How to sell out to toy marketing.

Rating: 1/10 (2 November 2001)

After forcing die-hard fans to hold their collective breath for years George Lucas finally produced Star Wars, Episode 1, The Phantom Menace. From the moment that he directly quoted his own cliche, "I have a bad feeling about this," I knew that this movie would be a phenomenal disappointment.
This movie contradicts the storyline it is meant to be a part of and constantly has elements meant to sell merchandise: The ESPN-like announcers at the Pod Race, Jar-Jar Binks, a glossed-up bad guy, cameo appearances where none should exist. There was never a mention of C3PO being built by Darth Vader, but sure enough, this story tells us that was the case. Previous Star Wars movies built upon heroic legends. This one blatantly tries to copy the Christian myth with a divine birth. Finally, there is a lack of struggle. We hear about an entire planet being subjugated, yet all we see are hoards of robots being destroyed as if they were funny toys. Finally, all the plot is seemingly in very small chunks: the discovery of Anakin Skywalker, and the rise to power of Senator Palpatine. Nothing else has major impact on the storyline of the original trilogy.
Fortunately some things were done right. John Williams was brought back to do the music. ILM produced all special effects. Ray Park was hired to choreograph fight scenes.
With the release of the title of episode 2 (Attack of the Clones), I have almost no hope left for the first three episodes. Lucas should just call it "Plan Clone from Outer Space" and give up now.