Mostly Boring...

Rating: 6/10 (21 May 2005)

Mostly boring.
Good opening. Good end. Some very good set pieces (particularly the destruction of the Jedi). Joined the prequels into the original trilogy way better than I could have expected (good use of Leia's theme and Luke's theme from SW and a great cameo by a Peter Cushing lookalike)!
Very boring bit in the middle  politics again (exactly the same problem that made AOTC so bad). My kids were bored in the middle and asking when it would end That's not right is it? Can you imagine in 1977 a 6 year old and an 8 year old being bored by SW or ESB or even ROTJ? It wouldn't have happened. That's the only consideration you have to make  it was boring to the under 10s so it can't be proper SW.
One interesting thing was the fact that we see Captain Antilles and the droids on Bail Organna's ship at the end of this film (and this is the ship that is being attacked at the start of SW). It stuck out like a sore thumb in Ep III (all white plastic walls and fluorescent light), nothing else in Ep III looked like that  all the ships were dirty and old. That kind of shows how sci-fi in 2005 looks different to sci-fi in 1977 (I think I prefer the futuristic vision of outer space with tin foil and bright lights rather than all this gloom but then I am a child of 70s sci-fi)
Overall Score = 6/10
I only ever saw AOTC in the cinema (even though I bought the DVD I have never watched it) and I can't see myself ever picking this one up and watching it again. Whereas with SW I have seen it well over 100 times and I hope to see it 100 more..!
SW films in order of merit (according to me): 1. Star Wars 2. Phantom Menace 3. Empire Strikes Back 4. Return of the Jedi 5. Revenge of the Sith 6. Attack of the Clones (although it should be lower than 6th place)
Had another thought after sleeping on it... You know how DVDs have deleted scenes and the director's commentary says something like; "there is nothing wrong with this scene, but it detracted from the telling of the story, so we cut it for time"
Well that film was 2h40m or something and you could have cut 45-55 mins easily and had a more enjoyable film that would have left the audience feeling exhilarated rather than tired...
What I saw in the cinema last night should have been released as a special extended DVD edition director's cut in 6 months time and the cinema release should have been paceier...