Despite Being A Let Down, It Does Have Some Plus Points To It

Rating: 6/10 (14 November 2016)

My eldest son recently bought the bluray steel books, so I'm going to be sat watching them for the first time in years. If I catch any of the prequels on TV, I will usually leave them in and then sit and watch the end, usually paying more attention to 3 than the previous 2.
After watching the much hated on first movie, I found 6 plus points of The Phantom Menace. Liam Neeson as Qui Gon, Duel Of Fates, Darth Maul and his Lightsabre, Natalie Portman gives her best performance in the trilogy, the end battle and even though it ran too long, and he never could have won with all that happened, the Pod Race.
I'm also surprised no other movie has hit on Natalie Portman and Kiera Knightley looking so alike too.
The negatives are some awful dialogue (OK all Star Wats movies have awful dialogue, but this takes the biscuit!!) "Are you an angel?" And in fact anything Anakin says, especially during the final battle are especially bad. It's not Jake Lloyds fault, I think he is fine. It's Lucas who have him the cringe worthy words. Speaking of the final battle.... An alleged experienced pilot like Anakin pressed two buttons (starting his spaceship and activating auto pilot) looking for the trigger to the gun, before he actually grabs the obvious control!! Most of the movie is about federation tax (Yawn) there are some serious plot holes (why is technology more advanced than in the previous three movies, which are set in the future?? What happened to the blockade of the planet?? Why were Qui Gon and Padme still with Anakin when they hear about the sand storm) we don't see the Jedi do anything except destroy droids till the end. Terrance Stamp is woefully underused, and it definitely needs some trimming here and there, do we really need all the repeated reaction shots (like when Padme reveals she is the Queen) and one of the biggest sins for me is, Darth Maul is a real bad ass, and they kill him off in the the first movie (and would he really just stand there and let Obi Wan flip over him, instead of slicing him in half??) What a waste.
I'll state here I don't hate Jar Jar, mainly because both of my kids were fans of his growing up. So my opinion of him has softened over the years.
Oh and Jar Jar actually shoots more droids accidentally, than all the stormtroopers added together in the previous 3 movies.