Is it as good as the original trilogy? No. But it is the film we've been waiting for

Rating: 6/10 (8 June 2005)

When you think Star Wars, many words come to mind. "Epic,""imaginative," and, "KICK-@$$!!!!" The prequels didn't quite match up to these standards. George Lucas is one of the director's who was once among the best of the best, but he has become overly commercial in recent years. Phantom Menace tried to appeal more to children than the people who actually understand the philosophy and sophisticated qualities of the originals. Jar-Jar Binks is loathed by all smart people, but young children enjoyed him. In Episode II, Lucas tried to present a more mature vision, adding in romance and upping the scale of the battles, but although the battles were quite good, the romance was executed quite terribly. He seemed to have read a couple of bad romance novels just so he could figure out how to write dialogue. It's quite amazing that he managed to waist such great talent with his dialogue in the prequels: Liam Neeson, Christopher Lee, and Natalie Portman, usually very fine actors (and actress) but not so great here.
Well, the criticisms can now be nearly set aside.
What makes this so much better than the other prequels? Style, my friends. Lucas stops being so plain and goes ahead and shoots this movie with style. Though the action scenes in both prequel movies were solid, this film blows the lid off both of them. There's an incredible sense of speed in this film, with massive starfighter battles, over-the-top lightsaber fights, and large ground battles. They don't have the scale of Attack of the Clones, but feature many more thrills.
One of the biggest complaints with the prequels was Lucas's over-reliance on fake-looking CGI technology. Though there's still a ton of CGI here, It fits more seamlessly with the live-action stuff. Another complaint was that the aliens didn't look very Star Wars-ish. Well, we have the same aliens. But at least Jar-Jar doesn't appear very much.
George Lucas has always been great at writing stories, though they haven't been executed well lately. But here we get a very dark story filled with moments of over-the-top emotion and cruel, cruel, irony. The turning of Anakin over to the dark side is an amazingly ironic situation, and I won't spoil it here, but I will say that it will induce you to shake your head.
Unfortunately, the dialogue is still problematic. It's still better than the last two movies, and the actors are better at delivering their lines. The biggest improvement is from Ewan MacGregor. This is quite possibly his finest performance. He acts his character exceedingly well, but doesn't go over the top except when its required.
Overall, this movie is a massive improvement over Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones. It's darker, more epic, better acted, and overall a very solid film. It's a shame that there are moments of severe nitpicks and clichés, a bit more than I would like. But if you're looking for a movie that mixes incredible action sequences with an involving story, then you should check it out when you get the chance. Then again, you probably already saw it. If so, good.