It was well paced, with an easy-to-follow narrative, but it never tried to dumb anything down for the audiences.
In general, what I loved the most about the movie was how the story was treated, and how the filmmakers treated the audience. I think the mark of a great movie lies not only in how it made you feel while you were watching it, but how much it stays with you once you're done, and boy, did Heneral Luna stay. This movie was great considering all standards to measure movies against, and I enjoyed it immensely.
To say that Heneral Luna is probably one of the most important contemporary movies in Filipino (pop?) culture is probably still an understatement.