Special Effects 10!, Story 8 , Characters well . . .

Rating: 7/10 (20 May 1999)

Although admittedly I am not a mega Star Wars fan, I still enjoyed the previous 3 movies immensely. After seeing The Phantom Menace I was certainly not disappointed by the cutting edge special effects we have come to expect from the previous films. The effects are spectacular, and I continue to be amazed by what computer-generated imagery can do.
But after the film was over I was still left wanting something more. After having a few hours to think it over, what I found missing was the lack of the strong and likeable characters that we had in the first movies. There just didn't seem to be the equivalent of Luke, Han, Leia, or Chewie. In fact when 3PO and R2 made their brief appearances it was only then that I found a character that I liked or empathized with.
The only character that truly interested me was Darth Maul. To me he seemed more evil and menacing then the young Anakin will later turn out to be. But his appearance in the movie was all too brief. He had very little dialogue, and we never got to know who or what he came from. What I thought was the best scene in the movie, the light sabre battle between Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon and Maul, was annoyingly interrupted by other sub-plots happening at the same time.
Speaking of annoying, the new word for it is Jar Jar. Obviously there for the kids and merchandising, he did not play a key role in the movie, unlike R2, 3PO, Chewie and the other supporting characters in the previous movies did.
Is it fair to compare this to the other movies? Maybe not. Alone, the Phantom Menace is still one of the better sci-fi action movies we have had in a while, but with the name Star Wars attached to it I guess there is a level of expectation hard to forget.