I feel obligated to chime in I guess because of the blogs title and my esteemed friends' interest in the matter. Admittedly my SW credentials are slimmer than Nick's jurisprudential ones, let alone Jarrod's hollow, bird bones.
I think the 3rd movie was probably the best although, unlike yous guys excepting JB, I enjoyed the first movie. The 2nd ranks right up there with swimming in boiling water or some such painful trauma. Like Kris, I agree Ewan McGregor is the highlight. Liam Neeson, unfortunately, did not last to outshine him. Such are the constraints of prequels. And DAMNIT Yoda does silly fighting stuff again. Although I have to admit I wasn't offended this time like in the Second movie. It was done well this time. Sorry, I just wanted to complain about the 2nd movie again.
Like everyone I thought the dialogue was bad especially between Anakin and Padme though better than the 2nd movie's. Like Jarrod I think the movie suffered horribly for its moral equivalence. I thought it was a good idea to try and show the attraction of the dark side, but it failed to give us a reason to prefer the side of the Jedi. The anti-Bush digs did not help in this area either. According to Obi-Wan, democracy is good but there is no reason to think so. He chimes in that only the Sith deal in absolutes when Anakin, seemingly the only one with some kind of principles, says "you're either with me or you're my enemy". Lucas, or his writers, are made small, passive-agressive losers in light of the giant good vs. evil battle that is SW. At least Anakin fails because of care for Padme. Lucas fails because "George Bush sucks and I have to get it in to this movie that has nothing to do with him. Beside there really are no good guys we just don't like the Sith because they wear black. Plus I already made those other movies way back when where the Jedi are good and Harrison Ford is so hansome so I guess I'm stuck with all that good guys stuff I believed back then. How naive I was..." Give me a break.
On second thought, Phantom Menace was the best.
