A great addition to the Star Wars legacy

Rating: 9/10 (26 December 2001)

After a long delay (and much anticipation) we finally got the first part of Lucas's story, and where the trouble all began. Many other people viewed it as a rather sub-par attempt, uncreative and unsurprising. I couldn't disagree more. One could go with the impressive state-of-the-art digital effects, one could go with the great cast of new characters (the awesome Liam Neeson as Qui-Gon Jinn, for instance), the return of old favorites (Kenny Baker as R2D2 or Frank Oz as Yoda), John Williams' ever-wonderful score, the complicated story (I won't bother discussing the plot; everyone knows what it's about by now) or the awesome action sequences (the light saber duel at the end of the film is the best!). It's obvious this film was misunderstood by many, and too many movie-goers set their expectations too high, which is unfair to Mr. Lucas to say the least. I was excited for the chance to see a new Star Wars film, but I took no expectations into the theater with me -- I went in ready for nothing and walked away very satisfied. I saw this film four times in the theater, something I don't do much of these days. Lucas did a great job, and since this film is really only exposition for the overall series, how can one expect it to be a topper to the original trilogy? He's just setting everything up! Give Mr. Lucas a break. If this film had been released first, it would have been the rage of ages just as A New Hope was when it first came out. Everything in this film was very nicely done; the cast and crew all performed their jobs exceptionally. The story was far more complex and interesting than usual, with more going on and more problems to solve. By the way, everyone, the "Phantom Menace" referred to by the title is so obvious that very few people truly understood what it was... the Phantom Menace was the orchestrator of the evil deeds, the driving force behind the attacks, the central villain of the picture... a character we see mainly as a hologram (only once otherwise): Darth Sidious. Darth Sidious is the Phantom Menace, and the evil single man who drives the entire plot. The movie was perfectly named. I loved this movie, and it has become one of my favorite Star Wars films (alongside A New Hope). I can't wait for Episode II!