Very impressive! A wonderful story told in magnificent fashion.

After the disappointment of the first two episodes, I was all set for further crap from George Lucas but he blew me away quite unequivocally. Well, not quite so unequivocally. The start was pretty pathetic in terms of writing, acting etc. Everyone seemed so wooden to start with that I decided to just concentrate on the special effects, which were magnificent. Each frame in this movie was something special. The attention to detail that ILM has put into the effects in this movie was something else. After a few minutes, I slowly found myself getting totally absorbed in the story, in the Chancellor’s powerlust, in Anakin’s doubt and greed, in Padme’s hopeless situation. I loved the politics of the movie - the Republic, the emergency powers of the Chancellor, the conversion of the Federation into Empire! So this is how liberty is lost, says Padme. With thundering applause. I’m halfway through Karl Popper’s “The Open Society and it’s Enemies” and this movie was so much a reflection of all that he’s been saying so far. It was a nice coincidence for me.
Did I mention that the special effects were simply mindblowing. Even the scenes where they have the city as a backdrop were stunning. The fights were riveting. Everything was simply a visual feast. And in the end, we get Lord Vader! We get Lord Vader and the Emperor looking out at the half constructed Death Star and we get Owen and Beru Lars looking at the young Luke and the twin suns of Tatooine. What a movie! Fantastic!
I really liked the fact that the sets in the end of the movie looked so much like the original star wars trilogy. In the scene where the emperor and Lord Vader are overseeing the construction of the death star, it looks exactly like a shot from Return of the Jedi, the continuity was amazing. While there were many many things that were wrong with this movie, I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed watching it.