An alternate movie

Rating: 6/10 (28 July 1999)

I often find myself wondering if I have really gone to see the same movie as the other reviewers. Sometimes it is almost impossible to even attempt to identify with their take. I have seen Episode I twice now and I am fairly apathetic about it. I don't have any intentions of seeing it again - in fact, I don't think I could sit through it. Yet one of the reviews I read said that there was a full minute of applause when the movie ended. I don't believe one clap came up in the theatre I was in . Among me and my fellow viewers there seemed to be a general disinterest in the film. However, I am not saying the movie was bad. If it were unrelated to the Star Wars series, I am sure I would have loved it. But this movie truly hurt the series. Lucas put in parts which twist the trilogy plot in ways which cannot be repaired. Jar-Jar can be forgotten (which I am trying to do quickly) but we cannot forget the introduction of "mitochloridons" or whatever they were. This adds a useless scientific aspect to the force which merely muddies the plot. We also cannot simply forget the fact that Anakin was made a to be a little too similar to Jesus (a saviour with no father...hmm). These are continuing elements added to the storyline which will carry through the next two movies and even effect our view of the original 3. Combined with the fact that many critical situations were resolved by slapstick accidents and that Jar-Jar was more annoying than C3P0 could ever aspire to be, this movie is mere filler compared to the first three. If you remove the special effects, I think we would find very little left.
On a side note, I thought the Jedi were very well done and entertaining.