A powerful followup to the original Star Wars

Rating: 10/10 (12 October 2004)

This is rated a scoutch lower than the 1st Star Wars flick, although it is right behind Aliens and slightly ahead of T2 as the best sequel ever. It loses 0.3 because of the disjointed forced emotions of Han and Leia, who have great repartee but romance is just not there. I didn't buy it anyway.
Other than that the movie is great. It still has some of the best action sequences around and numerous video games have lifted elements of it for combat and light saber duels. The CGI enhancements added in the 90's are less obvious and less intrusive than those in Star Wars, and really add or subtract little if anything. The epic scope of the power of the empire and the considerable abilities of the resistance are shown to great effect in ultra large scale space panoramas, and are breathtaking if you allow yourself to be taken in by it all.
The large scale gets a big help with a large screen. I think a lot would be lost watching this on a 27" TV. The DVD is part of the the Star Wars trilogy pack. The audio is even better than Star Wars, with even more LFE and surround action. This has to be the best remastering of film audio I've ever heard. The video is no less impressive, with nary a blotch or smear to be seen anywhere. Darth Vader looks like he's been cleaned and pressed just for this DVD release! This is as good as it gets 10/10.