Worst film I've seen this year

Rating: 3/10 (9 June 1999)

Having enjoyed the first 3 films, I was deeply disappointed by the Phantom Menace. To me, it appeared as a Kid's TV spin-off from the orginal Star Wars films. Alternatively, a 2 hour intro to a PlayStation game. It was basically an animated film, and in that respect, I felt it looked less visually impressive than certainly episodes V/VI. CGI can be an effective tool, but must be used sparingly. James Camerom recognised this with Titanic by using real models, as large as possible, to create a degree of realism. Like PM, those parts of Titanic that fail are the brief sections that use straight CGI. The mind is not fooled; instead, the mind thinks it is seeing a painting (which it is). The sense of depth and chaos expressed by the fight scene in Return of the Jedi easily outweighed the pastel Fx of PM. But Fx are just one aspect. The story was p.poor. Hardly the start of a Saga. Why can't George L escape American Apple Pie? Why does Anakin have to be a cute kid? Why couldn't he be a little s*d who shows signs of being bad? I have read that the British actors involved in the film were most disconcerted during the acting phase, since most of the time they were stuck in front of a blue screen. I love film music and by and large John Williams turns out a good score - occasionaly pappy if in the hands of a Spielberg film - but usually quite bold and striking. The score here, which seemed to be mainly choral work, was very lack-lustre. The highlight for me was spotting Ralph Brown (alias Danny the drug-dealer from Withnail & I) as the space-craft pilot. What this film needed was an adult them and the darkness of ESB injected into it. Why couldn't it have been nasty? The underlying story of the Empire is nasty, so why not portray that. I now no longer care a hoots about II and III. They can come and go as far as I am concerned. Is it me, or are people starting to bore of CGI. I watched Sam Raimi's "A Simple Plan" 2 days later, and for me, that film was infinitely better than Star Wars. George Lucas: grow up, look around the American Pie country you live in and realise that it's not all suburbia and zit-free. We can handle something nasty. Drop the pastel shades and give us something earthy and gritty. Alternatively, hand II and III over to someone like Tim Burton who may be able to salvage something from the disaster of Episode I.