I saw it at a midnight showing Wednesday night (well, technically, Thursday morning). Didn't expend any energy, no waiting in lines, etc. Wasn't gonna put that kind of effort into it because my expectations were pretty low. We just showed up about a half hour before showtime, bought our tickets, and walked in....

The movie met my expectations in some ways. Slightly exceeded them in others.

Good:

- Visually stunning. Perhaps the most visually impressive movie I've ever seen. Better than all previous Star Wars films. Very spectacular.

- Incredible sound production. Very visceral soundtrack, everything was tangible and real-sounding.

- Opening space battle is the best one ever put on screen. The first 15 minutes of the film are some the best action sequences of all the Star Wars films.

- Some of the action sequences later in the film are fantastic as well, nearly matching the opening sequence. Completely brilliant.

The above is enough to justify the ticket price, so I'm happy. And I recommend everyone go out and see it, just for what I've listed above. But...

Bad:

Lucas still can't write or direct his way out of a paper bag.

And the people he cast in the leading roles, bless their little hearts, can't act to save their lives, either.

First, a recap: Last movie, our protagonists were supposed to fall in love. We never saw it happen. We saw them TALK about it happening, but we never actually SAW THEM BE IN LOVE. Nothing in their actions, dialogue, expressions, or voices conveyed to me that these two were anything other than paid to stand next to each other and say words. There was some stuff on the cutting room floor that was supposed to show us more of that. Lucas took some flak for not leaving those bits in the film.

Well, in this movie, he tried to answer that criticism. Stuff that otherwise would have been on the cutting room floor stayed in this time. Because it was all more-reasons-for-them-to-be-in-love stuff.

But he missed the point.

The point wasn't to show us all the REASONS they were in love. It was to SHOW THEM ACTUALLY BE IN LOVE. Something he seems to be incapable of doing.

And the same thing happened with Anakin going to the dark side. We have endless scenes of Anakin and the emperor TALKING ABOUT going to the dark side, and we have lots and lots of plot devices pushing Anakin that way, but we never actually SEE HIM turn. We never connect with that part of his character. It never ends up on the screen.

The movie plays like a freaking checklist. Lucas is checking off every motivation that Anakin's got for going to the dark side, and when the checklist is complete, Lucas waves his hand and says, "Poof. You're a Sith."

So what you end up with in this film is a lot of yawn-inducing scenes where Lucas is completing his checklist, interspersed by some fantastic action pieces. Go see it for the action, go get popcorn when people start talking. You'll do OK.