First of all, I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed this film. I saw it twice and both times I forgot that I was sitting in a movie theater and was drawn into the wonderful star wars universe.

There were many many things I liked, so I will limit these to the ones that really stuck out:

a) The parallelisms and connections made in this movie between it other star wars films. Some people think that they indicate a lack of new material, but I tend to disagree. I think that including familiar material only makes certain scenes stronger by reminding us that everything is a part of the whole (the trilogy in its entirety). Some examples of these parallelisms would be Padme's �Hold me,� line (which echoes Leia's words to Han), Padme�s last words (�There�s still good in him�) which are later spoken by Luke, Anakin�s �together we can rule the galaxy� lines to Padme, which are what he later tells Luke, etc.

b) The acting. Much better than Attack of the Clones. At the beginning, it may have been a little flat, but towards the middle and especially towards the end; all the characters were very believable. For one, Ewan McGregor does a nice job of not only adopting a similar look to Alec Guiness, but also adopting and portraying his mannerisms. However, I�m still not sure if he fully bridged the gap. I think I�d have to watch the original trilogy right after seeing ROTS and get back to you on that one. Hayden�s acting was not only better, but also exactly how I pictured Anakin to be. I could see the conflict leading up to his turn. I do agree that certain parts seemed a little rushed, but I think that Hayden worked very well with what lines he had, especially through his use of facial expressions. I liked the torn but desperate expression on his face when he kneeled before Palpatine, I liked the hardened look on his faced as he marched to the Jedi temple, and I liked the silent tears that streamed down his face as he gazed out at the lava. My favorite of his expressions, however, had to have been when he was telling Padme, �Don�t you see�together we could rule the galaxy�� and you see the depraved look on his face and really feel that he has completely lost it. At that part you begin to see that even his love for Padme is being taken over by his lust for power. Ian McDiarmid�s acting also really helped bring the movie to fruition. The scenes between Palpatine and Anakin were so well done and had all the right elements�Palpatine�s slow corruption over Anakin was evident but subtle. I hated those scenes because they meant that I had to see Anakin fall deeper under Palpatine�s spell, so I would say that they accomplished their role. And the part where Palpatine talks about the sith master (don�t recall the name�something �the wise�)�that part gave me chills. And when you finally hear the snake-like voice creep in�haunting.

c) Bail Organa�s character. He was very honest and likable and had the perfect role�not too big, not too small.

d) Yoda�s role. Yoda was so dynamic in this movie. You really got to see the more caring side of Yoda as well (the way he drops his walking stick and places his hand over his heart as order 66 is executed). Well done.

e) The music! Once again, John Williams proves his genius. There were many fitting dark undertones played during Anakin�s more emotional scenes, and the musical number used during the death of the Jedi fit the screenplay perfectly, in my opinion.

f) Padme�s facial expression as she says �Anakin you�re breaking my heart�� and then �Obi-Wan was right. You�ve changed.� Props to Natalie for such wonderful delivery! That was perfect!

g) The way Anakin said the line �You will try�� to Obi-Wan right before they fight. Such great inflection�that line haunts me.

h) Vader�s first breath�the way you hear that high-pitched buzzing sound and then the breathing kicks in. The camera angle on the mask is perfect there and watching that scene was so surreal. And then Vader�s first words (�Where�s Padme?�) were so chilling coming from Vader�s voice. And the way Vader�s despair destroyed so many objects in the room even though he is weak.

i) The fighting: some of the best duels ever! My favorite was definitely the simultaneous Anakin/Obi-Wan and Yoda/Palpatine battle. That was a very nice touch.

j) The final scenes where Anakin is being put into the Vader suit and the story goes back and forth between Anakin lying waiting to become Vader (in the suit) and Padme lying and slowly dying on the infirmary bed. There was something very Romeo/Juliet about the �death� of both characters that comes out through the visual sequences in this scene, and this helped me to fully understand the tragedy. Both of them are dying�and you can see it happening but are helpless to stop it. I loved it, even though it broke my heart.

k) The ending. It ends with �the couple� gazing out hopefully like all of the other movies, ending this trilogy by connect the series into a perfect circle. What a fantastic film; the wait was well worth it.

l) I could go on�but I think I�ll stop for now. ^_^

There are some things I didn�t like:

a) How quickly and easily Dooku died.

b) This one really bugs me: How quickly and easily Palpatine killed three Jedi (one of them Kit Fitsu, mind you). I know Palpatine is powerful, but the Jedi didn�t even put up a fight (except Mace).

c) The lines that Padme and Anakin exchanged during the part where Padme was brushing her hair (particularly Anakin�s �No, it�s because I�m so in love with you�). They were cute, but a little too cheesy for me. Lucas can do better. I wanted to see something deeper pass between them, and Lucas somewhat redeems himself in this area when he has the �gazing out of the windows� (Anakin from the temple, Padme from her Coruscant home) scene. The tension and exchange of raw emotion in that scene were great, and Williams once again nailed the music there.

d) How Anakin�s dreams about Padme were so late to appear in the movie. Anakin�s turn would be much more convincing with just a little more incentive behind it. The movie-watcher has to get a sense of how turbulent these dreams are for him, and we got that through Anakin�s dialogue, but I would have liked to visually see that no matter where Anakin was, the dreams haunted him (like maybe while he is in battle in the beginning of the film). This would have convinced me more of how desperate he becomes to save Padme. So in a sense, the audience has to bridge a small gap here, which we should not have to do.

e) Greivous�s role. I didn�t quite sense his importance (and yet lack thereof, as he is also a pawn in Sidious' game) in this movie the way that it is portrayed in some of the books, like Labyrinth of Evil. Greivous did not strike me as a very imposing figure in ROTS and was beaten rather quickly.

f) Padme�s weaker role. I wanted to see a bit more of Padme as a politician, and I also feel like she needed to be more of a dynamic character. She should have started out stronger and then gotten weaker as the conflict within Anakin began to take a toll on her. I�m not criticizing Portman�s performance; in fact, I think it was her best. But Padme�s less influential role itself disappointed me just a little.

g) In certain spots, particularly the opening sequence, there were too many special effects. Lucas almost seemed to be trying to compensate for something with his mile-a-minute visuals.

Then there are some other things:

a) Is it just me, or is it hard to call Anakin �Vader� until he is in the suit?

b) So, was Anakin the chosen one or not? After all, I do remember Yoda�s line about the prophecy perhaps being misread, but I think I missed something. Is it Anakin or Luke, because either one of them could be said to restore balance. Maybe I just don�t understand the full prophecy.

c) Aren�t Anakin�s eyes when he looks up at Obi-Wan and says, �I hate you!� just frightening? Digital effects really lend a lot to the film in places like this.

d) Didn�t the baby that played Leia have perfect "Leia" facial features? Way to cast a baby!

e) I cried during the death of the jedi and the younglings both times that I saw the movie. It was so sad.

As a whole:

Tough competition for my favorite movie, Return of the Jedi. I haven�t decided which one I prefer now, to tell the truth. Anyway, ROTS bridged the gap between episode II and IV quite nicely. Well done!

If you have your own review to add, or comments to make about mine, send them here.