As good as Star Wars ANH? Not quite, but still great

Rating: 9/10 (1 June 2005)

The expectations for this movie were sky high, not just for casual Star Wars fans like myself, but for the many Star Wars freaks who have been so disappointed over the past few years with episodes 1 and 2. I will say that this movie does not disappoint....too much.
Action is ramped up with acrobatic light saber fights, tons of CGI, and fast-paced fighter scenes. Some consider the overdone action to be the weakness of this movie, since the original trilogy is much less action-based (though there is plenty of battle scenes in ESB) while others feel that it saved the movie. Personally, I was a bit miffed at the amount of CGI used in this film, but I cannot say that it completely ruined the action.
Dialogue was once again a problem. I heard another instance of a main character uttering the line "I have a bad feeling about this" as he did in AotC and we all know by now of the infamous "nooooooooooooooooooooooo" by Darth Vader.
Hayden Christensen was much better in this film than the last, but he still did not capture the steely nature of Darth Vader. He still comes across as a whiny kid.
In the OT and NT, I rate this the second best film behind ANH. It felt good to finally see a NT Star Wars that felt like it belonged to the franchise! Of 10 stars, I give this 9.