The beginning that could have been

Rating: 5/10 (17 August 2001)

Possible spoilers.
This movie left me feeling like something was missing. Something that made it not feel like a real Star Wars. I then went back to A New Hope to try to find out what that was. In the most part, I believe that what was missing was a real third dimension to the characters. I grew up on cartoons derived from Star Wars (Ewoks and Driods to name 2 of them) but did not see the real mccoy until about 6 years ago. When I first saw ANH I was expecting non-stop action, heaps of X-Wing and Tie-Fighter battles and light saber duels. After 30 minutes I was disappointed in the lack of action, but after 60 minutes I was fully engrossed in the characters of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Pricess Leia and Obi-Wan Kenobi (and of course Vader). I did not feel like I was able to feel any passion or emotion from the characters in Phantom Menace and this I think made the real difference.
I also felt Phantom Menace was too uncreative on the plot and script. The plot had too much of a "and then we went here...and then we went there..." feel. All action, no brains. The pod racing sequence was the biggest marketing ploy I had ever seen. How quickly did a variant on a pod racing game for the PC or N64 appear in you local retailer? I can tell you it was pretty quick over here and proved the real relevance of this sequence in the movie - I don't think it served much else. I must however say that the final battle sequence was quite good - the battle at the droid control ship, the castle infiltration, the gungan battle. They all combined to defeat the Trade Federation in a way I felt was reminiscient of the other Star Wars movies.
And how can I forget the final light saber duel - fantastic stuff and well choreographed (even if lacking in the emotive passion evident in Vader v Skywalker from Return of the Jedi). The end of this sequence was a bit sorry though. I though they could have done better than Obi-Wan launching up, grabbing a light saber and knocking Darth Maul down. After such a long sequence it just seemed a bit short and sudden in my opinion.
I won't mention Jar Jar because everyone else has already covered that.
To those who say it is unfair to compare it to the other Star Wars movies, I disagree. This movie is supposed to be the start of the whole thing - "every saga has a beginning". It says Star Wars, it's related to Star Wars and so it will be compared to Star Wars. This movie was never intended to stand alone and George Lucas should be thankful that it didn't.
In conclusion, I feel that this could have been something great. The character development in ANH set the foundation on which ESB and ROTJ built and ultimately succeeded. Phantom Menace should have followed this winning formula. I want to relate to Obi-Wan and Anakin. I hope Episode II can do this.
I give it 5/10. Cut out the final 30 minutes and it gets 2/10.