A New Hope

People trudging to work through Leicester Square this morning would have been forgiven for thinking there was some kind of premiere afoot. But the heaving mass of people packed together in the morning sun were not waiting to catch a glimpse of arriving stars but rather to get their first look at something far more important: Star Wars. Having travelled from miles around - and many quite clearly skiving off work - these fans had made a pilgrimage to the Odeon Leicester Square in order to see Attack of The Clones presented digitally, as God and Lucas intended, in its very first daytime screening. The excitement level was high as gathered fans built up their hopes to see if George Lucas could regain the respect he lost in 1999. Anthony Maxwell, who had dragged girlfriend Naomi Sinclair along for the ride was optimistic: "A lot of people thought The Phantom Menace would be great, but they'd all grown up a bit since the original trilogy and it wasn't what they expected. I think this one will be amazing though - I've been counting down the hours and the minutes." Once inside, C-3PO actor Anthony Daniels came on stage to introduce the feature, accompanied by six stern-looking stormtroopers. After whipping the crowd into even more of a frenzy and adopting his Threepio voice to massive applause, Daniels bade everyone sit back and take in the latest in the Star Wars saga. As the curtains opened and the opening crawl slid up the screen, the swell of John Williams' score was drowned out by the roar of anticipation from the crowd. But, after sitting through the film, did people think it was worth the wait? The answer was a resounding yes. Ear-to-ear grins met Empire Online as a sea of happy punters emerged from the darkened cinema, one woman wiping tears from her eyes as she turned her back on the screen. "Absolutely bloody wonderful!" said Sam Granite. "As good as Empire Strikes Back, George has redeemed himself. The love thing worked better than I thought it would too, sort of Romeo and Juliet with spaceships." "It made up for everything, it was everything Episode I wasn't," said another happy customer. In fact everyone we spoke to chimed in with similar praise: "Some of the acting was ropey but it was a hundred times better than The Phantom Menace." "Brilliant, absolutely intense." Cathy, who had brought boyfriend Simon all the way down from Wolverhapmton as a special birthday treat, had certainly come up trumps with this year's present. "Amazing!" Her happy beau enthused. "It's put the magic back into Star Wars!" After three years of disgruntled fans and hate mail, George Lucas can walk the streets in safety once more.