Just wanted to give my .02 in about the movie

The force(good stuff).

1. The special effect were flawless, and seamless. It was very difficult to find any flaws, and interaction with live and digital characters were believable. But this is Lucas, who is a master as we all know.

2. Ewan McGregor pulls off the internal, wise, bad ass Obi-wan to perfection. I only wish they had not killed Darth Maul in the first one, because it seemed that the dark side had no one to match his character's ability to either get into to trouble or solve something. He's a very good actor, subtle in the way he makes you see things. Much like Michelle Yeuh in Crouching Tiger. You could feel what he was feeling without him saying much.

3. Good pace. The story moved along with good action, and dialog that wasn't too complex that it would have taken more time to explain than to do.

4. Natalie Portman(and her dresses)...more on her acting later, but right now, OMG, she's hot.

5. Decent story line. While I felt the story was lose and some major things were not really explained( I'm hoping they were left unexplained till the next movie), I was very thankful that there was no reactor core to blow up to save the day. Obi-wan's adventure held the most interest for me.

6. It kept me interested, even at 2 am.

7. Yoda, This was a mess waiting to happen, but they did a really good job of keeping him believable, .(you'll see)

8. Corsacant, the cityscapes and art deco style architecture was very nice, and the Sid Mead style cities(at night) were impressive.

The Dark side(bad stuff).

1. Very poor Character development, While I thought Obi-wan was fantastic, the rest of the characters left me wanting more. Anakin was my least favorite. I assume Lucas was trying to push onto the viewer that Anakin was not the coolest guy, but it felt forced. I know I know, he's freaken Darth Vader, but if he was someone I had liked and then turned, it would have been much more compelling.

2. Love story. I like a good love story as much as the next guy(read what you want into that), especially if it involves Ms. Protman. But the chemistry between Hayden and Natalie was not there. Again it seemed forced, and I never felt that he ever proved worth of her attention, let a lone her love. There was no critical point where he proved himself worthy of her.

3. Ship design, at one point I noticed that one of the ships looked like a Russian Hind helicopter(see Rambo 2(?) in Afghanistan for reference). I have always loved Star Wars because of the Millennium Falcon, and the Tie Fighters,X-wings, B-wings, AT-AT walkers, and Star Destroyers. The concepts and designs stand the test of time. But to see the rather uninspired space ships roam the galaxy, I wished they WERE far far away.

4. Directing. Screen wipes, and quick cam zooms!!!!! OMG George is still stuck in the 70's. I know every one loves him, but I truly believe that he is the best at having some really creative designers and concept artist, give you eye candy, but some of the things he does is questionable. In my heart I hope he kept things like the screen wipes as a way of holding continuity from the original to the new Star Wars. But they are still rather passe.

5. Natalie Portman and Hayden Christensen. The only reason she has fallen into the "dark side", is because I didn't feel she had the physical aspects of her character down. She looked uncomfortable running, and shooting a blaster. Which was way to large for her to be handling it in the manner she did. However, I feel that this leads back to directing. In my mind(and I may be a bit biased, cuz she's so fine), Lucas is responsible for telling her these small details. Hold the gun with two hands, its like a small shotgun not a hand gun. And her sub par performance may have a lot to do with the way her character was written as well. Some of the lines she had to say were cheeeeeeeesssssssy. Hayden was stiff, and was too rebellious from the start. Again I attribute this to directing and character development, or the lack there of.

6. Evil plot. Was there an evil plot to do something? while it did feel like there was a layer of evil surrounding our heros, I missed the presence of a Darth Vader or Darth Maul To get into this I would have to give away some of the movie. But in my estimation, the evil guys where not bas ass sinister enough. That's why I was VERY disappointed that they killed Darth Maul in Episode one. If he was in this movie, he would have been the Darth Vader of his time. It would have added sooo much to the movie.

in closing this review could have been pages long. George Lucas accomplished a lot, and many things were done very well. But a lot could have been done sooooo much better. I could have said much more, but it would given the movie away. So go see it if you are a Star Wars fan, I was surrounded by them(super geeks that knew everything about Star Wars) and I felt most were very pleased with the movie. There were some mixed reactions, but the feeling of the group of people that saw it with me was, "I'm so glad that it was better than episode 1, in fact it was pretty damned good). My friends and I are sure to be talking about it for days to come, and I plan to see it again, so I can fill in the holes that are still in my mind. With all its short comings, it did manage to entertain me at an un godly hour, and moved along very nicely. I'm pleased with this installment, and would like to extend my thanks to George for not destroying my childhood in the span of two movies. There is much for the wanting in the final movie, as myself and a few friends hope that there is a large scale evil plot that spans all three movies, and is finally presented in a stunning last episode. Cross your fingers.

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