Episode III

I went and saw Star Wars last night and I'm feeling a little conflicted. As a long time fan of all things Star Wars (especially the books) I really want to love this movie. And there are things to love about it. The acting and dialogue are much better, the visuals are again stunning. Every scene with Yoda is fantastic. The Wookies, although short in duration, were fun to see, especially Chewbacca. I feel Lucas repaired many of the deficiencies from the first two movies.

I do have some hang-ups, however. If I hadn't read all of the books leading up to the movie, including the Episode III novelization, I probably would have been really dissapointed. The movie jumps around too much, the characters actions and behaviors (e.g. Dooku, Windu, Yoda, and even Anakin) doesn''t seem to make sense, or are implausible. There have been complaints that Anakin's turn to the Dark Side happens so fast, and it's true. The book leads up to the moment very well; you can see the conflicts raging inside Anakin and the way he is pulled from all sides. You only get a brief glimpse of this in the movie. The death of Dooku just happens; the book has much more to offer during this scene. The final battle with General Grievous seemed underwhelming. A guy who can wield four lightsabres should have been given more time to show them off. These are just a few of the downsides I found. So my advice is, read the book to get some background and you'll enjoy the experience that much more.