Ignore the Whiners -- The Phantom Menace is Brilliant!

Rating: 9/10 (2 July 2000)

WARNING: CONTAINS A SPOILER WHICH EXPLAINS THE TITLE!
Having read some of the reviews posted here before seeing this movie, I was pleasantly surprised!
Why are there are so many gripers? I think it's because:
1) "Star Wars" has been done 3 times before. It's just not possible to make a "Star Wars" film that's as fresh as the first 3.
2) We have new characters. Gone are the ones we loved. Star Trek suffered this as well.
3) Those who saw the original 3 movies as gaga teens are now pushing 40. It just ain't the same.
4) Folks have seen SW:TPM with expectations NO movie could have met.

I LIKED the movie and found it well-done. Jar-Jar was really not that annoying! True, we could've learned more of Qui-Gon and Darth Maul. But those are small flaws in an otherwise solid film.
I was pleasantly surprised by two small but neat plot twists. The light-sabre-fighting was great. So too was the little romantic twist.

Let me explain the title. (WARNING: MAJOR SPOILER JUST AHEAD!!!)
This movie is about ONE thing and one thing only: the hidden, shadowy, absolutely ruthless drive for power by a man whose public face is totally that of a gentle, helpful, servant-hearted Senator from the planet Naboo. Yes, that nice, kind man who wants to HELP Queen Amidala -- Senator Palpatine.
This nice man IS "The Phantom Menace." He and the evil Sith Lord lurking in the shadows are ONE AND THE SAME. The nice-guy image and Naboo's entire "war-with-the-Trade-Federation" incident -- this entire movie! -- have been planned for years in advance and meticulously engineered by Palpatine SOLELY in order to bring himself to power in the Senate. He is prepared to sacrifice his entire home planet in his lust for power.
And the galaxy, even the Jedi, have utterly ZERO CLUE of the hell this "nice man" will soon begin to unleash, now that he has the platform of highest elected office to work from. It's TRULY a "Phantom Menace."
The broad plot is very reminiscent of how Adolf Hitler turned the position of chief political -servant- into an absolute dictatorship in the 1930's -- except that Hitler was more open about his true nature and intentions.
The title is brilliant. It hearkens back to the cool way they pulled the wool over our eyes years ago with "Return of the Jedi," the central point of which was Darth Vader's return from evil to good. "ROTJ"'s WORKING title, leaked to the public as a red herring, was "REVENGE of the Jedi" -- a majorly slick move which blinded us all from seeing what the real title actually meant!
The Defining Moment of "The Phantom Menace" is the moment at which the Queen (or her decoy) stands in the Senate Chamber and calls for a vote of no confidence in the existing Chancellor. This is the one instant about which the entire movie turns.
All in all, an outstanding start to the Star Wars saga. I give it a 9 out of 10 -- high marks, for me.