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When I go to see Star Wars, I don't expect to see a Robert Altman movie.
I expect special effects, simple dialogue, good vs. evil storyline and great action.
That's what I got, and I was very pleased with it. SW will never win awards for acting or scriptwriting, but this is the kind of movie that is not supposed to do that anyway. This is a pure popcorn popping movie, one that is purely entertainment.
It is not meant to stimulate your brain cells, only to tickle your adrenaline. It's classic matinee-type fare.
Those who are looking for intellectual meaning, great acting and great scripts probably should stay away.
I saw the movie last night and both my husband and I agreed that it was the best of the prequels and, in our opinion, only second to The Empire Strikes Back. We also felt this was the kind of movie where there is so much going on that a second (or third or fourth :) ) viewing is needed (we are seeing it again tomorrow).
We actually thought that Hayden Christensen (Anakin) did a good job, especially compared to Attack of the Clones. Ewan McGregor (Obi-Wan) and Ian McDiarmid (Palpatine) stole the show, with a honorable mention to Yoda, who is 100% CGI and looks phenomenal. I would kill to be able to work at a job where I create special effects.
The cringe-inducing love scenes were very few, short and, frankly, not as cringe-inducing as we were led to believe. Sure, some of the script during the scenes was crappy, but even the initial trilogy's dialogue was not all that good (it seems people have forgotten how many cheesy lines there were in A New Hope, Empire and Return of the Jedi). Natalie Portman's scenes are limited and I really don't think her talents were wasted. It's just that the story was focusing on Anakin's descent to the Dark Side.
It's hard not to feel a bit sympathetic towards the Anakin character as he is being 'seduced' to the Dark Side and how Darth Sidious/Palpatine plays with his emotions, fears and anger.
Despite 2 hrs and 26 minutes in length, I felt the movie went by so fast that I could barely believe it had taken that long (although I love the Lord of the Rings trilogy, I did feel the weight of the 3 hours plus of the movie).
Again, we went in expecting to see action and special effects, not Oscar-winning scripts and acting; that's exactly what we got and, in fact, we were pleasantly surprised that our lofty expectations, shattered with Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones, were surpassed greatly with Revenge of the Sith.
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