Things that Work:
- Ties up the loose ends
- Success in creating an old school Star Wars feel
- Excellent blend of prequel and original technologies/look
- Special Effects, on the whole, are very good
- Good juxtaposition of good vs. evil and lots of room for shades of grey
- Well balanced emotional tugging with violence
- The story does not suck
- Excellent fight sequences
- It is clear that Anakin really does adore Padme
- Natalie Portman actually manages to act (!!*gasp*!!)
- Ewan McGregor pulls off a convincing Obi-wan
- Yoda is fantastic, including Frank Oz getting the voice right
- Palpatine is deliciously corrupting
- Hayden Christianson is hot (0kay, this is a weak point, but nevertheless, counts for something)
- Wookies
- None to subtle anti-Bush/Imperial evangelism message
- No ridiculous flying-through-tube-channel-canyon shot (which is good, because we get it, it was cool twenty years ago, it's not so cool now)
- It's finally over
Things that Don't Work:
- Lucas can write a story but still cannot write dialogue to save his life
- That Naboo's equality/feminism does not extend to pregnant senators (what, women with babies have no ability to serve democracy?)
- Hayden Christianson is the weakest link, but plays the focal character
- Lousy battle droid voices (what was wrong with the original?)
- Wookies that make Tarzan sounds
- Computer generated characters that do not follow the laws of physics
- Naming anyone Cody. Cody? Seriously.
- The lack ass-kicking females or even ones with lines (other than Padme)
- Excessive to the point of distracting use of 'wipes' between scenes
- Technology to create prosthetic everything that cannot save a woman in childbirth
- The lamest score John Williams has ever written
- Too much time is spent on General Grievous, not enough on Anakin's relationships with people
- Too many limbs get amputated (is this the only way to disable a Force user?)
- None of the saga would have happened if people had just bothered to communicate with each other
I might yet write a real review, but this unordered list of pros and cons will suffice for now. Now that this is out of the way, I can start writing about real things happening in my life again, like, for instance, going horseback riding TWICE over the long weekend, including the four hour hack through the Ganaraska. But, not right now. Later.
