Mediocre.

Rating: 6/10 (20 May 2005)

All over the internet I have been hearing reports about how the latter half of this film is superior to anything they've done in the prequel trilogy.
I firmly disagree. In fact, I believe the second half of the film is arguably the worst of the series. With the supposedly dramatic turn of Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen, as angsty as ever.) to the darkside and Chancellor Palpatine's(Ian McDermid) embarrassing metamorphosis (done in the cheesiest way imaginable) to Emperor Palpatine, everything is just cheesy.
George Lucas seemingly put 80% of his effort into the very well done CG and action sequences, 19% into the advertisement and 1% into the writing and directing the actor's dialog. This, in my opinion, is why he is not a good director. The only people in this film that can overcome the horrible script are Ewan McGregor (who delivers an excellent performance as Obi Wan Kenobi) and (for the most part) Ian McDermid. Not even Samuel L. Jackson delivers an acceptable performance.
Hayden Christensen's final line is embarrassingly awful and though you feel the chills when the familiar Darth Vader is seen, you cringe during his one scene. James Earl Jones' delivery of the lines are terrible, and they're really badly written. One of the worst parts of the entire trilogy is a supposedly angry Vader yelling "No!" clenching his fists. When the most dramatic scene of the film gets laughs, something is wrong.
If you do see this film, you're only going to be impressed with the action, but when it comes down to it, the thing that should really matter in films is not how many frames per second the animations are, or how fast you can duel a lightsaber, but the acting.
I had high hopes for this film after reading many reviews, but just like I was in 1997, Lucas disappointed me again.
6/10 (**1/4)