I saw it Thursday night. I'm by no means a Star Wars fanboy, but even without knowing every single detail of all the movies, it was obvious to me that Episode III was all about connecting the dots in the series, and less about making a great movie. Of course, Lucas had painted himself in a corner with the way the series came together, so there were certainly a lot of loose ends to tie up... But I think they should have concentrated more on making this, the last film, as enjoyable as possible, and I don't think that was the focus.

First off, let me get the good out of the way. I thought the interplay between Obi-Wan and Anakin was great. The two actors seemed to have great chemistry, and at least for those scenes, Anikin's emotions seemed real and believable. I did enjoy the special effects; they did a good job of making the ships, planets, etc. close to how I remember them from the original Star Wars movie.

Yoda was definitely a highlight. I personally think it's fine that he and the Emperor fought with lightsabers, that's consistent with the rest of the series, and I think the fights would have been boring if it was just force wind versus force wind, or whatever it's called. Yes, the moments when they used force powers were cool, but if they weren't in the context of a lightsaber battle, it'd probably look kinda lame.

Now, the bad... The worst part of the movie for me, bar none, was Natalie Portman's performance. If there's a winner for this year's "Sofia Coppola Empty, Wooden Performance Award," it's her. Which is odd, because I thought she was the only good thing about Episode I. Then again, maybe even that notion is just a perspective problem because the rest of Episode I was so bad... Anyway, I think she was horrible in this movie, had *zero* chemistry with the actor who played Anakin, and even when he wasn't around, she brought nothing to the movie.

The other part of the movie that really irritated me was that, no matter how much I tried to suspend my disbelief, it could not accept that Anakin had reason to go to the dark side. I understand the sequence of events that led to it, but, even after making the snap decision to kill Windu, and even with his desire to keep Padme alive by whatever means, they didn't create enough of a sense of darkness or hunger for power to make that transition believable, to me at least. When he went into the Jedi temple and started hacking up kids, I just felt like they hadn't done enough to set that moment up. (Note: I didn't see Episode II, so if he was "going dark" in that movie, this complaint is less relevant.)

Anyway, the worst part is, even though it seems to be entirely a connect-the-dots movie, they didn't even do that well. The death during childbirth of Padme was garbage. She died because "she lost the will to live?" And had the same fate as Anakin's mother? Please. Besides, Leia remembers her mother in the original Star Wars film, and it's hard to remember your mother when she dies right after naming you.

All in all, it was a pretty entertaining film, definitely better than Episode I, and by all accounts, the best of the prequels. But it's kinda sad that none of the three could come within shouting distance of the first three films in terms of believable characters, story development, dialogue, and overall entertainment.

So, what does Lucas do next?