A very fine beginning

Rating: 9/10 (3 January 2009)

I just saw this movie again tonight, after six years. More than ever, I think the people who panned it when it first came out (and since) are not making much sense.
This is a fine movie, just as a movie. True, some of it won't make a lot of sense if you've never seen any Star Wars films (are there any such people on Earth?). And as chapter one in six chapters, I think it is excellent. It lays the foundation well. Some people complained that we don't know much about Qui-gon. True, but what do you want -- yet more prequels? You've got to start somewhere.
If you are at all aware of the original three movies and the buildup to this one, I don't see how you can criticize this one because Annikan is a boy. Of course he's a boy -- that's the whole point, to start at the beginning. Unlike some posters here, I liked that his mother called him Anny. The diminutive is perfectly appropriate. Is his mother supposed to know that he will turn out to be a fearsome figure? His being a slave, with his mother, is a fine idea. His having no father around makes good psychological sense. That there was in fact no father is nice symbolism. I didn't find it hokey. It could also tie in somewhat with Qui- gon's explanation of the force as being produced by micro-organisms. And I for one am very glad to have a rational explanation of the force, even a rather unlikely one as this. Someone posted that this makes it too scientific, less mysterious. Duh! It IS a science fiction movie after all. We need all the rationality and science we can get these days. The last thing we need is more Harry Potter type mumbo jumbo and supernatural baloney.
I liked the pod racing and the character of Darth Maul, as others have commented. And Jar-Jar? Maybe he wasn't perfect, and yes I had trouble getting all his dialog, but so what? The underwater city was very cool, and the trip through the planet was cool. He was meant for comic relief and to appeal to the kids. Fine. I also thought Natalie Portman did a great job portraying the Queen. Sometimes she did seem stiff, but, hey the queen is very young and no doubt a bit uptight and overly serious.
I suspect that most of the people who wrote negative reviews and seemed to be so disappointed by this movie were kids in 1977 when the first one came out. You're not going to get that feeling back, not with this movie or any. I was a young adult in 1977, so maybe I can be a bit more measured about it. I loved the first movie then, both for its own merits and for the fact that the previous decade had been rather dismal for movies --too much cynicism, too much intellectualizing, too little imaginative, adventurous fun. In 1999 I looked forward to this movie as rejuvenating the franchise and rekindling a lot of adventurous fun. This movie succeeds in that.
-- henry