Excellent Film

Rating: 8/10 (20 May 2005)

I thought it was definitely interesting. The acting in this one was far better than the first two. In my opinion this is about the same caliber as Return of the Jedi. I think the plot took some time to start up, but once it got going, which was about halfway through the film, it was pretty dang good. The dialogue at times was a little cheesy, but hey what do you expect from Christiansen/Lucas. I was extremely impressed after he turned dark; I think he did an excellent job of portraying a villain. There was very little comic relief, and most of it was at the beginning. I think if you cut out the first 20 minutes of the film, it would be a superb movie. Character development was excellent. Lucas did a great job of building up to the characters that you see in Episode IV - VI. There were a TON of subtle references that I caught, which was absolutely awesome. The first thing I wanted to do after seeing this one was watch Episode IV, because you have such a different view of the Empire and Rebellion after seeing this one. After seeing this film it changes your whole perspective on the classic three movies, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. It just gives you a different view on Vader; it demonstrates just why he's such a menacing villain, and you completely understand why he is the way he is after that event happened in his life.
Switching from planet to planet so frequently confused me a little. I didn't feel that Grievous was serious enough of a character either. I feel that he should have been portrayed a little more evil and menacing than he was, but nonetheless it paid off. I feel the storyline was excellent, and extremely clear. The actor that played Palpatine (McDiarmid) was excellent. There were a couple of scenes that was just 100% him, if that makes sense, and you got a feeling of the original movies (Ep IV - VI) I think overall it was well done, I think Lucas, as always, went a little overboard with the CGI, but what do you expect? However the CGI is a TON better than the first two, much much more convincing. I left the theater feeling 150% better than I did on the first two. My only major complaint though was that it felt a little rushed at times. Definitely the best of the prequels. Overall I say 8/10.