Star Wars: Episode GREAT

**Normally, I'd be reticent about sharing so many details of One Of THE Movies, in case I spoil it for someone else, but since I didn't see it until nearly two months after it opened, I figure those who care enough to care about spoilers, should have seen it by now anyway.

Saturday night I saw Star Wars: Episode III. It was horrific, disturbing, and violent…and I loved it. It is my favourite Star Wars movie by far (but I do love me some Han Solo), and for the first time, I’ve realized why Hayden Christiansen was chosen to portray Anakin Skywalker. I couldn’t stand Episode II, the cheesy love lines and brattiness, the inherent stupidity (MS Works just informed me that “stupidness” isn’t a word). But now -- NOW I understand. It thrilled me to no end to see the evil glitter in his eyes, the cold and calculating character taking the place of the insipid little boy.

I knew what had to happen in this movie -- exactly what was going to happen, thanks to my Star Wars Fanatic professor who had clued me in on this years ago -- so I was not as shocked or horrified as I would’ve been otherwise. But even though I knew, my skin still went cold and I had to turn away as Anakin helped seal Mace Windoo’s -- and his own -- fate. And it was disturbing and very believable, as the Sith Lord lured Anakin to the Dark Side by preying on Anakin's love for Padme.

This movie had a complexity not found in the others, and it was more an epic war film than anything else; even the musical score was huge and haunting, as fitting for the massacre of Jedi, yet it could seamlessly double as a background for sputtering black and white film playing out images of the World War II Holocaust.