It didn't suck!

Rating: 6/10 (20 May 2005)

While this was probably the best of episodes 1-3, it still isn't up to the standard set by Lucas with the original trilogy. Where episode 4 used the Hero's Journey story structure that Joseph Campbell popularized to ensure a well-written story and well-developed characters, this movie was more an exercise in connecting the dots--and that wasn't always done consistently.
As expected, the movie was full of exotic aliens and fantastic scenery, all of which were pretty impressive. I especially liked Obi-Wan's lizard mount when he went after General Grievous. And most of the CGI was very well done, with the exception of one bit in the opening sequence that looked fake. The fight scenes were pretty cool, too--General Grievous was really impressive with his four light sabers. For visual effects and action, I'd give the movie a solid 9 on a scale of 1-10.
However, I felt the writing was lacking. Anakin seemed to have one expression (a sullen glare) throughout the movie, not because Christiansen can't act, but because the plot didn't really give him a reason to do anything else. And as an effective writer, part of your job is to make sure that your characters are acting true to their characters. I don't think the end of the final confrontation between Obi-wan and Anakin was consistent with Kenobi's role as the "good and heroic knight," which is generally how the Jedi are portrayed--that's my impression, anyway. And can I just say that for someone who was elected queen of an entire planet as a teen and addressed the Republican Senate on behalf of her people in episode 1, Padme was disappointingly weak in this episode. It was like she was in this movie to breed and that's it.
Which brings me to one of my biggest complaints about this movie: Lucas apparently didn't bother to go back and watch episodes 4-6 when he wrote the script for Revenge of the Sith. In Jedi, Luke asks Leia what she remembers about her "real mother" and she tells him that she died when Leia was very young, but that she remembers her being very beautiful and very sad. Well, apparently Leia was talking about some other real mother. Yes, we all pretty much figured Padme might die in this one, but the way Lucas killed her off was inconsistent with that scene in Jedi. If all he's writing this movie for is to connect the dots between the first trilogy and the second, what's so hard about making the dots line up correctly?
We went to see this movie at a 3 a.m. showing on opening day. It was a fun experience, and I don't regret doing it--but I'd feel the same way about going to see Daredevil. It was fun staying up all night to go see a movie with other movie fiends, not because the movie was anything special but because now I can say I did.