Not all that great a movie actually

Rating: 5/10 (19 May 2005)

I, along with everyone else wanted this to be the "great" movie in the series. Unfortunately, it can't deliver. Although the positive buzz it is receiving may be self-fulfilling and might sustain it to be the highest money maker of the three.
The movie has a strong opening and a decent ending. However, somewhere in between we are left with an unbalanced and scattered story. As other have noted, the reason for Anaking turning to the dark side is almost laughable.
All romantic scenes are painful. Star Wars 2 taught us this and this movie is no different. It seems that Hayden has improved his acting, while Natalie has gotten worse. Put them together and the audience wishes for the movie to end.
There are so many things in this movie that seem to be outside of the Star Wars mythos. It uses several clichés and seems to not know what kind of story it wanted to be.
That being said, the movie delivers the goods when it comes to fighting and the eventual emergence of what we have all been waiting for. Truth is, you could just give us the final 20 minutes of the film and we'd better off.