I waited 16 years for this???????

Rating: Null/10 (21 December 2002)

"I waited 16 years for this??"
Those were my exact words after the credits started to roll on that May evening in 1999 after viewing the midnight show of STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE.
This was one of the most anticipated movies of ALL TIME! I literally could not sleep the night of May 14th because I was so excited about seeing this movie. I would buy tickets to movies just to see the trailer for this movie. I was psyched. And in a matter of two hours and ten minutes, I was shot down in flames.
Like ATTACK OF THE CLONES, this movie is horribly written and it is very boring. I know its the first chapter of a trilogy, but at least LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING was exciting!
Jar Jar Binks is easily the most annoying character in movie history. Rumor has it he is killed in EPISODE III and that won't be a minute too soon for me. Too bad they couldn't digitally remove Jar Jar from this movie. The only good sequences in this movie are the pod race and the final lightsaber battle. The final space battle was ripped off from INDEPENDENCE DAY (which ripped it off from RETURN OF THE JEDI), so Lucas stole it back.
I just cant believe how bad this movie was. After seeing ATTACK OF THE CLONES, I went back and watched THE PHANTOM MENACE a few times and my hatred for it became lessened. I just hope Lucas redeems himself and makes a killer film in EPISODE III in 2005. I give STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE two stars. (out of four)