Good, but not perfect

Rating: 8/10 (19 May 2005)

I saw it last night at midnight. I liked a large portion of it, but I had 2 major issues, and a few quirks.
Major issues: 1. While I have nothing against R2's humorous antics (and a lot of people in the theater were cheering for him, and laughing) I felt they should have been saved for about mid-way through the movie. The opening sequence should have been far more serious. More or less everything prior to General Grevious smashing the window needs to be redone.
2. General Grevious. I mean, I've watched Clone Wars. We're talking about a droid who took on numerous Jedi, one-on-one, in lightsaber combat simultaneously. I have nothing against Obi-wan defeating him single-handed, but he should at least show some real skill with the lightsaber, like he did in CW.
Quirks: 1. We still haven't seen Natalie Portman in the metal bikini.
2. The Emperor and Anakin killed Mace Windu. Consider this: What if you had Windu locked into a battle scene with numerous clones and droids, when suddenly he heard something zooming in from overhead. He saw Slave 1 coming at him, releasing a sonic charge. He lowers his weapon, as he sees the inevitable coming. Slave 1 zooms away, and we cut to Boba Fett crying, as he whispers "Got him Dad." I have to admit I didn't come up with this idea, but it would have been perfect.
3. WHERE DID THOSE NAMES COME FROM! ARE YOU REALLY TELLING ME THAT PADME JUST PULLED "Luke" AND "Leia" OUT OF THIN AIR ON HER DEATH BED! 4. Why does everyone have to get their hands cut off? Is there some kind of symbolism in that I don't know about? 5. While it isn't as annoying as General Grevious, since his opponent was Anakin instead of Obi-wan, Dooku seemed weak this time.
6. YOU HAD KEISHA-CASTLE HUGHES! THE GIRL WAS NOMINATED FOR BEST ACTRESS AT THE AGE OF 12, AND THIS IS ONLY HER SECOND MOVIE! YET YOU CUT OUT EVERYTHING WITH HER IN IT EXCEPT A NON-SPEAKING CAMEO! To be honest I'm waiting for the DVD so I can see some deleted scenes. I also hope that Lucas will give Episodes I-III their first taste of tweaking for the 3-D releases.