I got home from Seattle Sunday around 3, played with the kids for a few hours, and headed out after dinner to watch Episode III.

It was easily the best of the prequels (which wasn’t hard to do), and I need to watch it a few more times, but my gut says it will come in at #3 out of the six in my list of favorites.

(Empire, New Hope (nothing beats the rush of the first one, though it’s a bit rough at times), Sith, Clones, Jedi, Phantom).

The lightsaber battles were fantasic, the pacing was well done, Anakin’s conversion and fall were well handled, and even Obi-Wan defeating Anakin was nicely done. I was disappointed with the de-emphasis of Padme, especially as she was such a strong character in the first two, the love scenes and dialogue was rough as usual, and it seemed to break continuity with two minor points. Other than that, it was excellent all around.

I highly recommend it, Lucas brought it to a fantastic finish.

And in other news, Lucas doesn’t like hands.