Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)

Rating: 6/10 (28 November 2015)

I suppose I should start calling this "Confessions of a Star Wars Virgin"... Anyway, I've finally come to the much-maligned prequel series and a movie that gets considerable hate, The Phantom Menace. Maybe because I don't esteem the Star Wars film as the greatest films of all time, or maybe I just have lower standards than most, but I found The Phantom Menace to be the most fun Star Wars movie yet. Yes, there are enormous flaws with Episode I, but like every other film in the series, the good moments don't just excuse the bad; they topple them. The Phantom Menace follows Jedi Knight Qui- God Jinn and his apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi as they escort Queen Amidala on her travels to the planet Coruscant, hoping to find a peaceful end to an interplanetary trade dispute. They also encounter Anakin Skywalker, before he became a Jedi, who appears to have unusually strong powers of the Force. I was definitely surprised by how much I enjoyed the movie based on how much hate it has received. Being the first movie in a trilogy, The Phantom Menace is going to feature a lot of exposition and many seemingly stock characters. I would hope many of the plot lines and character arcs are continued in the next couple of movies because, but I have to at least give it the benefit of the doubt for now. The movie's good moments made me completely forget many of the bad ones that came before it. The pod race in particular was stunning as well as the final fight with Darth Maul; showing the Jedi in their prime made the lightsaber fights more fast-paced and exciting. Even though I enjoyed the movie, I can completely understand the hatred it has accumulated over the years. If I was a big fan of the original series, and I had to wait sixteen years for this, I would be pretty disappointed as well. Maybe being a Star Wars virgin allowed me to enjoy Episode I more than I should have, but, at least for me, The Phantom Menace was the most visually impressive and maybe even the most fun Star Wars movie yet by continuing to showcase the series' creativity and imagination.