all the flaws i missed last time round (cos i wasnt expecting anything remotely good and was prepared for the worse so was pleasantly surprised) came into horrble focus. sorry, but the acting is fucking crap. everyone acts like theyre stuff, stilted like theyre from some victorian play, the dialogue is still hammy, and as for the plot, there isnt that much there really (maybe this is just cos few films are up to repeated viewings) - it didnt seem very complex at all, just pretty basic but shrouded by tedious gibberish. lots of things werent realy explained properly or given much depth, it was like they were just trying to resolve things to make it match up with episode 4. but if padame died on the operating table, how is it that in the later films, leia says she remembers her mother? the vader transformation at the end is also far too quick, didnt have any drama, was basically like the old frankenstein thing, i would have liked to know more about how his costume cane to be or maybe just see it last a bit longer. and the birth of luke and leia was stupid. one minute shes going AUUAAHAHAHAAHAAGHGHGHGHGHG in pain, next minute, 'LUKE', AAAHAHAHAHAHGHGHGHGH 'LEIA' and then all of a sudden shes dead. it was like they thought oh dear, we have ten minutes left, we need to wrap everything up really quickly here guys. plus, sorry, but some of the effects were just a bit ropey, expecialy that lava scene. the other thing is that the scenes just whiz by every two minutes more or less, it feels a bit too quick, a bit shallow even. perhaps they were trying to hide something.

in conclusion, i hope lucas retires now. the last three films havent really added anything to the first three. in fact, theyve sullied SW, for me, at least. its 'completion', sure, but thats a seriously overrated concept if these are anything to go by. if he was going to do these prequels, he should have done them in the 80s.