What will the future.. or rather past bring?

Rating: 5/10 (21 May 1999)

When the big hype started, I wasn't that excited to see the movie. But eventually, I was seduced and saw it on the 19th, not quite at midnight, since all the shows were sold out till 5 am.
When the Star Wars banner popped up, I think I cried :) After the movie (which I really did not 'feel' as long as it was announced), I had to say Hmmm..
The movie itself bursts with SFX, no doubt about that. One thing struck me, the flat and one dimensional shape of the chars. Personally I think, Mr. Lucas was 'seduced' by the power the computer offered him, and where he used story-telling and gripping characters in Episodes IV-VI, it all suffered a bit and was overpowered by SFX. Too bad, actually, since the story has it's moments, especially when Anakin is being discovered to be.. a messiah?? Wow! And of course the little remark by Senator Palpatine when he refers to Anakin's education.
The superb Darth Maul was wasted, no doubt about that, as was Qui-Gon Jinn. It was too early for both of them to die. I would have expected Anakin (in Episode II) to kill Maul, who would have killed Qui-Gon (perhaps at the beginning of the movie). And Anakin would get his first taste of the Dark Side, by feeling the thirst for revenge and anger. Ohh, that would have been so sweet.
Despite all the critique, and anything else others might say, it was a good movie. And it certainly makes us go "Hmm.. so this kid will be the most feared Dark jedi Darth Vader? How intriguing!" Episodes II and III will hopefully concentrate a bit more onto storytelling and show us how a young boy can be turned into a machine. I suppose, this was Mr. Lucas strategy all along; to attract some of the younger viewers the see the movie, along with their parents (who saw Luke battle Darth, first hand), perhaps. So, Episode I is a bit of an animated appetizer, showing us in one way what to expect from the SFX department of ILM and letting us wondering how this 'messiah' is being turned into the 'antichrist'. For me, a little fact, that will keep me waiting for Episodes II and III. And deep inside I'll hope that there are gonna be Episodes VII-IX, that would be most awesome.