I’ve just come home from the movie and I’m still basking in the afterglow. What a glorious mess!

You already know the story, and, likely, you’ve already read reviews better than whatever it was that I would write. So, instead of a full review, here is my concise review.

The music was exquisite, the acting less so. In fact, the acting teetered throughout between barely acceptable and nearly horrid. The special effects were mind boggling; if George Lucas has done nothing else over the years, he has pushed the boundaries of what we see on the big screen. This addition was visually stunning.

The best parts of the movie were the quietest parts (when no one was talking) and the noisiest parts (when no one was, ahem, talking). I love lightsabers, and that’s a good thing since they were, quite wonderfully, everywhere. Some of the action sequences had me gripping at the arms on my chair, although it’s worth noting that some of the dialog had me rolling my eyes and wishing they’d given me the chance to smooth some rough edges on the script.

The worst of the movie was the fizzling love story, the best of the movie was the sense of betrayal and treason. The whole thing drags a bit here and there, but then it speeds through action scenes, exciting and enthralling, so that you’ll forgive the slower bits.

It is precisely what you expect, since you already know the story, and yet it remains engaging.

Much thanks to Lucas for minimizing the goofy humor moments designed to appeal to six year olds. More thanks for giving us a hell of a ride for the final chapter of the beloved Star Wars franchise. The sense of relief isn’t that the ride is over and it wasn’t that he made the best movie of his career (or even the franchise--that honor would still be shared somewhere between Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back). The sigh of relief was that he gave us a movie that was just good enough to let us enjoy the ride without thinking that we had completely abandoned our taste.

Yes, it’s quite a glorious mess.