It was the only one that didn't look like a choreographed in front of a green screen plastic stick fight that had even the actors bored. I put that down to McDairmid putting in a real effort (McGregor did to) instead of collecting a pay check like the rest of the cast. Palpatine is the only part of the prequels that makes then even remotely watchable for me.
Anyhow, I place R1 and TFA behind Empire and barely above ANH and ROTJ (in that order), mostly due to Lucas's attempts to fuck with his own creation tainting them for me. But I have no gripe with anyone who feels differently about that order after empire, as long as none of the prequel garbage even enters the conversation. The original trilogy are great movies, but we saw them as kids and really only Empire has aged universally well.
