Dissing Episode II doesn't make any points with me.

[MrScorpio]

It was great as it was.

I'm expecting Episode III to tbe the best one ever.

I've got an open mind about this.

[Aristus]

1. Natalie Portman's bare midriff was about the best thing about

Episode II.

Although the one monster in the arena that kills and eats its own handler was kinda cool, too.

[Mojambo]

2. Episode III looks great

Episode II was average to below average

Episode I was a big pile.

[rockymountaindem]

3. Why does everyone say Episode I sucked?

Yes, that Jar Jar stuff was awful, and I want to kill Jar Jar with my bare hands. I hope he falls into some lava in Ep. III, but otherwise I thought Episode I wasn't bad. Why the criticism from almost everyone but me?

[Mojambo]

5. Jake Lloyd was just as bad as Jar Jar

It was sub-par in every aspect except for the battles with Darth Maul.

[Aristus]

6. Episode I was the perfect opportunity to explain why Darth Vader

was the way he was; when I heard that young Annakin was being portrayed as a slave, I thought: well that makes so much sense. Slavery is horrible, embittering, physically and psychologically damaging, and ruinous of intellect, talent, drive, and compassion.

Then I saw the movie, and Annakin the "slave" is a cheerful little boy who says "Whoopie" a lot, doesn't have a really bad life with his unsavory but essentially harmless owner, gets to indulge his favorite hobby at his owner's expense, and goes home to his mommy every night. This was supposed to be the set-up for a transformation into Darth Vader? I thought.

Lucas blew it. He really blew it on that one.

[Mojambo]

8. Agreed.

It totally skewed the development of Annakin.

Now his fall to the darkside is more about his whiney petulance than true anger.

I hated young Annakin Skywalker (as portrayed by Lloyd)

[NewJeffCT]

11. in defense of whiny petulance...

If you go back to watch the original Star Wars (A New Hope), Luke Skywalker as portrayed by Mark Hamill is pretty frackin' whiny. I guess it's genetic!

(I was disappointed in Eps 1 & 2, but didn't hate them)

[Mutley]

23. YES!

Remember "But I was going go into to town to get some power converters!" Wah wah whah whahhhhhhhh.

[AlCzervik]

16. i thought espisode one was pretty good, 2 on the other hand sucked

the fat one.

[tigereye]

24. Episode 1 was relatively coherent

and had a story arc. There were characters to care about.

I hated Episode 2 - I don't know why someone as smart as Lucas couldn't put it all together into a better narrative. Special effects were great, but, it should have been 2 movies. He wasted all these great characters. I know it was a lot of material, but Peter Jackson managed to make 3 coherent movies.

sorry. It just irritates me.

[CBGLuthier]

4. II was OK

It didn't make me cringe like I did.

I hope III will be great but I would settle for just being better than Return of the Jedi.

If only Lucas could have faced up to the fact that he is a good storyteller but a lousy writer of dialog and hired someone to polish the scripts even I could have been saved.

[Zuni]

7. I like Episode I and II

No flames.

[UdoKier]

9. If Ep II was so great, why is it the only thing I remember was

the bug in Amidala's bedroom?

It was tons of fantastic visuals and frenetic movement, with no point, and no human connection. I felt absolutely nothing from that film (which I suppose is an improvement over the revulsion I felt from Jar Jar and "Little Ani" in the first movie).

[brainshrub]

10. You will be disappointed.

Episode III will feature Jar Jar and a cast of hairless female wookies who will do nothing except pass around a bottle of scotch and bitch about their relationships.

Think "Joy Luck Club" with light-sabers.

[tigereye]

25. ah but the Joy Luck Club is great

too much chick movie for ya? ;)

[MrSlayer]

12. I liked episode II.

I don't see why everyone hates it personally, it was cool. And outside of the overexposure of Jar Jar in Episode I, it was good too. Episode III is going to crush, might even be better than Empire which is saying a whole hell of a lot as it's the best of the series.

[Zuni]

13. Jar Jar wouldn't have been so bad if he was in like 5-10 minutes

but he was awful after a while.

I like Episode I though. Darth Maul was bad ass

[Hatalles]

17. Jar Jar could have come across better if he wasn't so overdone...

It's kind of strange seeing him in only one half-a-minute scene in the second film. He's barely even in the next film -- no dialogue at all if I can remember.

I kind of miss the guy. :)

[edbermac]

14. The Empire Strikes Back is the best so far...

That's because Lucas didn't direct it...he'd better come through with this one...a great visualist but as far as script and actors he leaves a lot to be desired...

[Hatalles]

15. Can't wait...

The Phantom Menace was fun but not an entirely good film. To be honest, I really didn't mind Jar Jar. I think it was Jake Lloyd that left a bad taste in my mouth. I felt the same about Attack of the Clones as I did with the first prequel, though it was a bit of an improvement -- still, that's not saying much. Neither films were really on par with the originals.

I'm not entirely sure where Revenge of the Sith will rank -- I'm certain it will be better than the first two prequels (I've read the script and come across a motherload of clips over the past couple months), but I can't say I have a strong feeling that it'll supllant any of the originals in my personal rankings.

The best thing to do is to go into the theater ignorning the hype and watching without setting your hopes too high. Still, I can't wait to see this movie. :)

[bicentennial_baby]

18. Er, no...sorry

It was utter crap, imho. Empire all the way, baby.

[MadHound]

19. My theory

Lucas probably sketched out this whole sage at once, not a lot of details, but the basics, and it was meant to be adult entertainment. Pretty dark stuff, grown up situations in the plot line. Somewhere along the line between Empire and Return, the bean counters realized that this was a huuuuge hit with the kiddies, and thus forced Lucas to play the remaining movies to the young buying market. Thus in Return we have a planet of Wookies turning into a planet of Ewoks, the misery of Jar Jar, a happy Anikan slave child, etc. etc.

In other words Lucas sold out his grown up ground breaking drama for the lucre to be gotten by playing to the kiddies. Just so sad.

I'm really quite torn as to whether or not I even want to bother with seeing episode three, almost fearful about seeing it. If I do so, it will be at the lowest possible price so that if it turns out awful I won't kick myself too hard over blown money.

[Mutley]

20. I think so too.

You see, we finally get to see Anakin turn into DARTH VADER! pppuuuuupppperrrrrrrr! IT IS YOUR DESTINY!

[Jara sang]

21. I will say just one thing.

Hayden Christensen. Everything except him was O.K. about Episode II.

[derby378]

22. My take on Episode II

Christopher Lee - Limited role, but he stole the show
Ewan MacGregor - Better than in Episode I; he's learning
Yoda - Magic Muppet finally gets busy with the smackdown
Natalie Portman - Believable as the eventual tragic figure
Hayden Christiansen - Danger, Will Robinson!! Pouty actor!!
Ian MacDirmaid - Solid, malevolent presence as secret Sith master
The Plot Itself - Overall, not bad