scenes on Tatoinee are great. You finally get a sense of the anger building within Anakin, especially when his mother dies and he kills a bunch of Tuskin Raiders, even the women and children. However, it's interrupted when they leave to rescue Obi-Wan.
So now we only have one Star Wars film left, ever. I think AOTC is a great preview of what's to come. After TPM, I was pleased, but had no desire to see the next one right away. After this one, I wish I could walk in to the next movie theater over and see Episode III. It's a great show that should be on everyone's summer movie list.