I saw ROTS yesterday, and while I’ll try to avoid any spoilers, purists may want to skip this post until they see it for themselves.

I was horribly disappointed with the first movie, and enjoyed the second movie if only because I had lowered my expectations enough. When I watch Attack of the Clones on DVD, I’m able to skip most of the scenes with Anakin Skywalker and so I enjoy it even more.

The third movie is good. It’s not great when compared to other “great” movies, and I think any of the Lord of the Rings flicks are better, but it is great when placed next to the other five Star Wars movies. The Empire Strike Back is still my favorite.

This movie succeeds simply because it fills in a lot of the gaps left by the rest of the series. Where did the Jedi go? How did Darth Vader get put into his cool getup? Where did Chewbacca come from?

But when you tear apart the story as a narrative, it’s still a little weak. Natalie Portman’s Padme is barely in the movie, and when she is her character demonstrates why geeks can’t write roles for women. She was much more like Princess Leia in Clones and here she’s more window dressing and future-Jedi incubator.

The science of this film is also weak. From the fact that one cannot stand three feet above a river of lava without dying (much less sweating) to the weird ways gravity works on a Star Wars spaceship, one mustn’t look to closely.

One can look closely at the computer generated effects. The CGI is state of the art, and I often found myself wondering how much time was spent on the most minor scene (the landing gear of a Nubian spaceship, for example). There are even close-ups of Yoda where one forgets he’s not real.

And Jar-Jar doesn’t open his mouth.

Overall, this movie is satisfying. The only niggling thing it brings up is the possibilities for the first two movies if they were of the same caliber.