Very Disappointed

Rating: 7/10 (19 May 2005)

OK so after episodes I and II, I wasn't really expecting very much from this movie. There seemed like a lot of ground for Lucas to cover which had been exacerbated by the slow pace of the previous two films. The plot was actually pretty good and the story ties everything together much better than I thought it was going to, by the end I wasn't really think such and such a part didn't make sense... However... the acting was really terrible (and as Portman and McGregor have proved themselves to be excellent actors it is hard to blame anything other than the direction), the editing was really really terrible, the script was horrible, the pace was all wrong, and it was probably an hour too short. Many of the above problems were to be expected, Lucas is a poor script writer and is not good at getting the best of performances from his actors. There are far too many scenes in the film that were not needed and because of this the important scenes feel rushed and squeezed into the remaining time.
Lucas with ILM has pioneered movie special effects and has said that he waited so long before making the prequels because he was waiting for the effects he wanted to become available. What worked in the original trilogy was that he used the effects available to help him tell a story about an interesting universe, with good interesting characters who had development paths for us to follow. In the new films he has gone totally about face and the characters and universe only seem to be there to provide a platform for the special effects.
I think I have been overly harsh in my scoring as if you compared this to a film like Independence Day it would probably hold up OK. However as part of a greater series it really stank and I think that the world would have been a better place had Lucas not bothered making episodes I, II, and III.
Thank you all for your time. Rant over!