Great. Really

Rating: 8/10 (7 November 2005)

The Chancellor (McDiarmid) fights the Jedi over control of the Republic and enlists the aid of Anakin (Christensen) Skywalker, the future Darth Vader.
I really didn't want to watch this one. It was the last of the Prequels and I figured it would go the same way as the others, boring. Too much like a video game with the special effects taking over and putting me to sleep like the others. Wrong. This one was great. Well, to be fair, the battle scene that opened this movie seemed like it would last forever: Got the toys, got to show them, you know. And, I was ready to shut this down,but am glad I held off. There was an actual story here with actors actually speaking more than one sentence at a time. It was all good. The acting, music,cinematography and the dialogue were all good. But, I got to thinking. Suppose this movie was the first Star Wars ever. What would we have missed in the other prequels? Nothing. This could have started it all off.
I am not too sure about this but, the weaponry, fighter planes, missiles and fire-power in general seemed to be more advanced than what was shown in the movies starting with the original Star Wars movie. Could be wrong, butSee where I am going with this?
As good as this movie is I am glad this ends the Star Wars sagas. The special effects, and computer graphics had taken over and this is not good. I know a lot of time, money, effort etc go into these special effects, and they are spectacular, but they go on for too long and put me to sleep. And, you really can't tell who is doing what to whom anyway. You just watch one fireworks display after another. The first Star Wars movie was such a departure from everything else we had ever seen that we were hooked on the new technology. But as time marched on the special effects took over, and while good, they went on for too long and this is not good.