Good appetizer; now let's have the main course.

Rating: 8/10 (19 May 1999)

The special effects were awesome and the storyline was good; but The Phantom Menace only serves to make you hungry for more. It has many of the things you come to expect in a Star Wars movie: blaster battles, a light saber duel, and a space fight to destroy a base. But it is light on the character development. There's plenty for Annakin Skywalker; we learn he has an affinity for machines. He builds a pod racer and C-3PO from scrap parts (yes, "the" C-3PO), and quickly learns to operate a space fighter on the fly. Some of Annakin's mysterious origin is revealed, as well as the fact that he is the "chosen one" spoken of in Jedi prophecy, but we have to wait for the whole story to unfold. The rest of the characters, however, are a little on the shallow side. Amidala is revealed as a strong young leader, Obi Wan is the headstrong Jedi youth, and JarJar is just plain clumsy. Senator Palpatine is shone to be a manipulative bureaucrat, who claims he's not, and we're given a glimpse of the evil Emperor that the audience knows he will become. Darth Maul's character is especially lacking. He seems to be put in the movie simply because the movie requires a major villain. He speaks more in the TV commercial than he does in the whole movie. He never says a word to the heroes; he simply tries to kill them. Although Darth Maul's look and attitude are very cool, I wish he had more personality to him. The light saber battle between Darth Maul, Obi Wan, and Qui Jon is excellent--very fun to watch.
I greatly enjoyed The Phantom Menace, although I was a little disappointed. I don't know. I just expected a little more than what I saw, although what I saw was great. But it only served to make me ache in anticipation for the as yet named sequels that are 3 and 6 years down the road. Arrrrggh!!! I think Lucas would do well to rerelease Episodes 1 and 2 right before Episode 3 is released, so we can see the entire story on the big screen back to back. THAT would be cool!