Star Wars, Episode III

I went to the 12:01am showing with some friends, and just got home. I can't say as I was overly impressed.

Yoda and Mace Windu are pretty great characters, and R2D2 gets some extra screen time that is an interesting contrast from "his" presence in the other movies. There were some interesting fight scenes, both with light sabers and ship-to-ship combat. The backdrops of the various worlds are very well done.

Despite these high points, the rest is merely average. Padme, who seemed so strong in Episode II, was just kind of weepy and a mere cardboard cutout of her earlier self. Anakin's descent to the dark side wasn't even very interesting as he seemed just too easy a target for the Chancellor. In general, I just didn't find myself really caring about most of the characters, and since this installment had to end just right to make Episodes IV-VI follow, there really weren't even any surprises.

I'd seen "Crash" a couple weeks ago, and while of course a very different kind of movie, I felt way better about purchasing a ticket to that one compared to this. As they say, though, your mileage may vary.