A Sci-Fi Tour de force.

Rating: 8/10 (18 July 1999)

When I was seven years old a long time ago in a cinema far far away, I went with my dad to see a movie which enabled me to escape into a fantasy world of great characters and mind-blowing special-effects, that film was of course Star Wars and I returned to catch the sequels which I thoroughly enjoyed, Like many Star Wars fans I waited in anticipation for their return. Having seen The Phantom Menace I can say I wasn't disappointed, there are some areas of the film which are weak, Jar Jar Binks is irritating but thankfully not enough to ruin the whole movie, Let's hope his role is reduced in the next 2 prequels. Darth Maul was a strong character who stole the scenes he appeared in, and the two Jedis were cool, though I hope that Obi-Wan's role will be worked on later, to be honest this wasn't really his film, I feel great things are to come from him. At the end of the day the dialogue wasn't great, but it never was in the original trilogy, the special effects were outstanding, especially the pod race, final battle scene and the lightsaber duels, and all the gadgets, weapons, ships etc.. used in the movie are still cooler then any other sci-fi movie, this is a Star Wars film, and if you don't like Star Wars then don't expect to like this (no surprise there then), I am a Star Wars fan and I loved it, I look forward to the next two, which I think will take this franchise to another level.
May the force be with you!