My two cents

Rating: 9/10 (20 May 1999)

I wouldn't advise reading this unless you've seen the movie, because I'll probably give things away. I think one of the key issues when critiquing this movie is "what was the overall point of this movie?" The point was to introduce Anakin, set it up so that Obi-Wan would train him as a Jedi, set it up so that Anakin could also be trained as a Dark Jedi, and, most importantly, to put Palpatine in charge of the Senate. And I think the movie did an excellent job of accomplishing those goals. Did I understand all that rigamarole with taxing and trade lanes and the Trade Federation? No, but I don't think it was important. It was just a political ploy Palpatine was using. Was I bothered by Jake Lloyd's performance as Anakin Skywalker? At first I was, and then I remembered that he's playing a nine-year old kid, not an adult. And in that respect, I think Jake Lloyd does all right. Granted, he is playing the child version of the most quintesciential screen villain, but why does that mean we should expect some complex character as a nine-year old boy? We idealize children as being young, sweet, and innocent, and Anakin's character just lives up to that ideal. When Anakin first appeared on screen, the friend I was seeing it with said, "He's CUTE." So much the better. Would it seem more tragic for a cute, bright, talented, gifted, idealistic boy to be broken in such a way that he turns to the Dark Side, or for some hideously deformed bully to decide that killing people is cool and he'd rather be a Dark Jedi than a good one? And I think that's why Anakin's character is the way it is in the movie. As for the much maligned Jar-Jar Binks, I was expecting much worse. Granted, most of the time I was not amused by his antics, I did find some of them funny. And at least C3P0 and R2D2 were there to provide better comic relief. Granted, no characters from this movie are nearly as memorable as the ones from the original trilogy. That might change, that might not in the next 2 movies. The visual effects were downright awesome. There were times when I felt my jaw drop at some of the scenes, and that didn't happen in Jurassic Park or Independence Day. And the Jedi fights are spectacular. I'm glad I saw it and I have every intention of seeing it as many times as I possibly can.