Wasn’t Padme’ getting any prenatal care? How is it that their medical science is advanced enough to can clone people en masse and create fully functional prosthetic hands and legs, but no one seemed to have any idea that Senator Amidala was having twins until the birthing scene??

I’d have to say that without a doubt its the best of this trilogy. It has nothing on the original trilogy though, except maybe a little better than ROTJ (they’re both very similar).

One of the problems I had was the character of Count Dooku. They didn’t spent much time building his character in Clones, and then he gets, what, 5 minutes of screen time in this one?? WTF? And the droid General. They introduce him like we’re already supposed to know who he is. He doesn’t get much screentime either. They should have introduced him in Clones, and worked with Dooku more in this one. Also, the droid general’s fight sequence was definitely over-the-top. (4? come on, did he really need 4?)

I did think Hayden’s performance in the second half is VERY compelling. Especially the infamous lava scene. That’s the one that kiddies can’t handle. I actually heard some screaming in the audience when they showed that. It’s pretty intense.

Also the aforementioned “Bush dialogue” hit me like a ton of bricks. And I knew right away it was intentional. But I was also expecting it. Going back to about the middle of the movie there’s a conversation between Anakin and Padme about the war. It sums up my views between the right and the left exactly: Padme as a liberal, and Anakin as a conservative.

I thought some of the lava fight scenes were disbelievable. No way you can stand that close to lava and not get heat stroke.

I didn’t expect such a slaughter of the cast, but I had to keep reminding myself there’s a whole trilogy ahead of this one, and everything’s already set in stone.

Best acting in this film goes to Ian Mcdarmid(sp?) whose Darth Sidious is right on par with the original. Hayden has definitely improved, and Ewan does a great job of molding his character into Alec Guiness’s version. Watch the ending where you see Ewan use a gesture that Guiness used in Hope. I won’t give it away, but it’s a hand gesture. If you don’t know what I’m talking about you’ll have to watch Hope.

Bottom line is: Looks like they needed a fourth movie to really complete the story. The film moves really fast through the first half so that it can catch up to Anakin’s turn to the Dark side. Had this new trilogy been planned and laid out better, it could have surpassed LOTR. But alas, Lucas has lost the heart and charisma he had when he was a broke, flying-by-the-seat-of-his-pants director of the original trilogy.

Who’s gone to the dark side now???