Yes, I saw it. I saw it three times this weekend.

What did I think?

I loved it. I loved it even more after repeated viewings. The first twenty minutes were awesome. The last forty minutes were relentless. There were scenes that were cringe-worthy and could have been cut entirely. It would have made the film a lot tighter. But the stuff that was there was good. The way Anakin turns is genius. The end of the movie was note-perfect. In all, a very fun film and a fitting end (middle?) to the Star Wars saga.

"But Spear, it wasn't all good was it?"

No, it wasn't.

"Can we get some details?"

Sure, but turn away now if you haven't seen the movie yet.

I loved the opening of the movie. Anakin and Obi-Wan flying in perfect concert as they dodge fireballs and other fodder from the enormous space battle around them. I loved how it was like an old maritime battle, with capital ships broadsiding each other with cannon fire. There was enough humor and banter during the space flight to distract you from everything else that was going on, which was almost a shame because there was so much to watch.

R2 was "one of the guys" through the whole thing. When Anakin and Obi-Wan pop out of their fighters, so does R2 and they all go right to work. R2 shows he's no slouch either when it come to taking out battle droids, which I thought was hilarious. R2's antics served up some comic relief while being able to contribute to the action.

When the whole sequence comes to a crashing halt (literally), so does the movie for a while. But that's ok, because we need some plot to get us along to the last forty minutes, which hand your ### to you.

Couple of scenes needed to either go or be restored to the way they were in the script. There were some neat bits between Anakin and Padme that could have been put back in there. For whatever reason they were cut, and the movie suffers for it.

I can get past that though, because once Anakin goes Darth Vader it's ON. The change from Palpatine to Darth Sidious grated on me when I first saw it, but the more I watched it, the more I like it. Yes, it's over the top, but it had to be. Anakin had to choose. The point is, you don't just become evil, you have to make a conscious choice. You have to want to become evil to suit your purposes. And that's exactly what Anakin did. He became Darth Vader to become as powerful as he needed to be to do what he wanted. When the Youngling asked him what they should do and he just lit up his lightsaber, you knew Vader was in the house, suit or no suit.

Nice Godfather-ish montage when Order 66 is being carried out. That felt cool.

Obi-Wan vs. Vader. Wow. I was literally clutching the armrest in the theater when Vader lit on fire. Just the look on Obi-Wan's face....tragic. That was easily the moment of the movie for me. I was spent after that. But when I saw the droids peeling the burnt skin off of Vader as they put the suit on him, I cringed. It was awesome. Of course, it was coupled with probably the most unrealistic childbirth scene in movie history, but that's ok.

Obi-Wan handing Luke over to Owen and Beru during the binary sunset was the way the movie needed to end. It perfectly sets up the next movie.

Now that I have seen the movie multiple times, I will go toe to toe with anyone who did not like the movie and explain to them why they have no joy in their souls. So send me emails, call me, text me, I don't care. I will take on all comers.

"Ok, calm down there, Spear. Where do you rank this one?"

An interesting question. I'd rank them like this. Although this ranking changes daily.

Star Wars
Empire Strikes Back
Revenge of the Sith
Return of the Jedi
Attack of the Clones
The Phantom Menace

But honestly, they all flip flop around after Star Wars and Empire. Those two stay where they are. Sith and Jedi will end up flipping around for me in the list and Clones and Menace will change places a lot too. But I love them all and am completely unapologetic about it.