A spectacular start to a peerless set of films.

Rating: Null/10 (24 March 2004)

The way GL is trying to gradually develop the aesthetic of this new trilogy from very bright and innocent (in this film) to hazy, autumnal and slightly dark (in Attack Of The Clones) means that I can't wait for Ep3! You know it's going to be tragic, jet black and possessing of an even more hopeless ending than the one The Empire Strikes Back had!
The Star Wars films have effects and design above and beyond virtually everything else out there in cinema. Also, the character study of Anakin/Vader, and the exposition of the intricate story - in the background - of how a Devil worshipping politician gradually manipulates a corrupt democracy into a facist empire, while seducing powerful Anakin Skywalker to join the Sith, is a vastly underrated one.
This chapter is a fine introduction to characters and a universe that are on the verge of an inevitable destruction. Fun loving, but tragic.