Aaahhhh, yeah, the cake may not be sweet enough, but gosh darn it, at least it's a cake.

Now, I haven't seen the film yet (and probably won't for a few weeks), but I think what Hasta's saying is that there is no "emotional investment" in the characters.

That's one thing I demand in a film, in order for me to consider it a "good" film.

That's one of the reasons "Menace" didn't do anything for me but - just recently - "Spiderman" did. If I can't "care" for the characters and their situations, the movie leaves me unfulfilled.

After hearing (and reading) people's reactions to AOTC, I'm afraid it will disappoint me as well.

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Thanks for the Take, Rack Him.....[/B]

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Wha? A Jungle inhabitant here? Wow.

Since there is such a shortage of opinions on AOTC here, may I submit that I enjoyed the movie quite a bit - even more than I anticipated.

I have to disagree those who seem to find nothing good in this film at all.

But I will say that Lucas' reuse of music from TPM is the most disappointing thing about AOTC..."from a certain point of view."

It is painfully clear that now music + Lucas =

I still say Hayden Christensen gave a great performance, too good for the material. The problem with him is that he does not yet have the experience of actors like Lee and McDiarmid to know how to make a bad screenplay sound better; instead, he read every line the way it was supposed to feel, and the dialogue just couldn't compare to his performance.

Natalie Portman was the big problem for me. Next to the imposing presence of Christensen, she seemed completely lost and bewildered. Ergo, you don't know how to feel when she finally says "I love you," and thus I come to my original point: because of Portman's weaknesses it's impossible to tell how much the romance you were really supposed to believe.

Things I liked:
-Light Sabre fights and action Sequences in general.
-The way we see Anakin begin to cross to the dark side by killing those Tusken Raiders

Overall, I did enjoy AotC, but it still left a lot to be desired.
I'd give it 3/5, mainly for the action sequences, which were fun.

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Originally posted by Richard:
Things I didn't like:
-I don't understand why Yoda needs a walking stick, etc, yet can really move when he has to. Looks to me as though he's just trying to claim some sort of disability fund.
NP: Vertigo - Herrmann
*****/*****

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Now that is one part that actually makes sense. Yoda is old, yet during the fighting he used the force. The force enables him to produce incredible speed and strenght. That is why the acting for both Lee and the Yoda CGI was so well done. Both, after the fighting, were breathing heavily and had this sigh. Compare it to the phenomenan that we have today, when someone in an extreme stressful situation will produce remarkable and almost monsterous strenght. In fact, one may understand this whole Force thing a little better if you dig into the martial arts practice of Chi.

Yes, Yoda needs a stick, he is old, he is fragile, but when he channels the force through his body, as long as he does that, he becomes that little speed demon that we were all so amazed to see.

Understanding now you do?

Scotty

Suprisingly I thought one of the strongest elements was Hayden Christiansen. Yes much of the dialogue is banal, but he works wonders with it. Much of the performance is subtle, but for the first truly conflicted character in Star Wars history he does quite well.

Anyone who claims that Mark Hamill's acting was superior needs to go back and watch the films again, leave your obvious bias at the door, and try and regard them both objectively.

Other than that--an excellent use of two hours. Fun and invigorating...I can't really ask more of my...ouch...$7.00 dollar fandango matinee!

Sidenote--while DLP is very nice, never watch a digital film in the second row...pixels...ughhh. I guess I deserved it for being a fool and thinking that getting to the show an hour and fifteen minutes ahead of time was enough. There were about 300 people in front of me. Oh well, seeing it again on Sunday.

The script was better than I thought it was going to be and it never dragged.

I like the fact that not alot of things blow up in the first hour and that it's willing to pace itself.

I found this romance better than the so-called romance in Empire, which I still enjoy.

That comprised of what two arguements, a kiss and a good-bye. Yet, we're to believe that they were falling for each other? Sure, why not.

In Clones, the two get alot of time to flesh themselves out and talk(nothing amazing, but still advances things). It's drawn out over the entire film as opposed to a few moments here and there.

This is not a romantic comedy, it's a space opera. It all works.

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Originally posted by Buba Fett:
The script and acting was no worse or better than in the original trilogy.

The script was better than I thought it was going to be and it never dragged.

I like the fact that not alot of things blow up in the first hour and that it's willing to pace itself.

I found this romance better than the so-called romance in Empire, which I still enjoy.

That comprised of what two arguements, a kiss and a good-bye. Yet, we're to believe that they were falling for each other? Sure, why not.

In Clones, the two get alot of time to flesh themselves out and talk(nothing amazing, but still advances things). It's drawn out over the entire film as opposed to a few moments here and there.

This is not a romantic comedy, it's a space opera. It all works.

Awesome movie, and tied with Empire as number one.

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While I disagree with a lot of what you say...what I REALLY think you need to look at in Empire was the fact that Han & Leia had obviously been avoiding their attraction for some time. There was history there and it showed. Not like with Anakin & Padme. You never got the idea that she ever had any attraction to him at all.

In Clones, it seemed to me, the more time they spent together she did get attracted to him. In the end it worked, for me. It seemed to turn when Anakin went home, she opened up and listened.

-I really liked the opening scroll, I thought it brought you up to speed really well
-Yoda Yoda Yoda - that's exactly what someone started chanting when his shadow appeared before his duel. He is so much cooler than I thought he could be, and that's saying alot.
-Mace Windu, wow, when Sam Jackson showed up in the Arena I had chills, like Shaft chills
-heck all the Jedi scenes, we got to see so much more of them and about them
-I was very impressed by Hayden. Sure his dialogue wasn't the greatest, but he had a great feel about him like I thought he really was the character and really could turn into the evil Darth Vader. That look he gets after Shmi dies-WOW. I was scared and excited to see him make that change
-I also really like the relationship between Kenobi and Anakin, the out-of-control teenager who won't listen to authority and the teacher who has no control over his pupil, it really set up the later relationship very well
-the battles, Jango was very impressive
-Boba Fett, how he was intentive all the time
-the fact that Dooku DIDN'T die
-the score, sure the reuse of TPM was upsetting a little, but the themes were very well used (what else do you expect from Maestro Williams)

That's all I can think of right now. My current rankings for the movies are:
Jedi
Empire
Clones
Hope
Menace

But on the whole I went along with the love story and liked it, and sort of bought it at the end.

This mean Christopher Lee in Ep.3. I was beginning to worry that Lucas would try to come up with a new bad guy for each of the prequels, to make up for the abscense of Vader.

The rest of the fil was great. The acting was not bad at all. I've seen poorer acting in films that were praised for having great actors. I really can't understand what all the fuss is about. Is this film as good as the original trilogy? No, but then I never expected it to be.

Yoda brought the house down. The audience was cheering and applauding and when the end credits started they all cheered and clapped for a job well done.