You won this battle, Motti, it took me too long to get back from the cinema to be "the first"
Unfortunately I have quite different oppinion about E3.... the visuals were as always great (yes, I'm a stalwart ILM fan and CGI advocate), I simply loved the come-back of classic design style (older versions of Star Destroyers, Stormtroopers, TIEs, Lambda shuttles, OT-looking ship interiors(!) etc.), but I truly expected the whole movie to be better than E1 and E2. Of course I knew that the OT will remain superior, but I have hoped that the last movie of the saga will be more rememberable...
Yet it sucks
I even enjoyed the AOTC more...
Editing. Who the hell cuts a scene that should chill us to the bone? e.g. we should watch Vader's sorrow and anger, this scene should be filled with emotions that ought not to be "offed" with a quick cut to a new scene... remember, the E3 should be a tragic one. You can't contemplate tragedy in an MTV-pace.
Duels. Disappointing to say the least. I will not start the rant that in my book Palpatine should not wield a saber - it's about the choreography. As much as I hate Ray Park's character, Maul really rocked the screen with his fighting skills. The duel between Kenobi and Annakin was hailed as the best in the whole saga... while it looked like "the E2 conveyor belt - reloaded".
Mr Anderson doing Vader's fight scenes (in ESB) RULES! Noone will beat him.
http://www.fencingonline.com/academy/bob_anderson.htm
Action. Was good. Too good. Too much on the screen at the time. You should focus on the fighters, not what is buzzing in the background. Yet they simply had to do this overkill.
Watch the ROTJ space battle again. The starship fleets approach each other on the same level - just like "Earthly" ships. Here we saw a complete "0-gravity mix", which may be more "realistic", but does not help the viewer to watch "who is beating whose ass".
Hey, I know this movie had to be action-packed. But c'mon - guy wielding FOUR lightsabers? Two guys standing on a tiny "isles" in the middle of lava lake? What next? TWO Death Stars at once?
Remember that South Park joke when TV producers - after achieving huge success because their programme featured the word "sh*t" - came to an idea that to go further and get more viewers/income etc. they need the "sh*t" to be said twice during the show?
"Quantity" won with "quality"...
I will not start my whines about the acting, because we're in Prequels, remember? Everyone is just a plastic figure on George's virtual chessboard. I guess only Kenobi and Palpatine were saving the day...
I'm wondering if I want to see the movie again, after all... maybe after some time, when my emotions will settle down.