Not as spectacular as some are claiming it to be...

Rating: 4/10 (23 May 2005)

I have to disagree with the other user comment.
I didn't think the movie was all that, it was pretty much on par with all the other Star Wars movies.
Making Anakin believe he's doing the right thing is the natural approach to turning him to the dark side, but between the two of them, Lucas and Christensen did such a horrid job at the acting and direction that I've seen soap operas that have done it better.
As for the comment about mysteries finally being answered... we knew in the first series that the twins were separated because of fear of being found by the Sith... it was even stated in Return of the Jedi. Not such a big mystery there. The only real mystery solved was how Lucas transitioned the plot about Jedi returning from the Force after death, and it could've been done so much better instead of being tossed in as a matter-of-fact in the last minute of the film.
Finally, the special effects were indeed pretty, but if you're an avid video gamer, it's nothing new. In fact, many of the action scenes were too much like a video game (the sequence with general what's-his-name and that big wheelie, and the fight preceding it looked like they were thought up by a kid). And while the concepts of the various fight scenes were awesome, the actual executions were not very imaginative, in fact downright repetitive. And why was the emperor giggling like a clown in that last fight with Yoda? Again, the script had major issues in it.
The R2-D2 action scenes were funny, I give it that. But isn't it depressing that one of best performances were given by a CG character (Yoda)? The dialogue was relentlessly lame, and I was cringing in my seat most of the movie. Seeing the final movie made me realize that this movie could've been done SO MUCH BETTER. What a wasted potential.
If you've seen the other ones, might as well watch this one. But if you don't consider yourself a hardcore fan, it doesn't hurt to wait for a rental.