Spielberg isn't to blame for everything that's wrong in this movie. I've always thought that the abrupt end to the story is an unavoidable let down, so I don't blame Spielberg for the anticlimactic last bit. Beyond that, though, it's all on him.

The action is intense, it managed to startle the g-phrase with a few good scares, and Tom Cruise (for a man who appears to be mildly insane) fit his role about as well as Dakota Fanning, who was truly impressive. The special effects are some of the best that you'll see this year--truly worth seeing on the big screen in a much larger than life setting--and the sound work is spectacular. In many ways, it's the perfect summer flick: big, dumb, action packed, and pretty.

So, how is it that I was so disappointed? It's because Spielberg made the mistake of frontloading the movie with all the good stuff--almost completely opposite his buddy's Revenge of the Sith. For the first twenty minutes of ROTS, I was convinced that the movie wasn't going to rise above the first two prequel episodes. After that first twenty minutes was up, though, I was sucked into the energy and motion and even the quiet, little emotional bits. By the end of the movie, I had a smile on my face, I had mostly forgotten the first act, and I was a satisfied customer.

Through the thrilling first two thirds of the movie, I did my best to ignore inconsistencies and plot holes. The ride was far too enjoyable to worry about little things. Then I watched hordes of refugees storming up a hill toward major combat, pulling along their children. This didn't make sense.

Let me pain the picture for you further: the explosions are almost teeth jarring in the movie theater, there are combat aircraft screaming overhead, helicopters are moving in for the attack, a stream of Army vehicles, including a main battle tank, are moving up that same slope toward the aliens. And all the refugees are moving with them toward the eerily glowing sky and the sounds of destruction. Well, that didn't make much sense.