A few notes on Revenge of the Sith.

1) It's very violent. It's a war movie, a techno-samurai epic tragedy. Leave the kids at home.

2) "Star Wars" films usually work like this: If the thrill ride is enchanting, then fans can bypass some of the more flat moments. There are awkward and flat moments...any more and I spelunk into spoiler territory. Nitpickers will have a field day, casuals won't care that much. I give Lucas credit, he covered his bases: fawning fanboy, prequel-hater, indifferent moviegoer. Everyone will come away with what they want to see.

3) The back half of the film is, well, okay, remember how "Godfather" films end? The Byzantine plan in motion and lots of people end up bleeding on the floor. While "Godfather" has a brutal house cleaning sequence lasting for a few minutes, "Revenge" takes the last half to stretch out its lethal swath.

4) A few scenes seem too truncated, chopped dead when (for a first time) Lucas could have expanded interpersonal scenes to emphasize growing rifts. You'll feel a bit rushed along in the second third of the film. Some scenes last all of 30 seconds.

5) Yoda-fu doesn't look anywhere as stupid as it did in Episode 2. Jar-Jar doesn't speak a word.

6) Ian McDiarmid needs some sort of recognition for his work as Palpatine. He's the spine of this one.

7) Not everything is wrapped up from the prequels. A few items near the end feel tossed in. Again, nitpickers will bitch.

8) Saints preserve us, the political angle in the film felt right, resonant.

9) For all this noise about Lucas wanting to make movies he likes, he obviously paid attention to complaints about the first two prequels by fans and critics. He also has been watching Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy and reading Shakespeare's tragedies. There's doom seeping into every scene, amplifying upon itself until the bittersweet end.

10) It's going to make a zillion bucks.

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On edit: It's as good as "Empire Strikes Back."

On further edit: Episode 3 makes the first two even worse and, ironically, is presented in a way where you could understand everything happening without having seen the first two.