There may be spoilers here. Click at your own risk.

It’s kind of strange to go to a movie and know how it will end. Yet, the movie still managed to hold my interest and keep me on the edge of my seat, even though I knew which characters would survive and which would not. Through it all, I kept hoping Anakin would stay good, would turn away from the dark side, would just ride off into the sunset with Padme and live happily ever after. I knew that wouldn’t happen, but I hoped anyway. I knew Obi-Wan would all but kill him and leave him to die. And yet during the fight, I was worried that Obi-Wan wouldn’t make it even though I knew he would. I kept hoping Yoda would finish off Darth Sidious once and for all even though I knew he wouldn’t. I kept hoping Padme would talk Anakin into seeing some sense. I kept hoping she would hold on so that her baby (babies of course) would at least have their mother. But none of those things I kept hoping for happened. I knew they wouldn’t. I knew how it would end. So, in a way, that made the movie even darker. I knew there was no hope for a happy ending.

One thing the movie did do and in fact all of the prequels did, was to let us get to know Anakin Skywalker - to understand what motivated Darth Vader - to turn him from a vicious villain into a tragic hero gone bad. I know that when I watch the first three episodes (as in IV, V & VI) in the future, I will be looking at them through different eyes. Darth will forever be Anakin, the little boy who could fly like no other - the young man who fell in love with a Queen - the father to be who was thrilled to hear of his future child.

We talked about how we would show the movies to our daughter some day. Would we show them in episodic order I - VI? Or in the order in which they were released? We decided it had to be the latter, because otherwise it would destroy the shock of the words “Luke, I am your father.”

All that being said, there are a few negatives I want to mention. First of all, even though Star Wars is not so much about great acting and great dialogue as it is rich story and character development, I have to say that the acting was rather pedestrian at times. I’ve never seen Hayden Christianson in anything else, so I can’t speak for him, but I’ve seen Ewan McGregor in many things and also Natalie Portman in a few and compared to their other work this was rather horrific. Especially Natalie. But then, playing off Hayden in this flick couldn’t have been easy. I suppose I would have to blame the director for that, though. The acting in Star Wars has never been oscar quality that’s for sure, but I would have liked a little more depth in a story such as this. And on that same line of thinking, I honestly didn’t buy Anakin’s defection to the Dark Side. I didn’t believe it. There was something that just wasn’t right. It didn’t feel real. Maybe that was how we were meant to feel, but I just didn’t get why he would do what he did. Maybe that was the fault of the dialogue. Oh, yeah, I get that he was worried about Padme and once you start down a path, it’s hard to turn around, but I thought his defection should have been more seductive, if you will. It seemed stilted and rushed in a way. Perhaps some sparkling dialogue would have helped this.

I’m glad Lucas has decided not to make episodes VII, VIII & IX. Not because I wouldn’t want to see them, but because Star Wars is the story of Anakin. And the story of Anakin ends in episode VI. Strange isn’t it, that in the three original episodes, we really thought it was the story of Luke, but it wasn’t. It’s always been about Anakin. We just didn’t know it then.

So, did I like it? Yes, I liked it for what it was. It was not a feel good movie at all. It did answer a lot of questions that fans have had for almost 30 years, and for that I am sure we are all grateful. The movie made me sad, though. I cried. I don’t remember ever crying during Star Wars before. If you’re a fan, however casual, you should see it. If you’re not, well, I guess it’s probably not a must see.

My top five moments:

1. Seeing Chewbacca
2. Seeing the Millennium Falcon at the very beginning…anyone else see that?
3. The first time Darth Vader spoke after donning the mask
4. When Padme named the babies
5. Yoda’s fight with Sidious paralleled with Kenobi’s fight with Anakin