at least it looks cool...

Rating: 6/10 (19 October 1999)

When this movie was released, it got panned by several friends of mine for lacking the character nuances of the first three. Not being an especially big fan of any of the STAR WARS movies, I thought that was kind of stupid. As far as I'm concerned, none of them are as deep or thoughtful as STAR WARS die-hards seem to believe.
. These characters are pretty boring, aren't they?
Except for Darth Maul, who was very cool (and cool-looking) and present for two or three scenes, no one from this bunch is destined to become the icon that Han Solo, for instance, is. They're just going through the motions, hopping from one place to another, trudging solemnly toward the end of the movie. As I write this, I can't even think of the princess' name.
Nonetheless, you should see this movie, O reader. It's a triumph of design from beginning to end. There's so much beautiful stuff to look at: the robes the princess' handmaidens wore, the palaces, that underwater city, the big yellow spaceships, the tanks, the desert city, the Jedi outfits, those creatures the Jar-Jars (i can't remember what they were called) rode on in the final parade scene, the nasty little rival that the kid had in the race and his groupies. There's stuff in this movie that'll make your jaw drop. The art directors and costumers and set designers deserve Nobel prizes for this stuff.
Shame about the script, though. Maybe next episode.