Sticking feathers up your Butt...

Rating: 4/10 (7 March 2002)

Doesn't make you a great film. I DO like the original Star Wars trilogy, not my favourite films, BUT they are respectable. This is just a view of mine; I'm not having `A Go' at anyone. Where do I start? Well, lets consider the special effects. These predictably are excellent, imaginative, and COMPLETELY noticeable. Ok CGI creates good aliens, spaceships etc, but that's no reason to use them at every possible opportunity. It gets so bad that you get the feeling that the real `actors', are just playing supporting roles to the CGI. The whole film feels like an advert for the Action figures, models etc that came before, and after. What next? How about the script? The original films had a sense of danger, romance and even adult(ish) humour, occasionally. But how on earth can we take so many `oops' and `yipees' seriously? Were these in the original script? If not how in the hell could any director allow these to be improvised during filming? Not to mention ` Mr Qui-gon sir, I heard you talking about Medichlorians, I was wondering, what are medichlorians?' (The quote may not be exact, but there's no way I'm going to stick the video on to check)  reminds me of the whole `Hello, I'm Mr DNA' speech in Jurassic Park. Achh enough! And don't get me started on the simplistic rehash that is the plotline. The actorsthe majority of which, are fine, considering the material. The one big exception is little Jake Lloyd - love him. I don't know if the idea of a young Vader was to be an annoying little spoilt brat who despite being a slave, show no signs of emotion or intelligence. If it weren't for the fact the script literally spells out HE MADE HIS OWN RACER etc, then it would be hardly believable. Witness the touching goodbye to his mother and the `Are you an Angel?' speech  breathtaking. Nothing but praise to the other actors, they all put on a good show. The music is great and the Direction and Cinematography look superb. You can't fault the look of the film. Lucas and his team have done a good job of creating fairly believable worlds (`A long time ago, in a Galaxy far, far away' yada yada), and if the film has ONE thing in its favour, it's the design and style of the picture. There are many memorable scenes through the movie, the Sabre fight sequence at the end being one of the best choreographed fights in a long while. However I do think that Mr Lucas (and I'm sure this isn't only MY opinion) should continue to produce (he's great at that!), but step down from the director's chair, to make room for some new blood. It's a shame that, with all the work that went into the film, the result is a soulless, commercial and standard Sci-Fi film, lacking the heart that the originals had. This could have reinvented the whole star Wars legacy, but to many has spoiled the fantasy. Lets hope that with the next 2 films, the Great Star wars trilogy doesn't become a forgettable mediocre legacy.