Star Wars: Episode 1

Rating: 6/10 (14 February 2009)

When I first watched it, I was so so. Then I grew to dislike it (Jar Jar) but after watching the 3 prequel movies again, i grown to appreciate this movie more. It feels more like the original series than episode 2 or 3 did.
The Darth Maul battle scene was the best fight scene of any of the movies. The pod racing scene, while it may feel like it was put in to sell a tie on video game, had a nice roman chariot feel to it. It spaced out the action scenes enough so that we could take a breather, and process what we saw. Too often, I've seen action sequences in movies go on longer than that rush of adrenaline you get from watching them. In other movies, they pack them in to close to each other. This ends up taking some of the effect it has on the audience. These kinds of things I didn't notice the 1st time I watched because I wasn't watching for the mechanics, I was watching for the story.
Yes, Jar Jar Binks is annoying. I still cringe every time I hear him say, "ex-squeeze me" or "how rude." Some of the actors come off as kind of wooden. Natalie Portman was the only one that seemed to show any real emotion. Other faults of the movie are found in the original series. Such as the dialog. This stuff isn't going to win an award, but its amazing how Star Wars quotes are probably the most recognizable quotes of any movie.
As for flow, I felt it was just right. You can almost track the 3 act formula by what planet they were on like the original. For Phantom Menace, Act 1 was Naboo, Act 2 was Tatooine, Act 3 was the return to Naboo. For A New Hope, Act one was Tatooine, Act 2 was the Death Star, and Act 3 was the space fight around the Death Star. Empire Strikes back had Hoth as Act 1, Yoda's place as Act 2, and Act 3 was Cloud City. Finally Return of the Jedi's Act one was Tatooine, Act 2 was Yoda's place, and Act 3 was the Endor Area.
Basic point is that the simple selection of locations helped carry the story along. Episode 2 and 3 kind of got bogged down by forcing the characters all over the universe which ended up adding in more to the storyline than was really needed. You already have a large cast of characters, there is no need to add a large set of locations.
For me, this movie would have gotten a higher score of 6 but, like I said, Jar Jar was annoying, and some of the actors just didn't seem into the their characters. But of the 3 prequels, I find myself watching this one the most.