I saw it opening night, and I LOVED it!! That's right, me, perhaps the most infamous Lucas hater of them all. I thought it was almost as good as The Empire Strikes Back.
It started off strong, with a fantastic - if not CG effects-laden - space battle at least as entertaining as any you'd find in the original Trilogy. The scenes between Padme and Anakin have changed from unbearable to at least watchable, and they're fewer in number; Ian McDermid's chilling performance of Chancellor Palpatine / The Emperor gives the movie a touch of class, much in the same way Alec Guiness did 25 years ago; Hayden Christensen, who I hate almost as much as Emperor Lucas himself, actually turned in a pretty solid performance this time around; his anguished impression of a confused Anakin being slowly and steadily turned away from the way of the Jedi felt less restrained and no longer confined in
Sith; and the music? Hello? What's wrong with the music? It's EXCELLENT, especially Battle of the Heroes, the track played during Anakin and Obi-Wan's final face-off.
chaser_fan
'Ani's' tranformation from Jedi into Sith is laughable and takes all of two seconds. Blink and you'll miss it!
Granted, the actual moment when Anakin flips to the Dark Side could have used a little dash of genuine emotion, but THE WHOLE MOVIE UP TO THAT POINT IS ABOUT ANAKIN BEING SEDUCED BY THE DARK SIDE.
In fact, both Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones were ALSO about this. Hell, Lucas himself has said that the entire POINT of the prequel Trilogy is to tell the story of Anakin Skywalker and his subsequent turn to the Dark Side. So how much more boring, crappy-dialogue-ridden build-up do you need? Would another movie, perhaps taking place between Phantom and Attack?
When you're hacking someone to death, at some point they are going to change from being alive to being dead. And it will happen instantly. But that's not to say it was surprising. The moment Anakin switches is exactly that: the MOMENT he switches. As I said above, it would have been better if he showed more emotion, perhaps crying and showing mental anguish before collapsing in front of the Emperor, but it still wouldn't change the suddenness of the MOMENT he switches over.
chaser_fan
I recorded the entire soundtrack on my MP3 player and about two thirds of the way through you can here me draining the main vein. That's how enthralling it was!
Lovely. Thanks for telling everyone here about your ILLEGAL recording of the movie on your nifty MP3 player.
Anyway, anyone with one shred of affinity for any of the Star Wars movies owes it to himself to check out Episode III, and do yourself a favour and see it in theatres, because it's the kind of Star Wars film that you SHOULD see in a theatre, just like Episodes IV, V, and VI were some 20 years ago. See them quick, too, before Lucas makes changes and re-releases it and destroys the original version!
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