Nice graphics...shame about the movie

Rating: 5/10 (13 August 1999)

What a waste! Take some of the best actors around - Neeson, McGregor, Jackson, and the excellent McDiarmid - and virtually ignore the fact that they can act. In this instance, who takes the blame when the performances are wooden?
In the old days only the backdrops were supposed to be wooden; but in this film they are the best thing. The stunning scenes during the pod-race; the computer generated climax battle (fought between some odd sounding '70s retro types wearing flares and a huge army of undernourished 'droids). The finale is reminiscent of Part VI, with the three-way split between Jedi duel, land battle and space fight. Yet it still lacked the urgency of Return's climax.
The graphics are undeniably superb. But please, give us some credit for enjoying a good storyline too! Only in one or two scenes is the breathless pace and excitement of the original trilogy attained, and the bits in between just drag. As a 'scene-setter' for Episodes II & III it's fine...but did it really need an entire movie to do this?
The revamped, re-released IV, V & VI were far better, still showing how far ahead of their time they were. Part of that has to do with the way sympathy is built for the characters - we really care about these guys! In Episode I it was difficult to get above polite indifference for the fate of the principal players (consider Neeson's demise in comparison to Alec Guinness in the first film...).
I really wanted to like this film, despite all the luke-warm press (perhaps because of it). But it just doesn't have a soul...Please Mr Lucas: we love you really - you've done some great things. Just don't serve up any more glorified computer games or extended 'you've-seen-the-movie-now-buy-the-toys' adverts and call them films...Your company makes brilliant computer games; but this movie was a bit like sitting through someone else's game for two hours... ...oh, and how about this for a plotline for Episode II: have Jar Jar Binks die a glorious (and preferably messy) death for the Republic in the first scene...that way we won't have to put up with the most annoying computer graphic ever programmed in the history of sci-fi...!