The saga begins

Rating: 9/10 (24 July 2018)

I just finished re-watching all six Lucas-era Star Wars films in episode order (I-VI) with the commentary and want to give my reviews of each film. Let me preface by saying that I am a lifelong Star Wars fan who grew up with the original trilogy and literally have no memory of a time in my life before SW. As such, I am not going to be totally unbiased in my reviews, but I will try to be somewhat objective.
So we begin at the beginning of the story, rather than the order in which the movie are made. In my opinion this is the best way to view the saga, because things in Eps I-III do a great job setting up IV-VI and those latter movies will have even more emotional resonance in the context given by the prequels. Lucas likes to say that the saga is really the story of Anakin's rise, fall, and redemption, and keeping that in mind gives greater weight to the originals, especially any scene with Vader in it.
The Phantom Menace's plot is incredibly complex and when I think about trying to synopsize it, I am utterly overwhelmed by how much actually happens in two hours. There's so many characters and so many plot lines going simultaneously that I really can't begin to recap the story. But basically, we have a peaceful planet occupied by a militaristic corporate alliance called the Trade Federation, and the movie is about the planet's elected queen's struggle to free her people from this oppressive occupation. But also there the story of Anakin and how he is discovered by the Jedi. And also there's the beginning of the political story of Palpatine's rise to power. And there's also a huge amount of worldbuilding going on. It probably goes without saying that this movie is EPIC. Let's get into some details:
THE GOOD
-This movie is GORGEOUS. The ships, the matte painting, the costumes, the sets. Everything looks amazing. Even after seeing the movie dozens of times over the last 19 years, shots like the aerials of Naboo or the Jedi starship flying towards the Trade federation ship still take my breath away.
-The podrace. Though it's a total ripoff of the Ben-Hur chariot race, that sequence is one of the most legendary and film history, and this ripoff is exceptionally well done. Sebulba makes a great Masala and the sounds of the pods are so well done. Ben Burtt is a genius.
-Liam Neeson. George Lucas is terrible at writing dialogue--let's get that out of the way right now. Most actors can't speak Lucas' lines without sounding silly, wooden, melodramatic, or some combination of those. The original trilogy was blessed with two amazing actors in Alec Guinness and Harrison Ford, both of whom could make the dialogue sound good. This movie is blessed with Liam Neeson, who gives lines about midichlorians and Nubian hyperdrives enough gravitas that you almost don't question them. Almost.
-The older I get, the more I love the politics in these prequels. Seeing Palpatine's rise from a senator on a backwater planet, to chancellor, and finally to emperor is fascinating and I think something Lucas portrayed extremely well.
-Darth Maul is definitely an awesome bad guy. I heard that the actor who played him was pissed that most of his lines got edited out of the movie, but I think the fact that he only has a couple of lines the whole time makes him that much more menacing and cool. Everything about him is great, from the makeup and costume, to his unique and wicked double-bladed lightsaber (still the coolest lightsaber design in a SW movie).
-The final lightsaber battle. The fight between Obi-Wan and Darth Maul is the most ferocious, well-choreographed, and well-shot lightsaber battle in all 6 movies by far. The musical score by John Williams pushes it over the top into truly heart-stopping territory. It's worth all of Jar Jar's scenes just for this one fight.
THE BAD
-Do I really need to say it? Jar Jar. I don't think I hate him the way a lot of people do, but he is admittedly very annoying and distracting. And to be honest, he doesn't look good. He looks cartoonish and I think having a main character be 100% cgi was a bad idea. I also dislike that on the BluRay they redid Yoda to be cgi because he has less character and tangibility than the Frank Oz puppet.
-I mentioned it before, but Lucas sucks at writing and directing dialogue. Most of the lines vary between cringe-worthy and just plain wooden. In some cases this is appropriate, like the uptight and dispassionate way people speak in the politics scenes, but when it comes to personal stuff it makes the movie feel sterile.
THE UGLY
-There's an implication that Naboo's planetary core has water, but that isn't possible. At the immense pressures that exist in planetary cores (or even most of the mantle), water can't exist in a liquid form. Not to mention no vessel could withstand the crushing weight of an entire planetary mass pressing in on it from all sides.
-As awesome as Qui-Gon is as a character, we see how his stubbornness and arrogance leads to the fall of the Jedi and the Republic, and the rise of the Empire. Jedi's rules on training only very young children clearly exists for good reasons--reason that will be seen better in the next two movies.
-I don't get what Maul is doing after he pushes Obi-Wan down the shaft. It annoys me that such an awesome and dangerous character suddenly starts screwing around with making sparks rather than killing Obi-Wan, and then just stands there like a moron while Obi-Wan flies up and cuts him in half. Pretty disappointing ending to an incredible fight.
-I can't figure out the reasoning for setting this movie only 31 years before A New Hope. Obi-Wan's portrayed age is impossible to reconcile as a result, as he is clearly at least 65 or 70 in ANH, not the 50-ish he should be.