A Missed Opportunity

Rating: 1/10 (28 June 2005)

A Phantom Menace is a victim of poor directing/writing on Lucas's part. Rather than providing an introduction to the Star Wars saga, the film drops you into the middle of a conflict that's not properly unfolded(hence the long intro to the movie), and revolves around a battle that, while a good story on its own, has nothing to do with the Star Wars films we know and love.
This is particularly disappointing because what else there is in the movie is really quite good. The whole background of Anakin Skywalker is excellent (the future Darth Vader starting out as a slave boy on a remote planet is brilliance), and his introduction to the Jedi Council is a bittersweet moment seasoned with dramatic irony. There is also the introduction of the Sith, Coruscant, the Senate and, of course, the Jedi, which are mentioned or referred to numerous times in the original trilogy, but never fully revealed.
The special effects, while impressive, are only a taste of what will come in the next two prequels: incredible abuse of the CGI technology Lucas has at his fingertips. Nevertheless, the space battles are akin to what we're familiar with, the pod racing is an instant classic, and the lightsaber duels are breathtaking.
In spite of the high points of the film, The Phantom Menace is a real disappointment. It's a clunky "introduction" that is odd compared to the original trilogy no matter how you look at it, littered with cheesy lines, bad costumes, bad directing, things thrown in only for nostalgia's sake (C-3P0 really should not have been in this movie), contradictions to the original films, and of course, Jar-Jar. But Gungans or no Gungans, this film can only be seen as bitter medicine that must be swallowed by Star Wars fans. Fortunately, the prequels get slightly better as they go on, but they still stand best as a separate trilogy, no matter how desperately Lucas tries to tie the two together.