**Beware: There are spoilers for pretty much everything in this movie, so I'd advise that you do not read this unless you have seen the movie, or if you simply don't care.**

Precursor
Having waited three long years for the moment, totally pumped is definitely an understatement to what I was feeling last night when my father and I arrived at the Plymouth Meeting AMC Theatre to see Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith opening night. Even though there was a bit less than an hour left before showtime, the parking lot was full to the brim, and there were many a shady person standing outside the theatre, taking their last smoke before seeing the final Star Wars movie. A couple of Wookies and wannabe Jedi later, we were in the theatre and quickly acquired our tickets we purchased online.
Upon entering the main concession area, I was shocked and awed at the fact that the theatre had booked 10 different theatres to show the film, and were nearly already sold out. I was even more shocked at the appalling food lines and my jaw dropped when I saw that the only seats that had not been reserved were those in the first four rows. So Dad and I quickly snatched seats the ####hest back we could get (frankly, they weren't that bad in my opinion), and I, in order to get him in a better mood, offered to compensate by getting the food.
So 40 bucks and ticket stub in hand, I quickly exited theatre #7, and got in the first food line I saw. To pass the time I eavesdropped on the people in front of me's (if that's grammatically correct) conversation while observing the different types of people around me. Such as the guy with the orange mohawk. Or the guy who lamely attempted to be a Clone Trooper by taping a printed out head of one to his head, and dressing in black spandex and white garbage bags. Or the many a guy who passed by me reeking of something that was definitely not a cigarette, but perhaps a substance of another illegal kind.
Thirty minutes later, I was finally at the head of the line. I quickly got the 2 diet cokes, large popcorn and Skittles and zoomed back into the theatre to sit down. I then realized I forgot to butter the popcorn and get napkins, so after another quick trip back, I was ready for action.
However, the movie didn't really start until more like 12:15 or 12:20 because there were about 20 minutes of previews. I swear to you that I have never been in a movie where there were that many previews. But when I heard the 20th Century Fox theme, and then the all-too familiar scroll of the opening sequence, the wait made it all the more enthralling.

The Plotline
Now if you go into Revenge of the Sith expecting the wrong thing (or expecting too much, which I must say, I was a bit guilty of), you will probably leave disappointed. For the reason for these prequels is not to find out what happens, but how and why. For we all know that Anakin would inevitably turn to the dark side and that something horrible would happen to his body - we just didn't know how and why. Same thing about the destruction of the Jedi; or at least all but Yoda and Obi-Wan.
Also to note, I did not read any spoilers whatsoever for this movie. I didn't want to know what happened before I could see it with my own eyes. And let me tell you, I'm really glad I did that, because it made the shocking revelations all the more, well, shocking to me. I was literally gasping out loud and my jaw dropped more than once in this movie. To get to the point, this plotline was most definitely the best in the prequel trilogy. Hands down. For instance, although we all knew Mace Windu was going to die, him getting killed by Anakin in order for him to save Palpatine - it's just too shocking for me to even put to words. That whole scene for me really brought what this movie really was to light.
I also really liked the idea of Palpatine enticing Anakin with the promise of the eternal life of Padmé (or at least redemption from death) through the Dark Side of the Force. It brought to life what initially drove Anakin to the Dark Side; not because he was evil at heart, but because his mind had been twisted, and feelings manipulated by Sidious. It reminded me heavily of Alias, through which I had just gotten watching two amazing hours of. In fact, many things in Revenge of the Sith reminded of me of Alias, such as Anakin being the "Chosen One." Ring any bells, Rambaldi fans?
Another thing I found shocking was when the Clone Troopers turned on the Jedi it left me, yet again, gasping on-sight. It was a nice touch, and it really brought to light how the Jedi were destroyed. And although extremely painful, I now know why this film was rated PG-13. The killing of the "younglings" was absolutely heart wrenching, especially when you see the little kid call out "Anakin, what are we going to do! You have to help us!" Oh God. I nearly cried.
A few things that I didn't really like was the fact that they killed of Dooku way to quickly. He was such a baddie in Episode II; they should have made it a bit more prolonged, or at least later in the movie.
Also, this whole deal with General Grievous was really annoying me. Everyone online was all hyped up about General Grievous, and so on and so forth. Well, I personally thought he was a lame character. First of all, it annoyed me that he was coughing all the time. If he's a machine, then how can he cough? Although, come to think of it, I'm not so sure exactly what General Grievous was, considering he had a beating heart. But then again, he had no problems "breathing" in space, so I'm just confused on that front. Anyways, I just think Grievous was a guy invented so there could be a little more variety on the bad guy front. When I saw the whole "four light sabers vs. Obi-Wan Kenobi" fight scene, although impressive, I got the impression that they were running low on ideas...and then, they killed him off pretty quickly. I just don't get what all that hype about Grievous was about.
Another thing I didn't like was the little we saw of C-3P0, although we did see a lot of R2D2, including an R2D2 fight scene, which I must say was mildly entertaining, although a bit unrealistic.
Overall, it I thought this was a really good storyline, and it did an excellent job of telling how Anakin turned to the Dark Side. I just think it needed a bit of fine tuning on the other aspects.

The Performance
The one reason why this movie kind of disappointed me in a way, was the fact that Hayden Christensen cannot act. Let me tell you bluntly: he sucks. In many of the scenes (especially ones where it was just him and Padmé) I had the urge to laugh out loud. I almost did, but I was rather fearful for my life from all of the creepy people behind me, so I decided against it. Although I cannot think of a particular scene or phrase from the movie that I could use as an example towards me point (my mind is a bit jumbled with emotions still from seeing this movie), I can assure you that Hayden has not improved since Attack of the Clones.
Another reason to add to this is the fact that the character of Padmé was totally and completely (at least in my opinion) changed. In The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones you see Padmé as a strong leader (she was the Queen of Naboo and a Senator), a fighter (fought in The Phantom Menance and kicked some ### in the Roman-style Coliseum-esque scene in Attack of the Clones), and an independent woman; she didn't let anyone push her around in the other two movies. However, from the first time we see her to the last, she's a whiny, annoying, blind-to-the-truth, and downright stupid pregnant woman. I mean, come on! Just because she's pregnant doesn't mean she has to be a sensitive and stupid idiot. Not to mention, once again, that the scenes with her an Anakin were really awkward. It's not that Natalie Portman is a bad actress; it's that Hayden sucks, and Padmé does too. Another thing I must add is that the way she dies in childbirth pissed me off in two ways:

1. Factually it doesn't make much sense, although I'm sure this is up for debate. In Return of the Jedi Luke asks Leia on Endor what her mother was like (obviously because since she was his mother too he wanted to know), and she says that she doesn't remember memories much, more like feelings. Feelings of sadness or something like that. Then, she adds, that she died when she was "very young." Well no kidding! She died two seconds after you were born! First of all, babies don't just remember the day they were born, feelings for their mother, although, as I previously said, one could argue that since they are both Force-sensitive that Leia was able to sense her sadness when she was born. But then that brings up the question of well, if they are both Force-sensitive (which we know Luke obviously is, since he's a Jedi for Pete's sake), why did Leia feel her sadness and not Luke? That whole thing made me even more mad, in addition to number 2.

2. Well, to put it bluntly (again) it was a really, really stupid way to die. I mean come on. This may be a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, but their technology knows better than this. Even in our modern world dying in childbirth is rare for people, at least in this country. And with their advanced technology, they should have been able to prevent her death. Ok, so Anakin semi-strangled her beforehand, and she was loosing her will to live, but give me a break. It was just a really lame way to die. I would have rather seen her die fighting Anakin or something. It would have made it a lot more climactic, especially since she was such a major character in the prequels. It just made me mad.

Another memorably horrible scene was the "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" shouted by James Earl Jones (? Was it really him?) right after Anakin realized he had pretty much "killed" Padmé. I swear I almost cracked up because it was so lame. Oh man, James. We expect a bit more from you, considering you rock.

Other than these couple of aspects, I enjoyed the performance. Even though Hayden sucked, he still had some funny moments, especially in the beginning. I liked how they incorporated some humour into what was mainly a dark film. Ewan McGregor, as always, was amazing. I really got a true Alex Guinness vibe from him in this film. And Ian MacDirmid as usual was hauntingly good (although the way he kept on changing Palpatine's voice when he got all mutated kind of got to me). Overall, flawless performances by those two. And Samuel L. Jackson! I loved his performance as well. This was also the best Yoda movie. Yoda had an amazing role, and despite the fact that he was 100% computer generated, I could still get a really good feel of reality from him. In fact, those four characters almost make up for all of the damage done by Hayden and the horrible character that Padmé became.

Special Effects
One of the main reasons why Star Wars was so revolutionary and so successful is because of the "state of the art" special effects that were created and used in the films. However, there is a fine line between good and excessive. Although all of the special effects in this movie were 100% amazing, I thought that it was kind of overkill; more like eyecandy than anything else. It may just be me, but one of the main reasons why I enjoy the Original Trilogy way better is because the quality of the acting is better.
With that said, I enjoyed all of the special effects. I loved the variety of worlds that this took place on, especially Kashyyyk. But I think that, as I said before, the whole General Grievous thing was just an attempt to show off. So was that whole fight scene on Mustafar, but at least that was significant to the main part of the story.

Details
One thing I loved about this movie was the attention they paid to details (well, except that debatable Luke/Leia/Padmé thing). In the very beginning fight scene I saw somewhat eerie foreshadowings of X-Wings and TIE Fighters! Not to mention the pilots in them looked very similar to the ones in the Original Trilogy. A+ on that regard. Also, there were some symbolic Original Trilogy references, such as the very end when Obi-Wan gives Luke to Beru, and she goes up on the same exact hill that Luke stands on, and joins her husband where they look at the same exact sunset that Luke was looking at in A New Hope. And when it ended there I was left looking at the screen saying "Wow." That part really struck me. It was one of the little things that made this movie really good.

Lightsaber Battles
All of the lightsaber battles were very well choreographed and pretty much amazing. I even enjoyed the one between Obi-Wan and Grievous, even though I thought it was a bit of a stretch. The best parts, though, were when Mace Windu was fighting Sidious, and the back-and-forth scene with Obi-Wan fighting Anakin and Yoda fighting Sidious. They were all really entertaining.

Anakin's Last
Well, let me tell you that I seriously thought I was prepared to see what was going to happen to Anakin that made him get all mutated and put into the classic black Darth Vader garb. However, I was really, really wrong. I was so wrong. This, and the younglings' slaughter were the two reasons why this movie is PG-13. Period. I totally did not expect Obi-Wan to have to sever Anakin's legs and other arm, and then have his remaining torso and mechanical limb slowly slip back down into a river of lava, burning alive and screaming. It was so graphic and horrifying that my jaw, once again, was down to the floor. That's all I have to say about that.

Final Thought
Well, I hope you all will go out and see it for yourselves so you can make your own opinions on it. But overall, I must say that it was the best one of the 3 prequels, The Phantom menace coming in 2nd, and Attack of the Clones coming in last. But let me tell you: nothing can match the amazing-ness of the Original Trilogy. So don't get your hopes up that far, because as far as I know, there won't be any new ones.

-Shade Keiko