The Rebel Faction

I was really feeling Anakins slow turn and Palpatines deception working for the first half of the movie. I was like "yeah, ok, I'm feeling this, I get it, it's plausible, this is great". All the way up until when Anakin kills Mace. I felt it. But then it was just like all of a sudden Palpatine makes him Darth Vader and I was like... whaaa? Too sudden. They should have tried to work it so this happened later in the film. Anakin shouldn't make the full turn and accept himself as Palpatines Sith apprentice just yet, IMO.

I agree. I thought Anakin's dark side transition would have been a little slower. I assumed that after he killed Windu, he would need some time to stop and think about what he was doing.

Although, there was that part right before he raced off to confront Windu in Palpy's office that he seemed to "decide" to go to the darkside.

Yeah, well... he IS a Sith Lord.

Grevious WAS a weak character. I was expecting so much more out of him. I was hoping he would get whacked so we could get to the good stuff.

1. The absence of Mon Mothma

...I don't think that was all that important, there was enough going on in the movie as it was...heh

2. Yoda mentions being able to talk to Qui-Gon, but we never actually see him.

Again, I would say, that it wasn't really necessary (IMO)...

3. Palpatine. If the lightning was messing up his face and hurting him, why didn't he stop shooting it out of his fingertips?

This is just supposition, but from what I have heard it actually isn't the lightning, instead what we see is actually Palpatine's REAL face, instead of his 'Chancellor Mask' , (he was hiding his true form and being sneaky Sith-like)...
...but then as I said either conclusion is conjecture really...

4. Obi-wan cutting off both of Anakin's legs and an arm in one swipe while he was twisting in the air...

it could happen?, in the words of Douglas Adams " Improbable maybe, but not impossible"

5. Padme dying in childbirth. wtf?

I actually quite liked that, I think it was the less obvious route for George to follow, and did help explain some of Anakin's motivations for joining the darkside.
Though I will say, I think the whole 'losing the will to live' was laying it on a bit thick, actually having her die from complications from childbirth (with side-effects from Anakin's force choke, etc) was enough.
She did have something to live for, she had two kids, don't underestimate maternal instinct.

6. Palpatine easily being able to dispatch three Masters in five seconds, but can't handle a one-on-one with Windu, or Yoda for that matter.

I suppose he did catch them off guard, and I actually quite liked the fact that Mace almost had him, (if it hadn't been for that pesky kid!).
Plus I would just like to say i thought the whole Yoda Vs Palpatine showdown was great the best bit for me, and I reckon Yoda had him, he took Palpatine's best and threw it back at him. The Emporer got lucky ..
(as fars as I am concerned Yoda stole the show acting wise, which is kinda funny since he's not even real, heh)

7. Not explaining why Yoda chooses Dagobah as his hiding spot. Or not even seeing him go there.

yeah I agree on that, but I suppose there wasn't enough time, especially if you wanted all those other bits you wanted to see included.

8. All this hype about Chewie being in the movie, and we only see him for like eight seconds.

No opinion on this one really, could take or leave it, wouldn't have cared much if he'd been fried, stupid growling furball.

9. All this hype about the Wookies being in the movie, and the Battle of Kasshyyk getting only a few minutes of screen time.

Again I suppose it wasn't really necessary to the plot, it would have been a weird tangent when you think about it, I mean the Jedi were supposedly all over the place fighting on all kinds of planets on all kinds of fronts...to show them all would have been a bit ...much (however cool it most certainly would have been).

10. Count Dooku gets whacked early in the film, and Anakin doesn't even break a sweat doing it. So much for Dooku being some big powerful Sith Lord.

I suppose, I wasn't bothered about it being early in the film, but it didn't seem that weird to me, remember this was all a set-up? So maybe he was told to tone down a bit to reel in Anakin.
I mean even he looked surprised when Palpatine told Anakin to kill him (Dooku).

...but then again thats conjecture, so hey...

1) Grevious was irriating.
After so much build-up in the Clone Wars shorts, and (according to those who cheated and read the novellization) a good showing in the book, General Grevious was in my opinion a veyr weak character. He lacked a certain "evilness" I had come to expect from Star Wars villians, and this was compounded by his irritating manerisms and voice.

I suppose he wasn't your textbook SW villain, but then he wasn't a Sith or anything , just a General leading a seperatist army, he was certainly more... 'cartoony' than I expected him to be...

2) Obi-Wan is shown in a completly new light.
He kicks Grevious's sorry butt, leads numerous battles and has kickass duel with Anakin in which he wins. Ewan McGreggor does one of the better acting jobs in the movie and Obi-Wan as a character seems to have a plausible reason for doing his actions.I'll never think of that old guy walking around in the Death Star the same again.

However, I wonder about a few things. Obi-Wan beats Anakin, and yet, when the two face Dooku together, Obi-Wan comes off as the much, much weaker duelist. Anakin is further strengthened by the Dark Side, but Obi-Wan seems to handle him pretty well.

Obi wan Kicks ass, he's the daddy, apart from Yoda of course...

3) All the battles are cut short.
The only space battle, Kashyyyk, the one sink-hole world.... all had the oppurtunity to be large scale battles, and all of them are shown only in snipets. Almost makes you wish for (gasp) Episode I because the Battle of Naboo is actually reasonably cool (until the end.)

True, but when you think about it. we've been there, and seen it all before, I think what was more relevant was the story between kenobi, Anakin, Palpatine, and Yoda. (though don't get me wrong seeing a good space battle is always cool, but in the end thats where the real true drama lay.

4) George Lucas needs remedial training in screenwriting dialouge.
Seriously: I've seen better exchanges on this site. I mean, Hayden Christensan is hopeless no matter what he's saying, but Natalie Portman has potential, yet Lucas paralyzes her with some of the most forced lines I have ever heard.

I whole heartedly agree, I don't understand how he can come up with some of both the best and the worst dialogue in film history...
(I was cringing , more than likely in the same places you were)...

5) We all clap when the Republic we know and love is magically transformed.
The Senate sits there and claps when Palaptine suddenly declares that its time for an Empire. I mean, you know, because Empire and Democracy go so well together.

hahaha! you're not supposed to clap you evil bastard! ... I thought it was a little odd that there weren't any voices of dissent...

Plus I thought Padme's line was totally unnessecary, we're not idiots we can see and hear them clapping and we know whats going on...honestly George...

Despite the problems, its still Star Wars. The movie had some good scenes, but they will be forever marred by the bad scenes and poor decisions. If you can't tell, I was disapointed. I was hoping for a really good closer... what I got was more of the same with the other prequels. The resurgence of Star Wars was worth the effort of making more movies.... the quality of those movies damages the legacy of the saga.

Loved the whole Yoda vs Palpatine thing, that was worth seeing alone, moreso to me than Anakin Vs Obi Wan, heh

I did find Anakin's 'sudden' alleigance change too sudden, I think showing the Chancellor's 'grooming' of Anakin, should have started in Episode II, then with the final turn happening in EpIII...pace would have been a little more...believable...

Overall I think it about fufilled my expectations, (hmm is that a good thing or a bad thing heh). Ok, I'll be honest after the last two I wasn't holding my breath, but to be honest, I quite enjoyed , and I liked it.

The Empire strikes Back is still my favourite all time SW movie though.

Aren't you just a talking head now?... O.o