Too many lose ends

Rating: 4/10 (24 May 1999)

First of all, I was very impressed by this film visually (how could you not be) and, in particular, the lightsaber fight at the end was cool to the point of overload. Overall, however, this film was a disappointment for me, but not in the same way as the critics. True, the characters weren't as vivid as the other movies, but that doesn't bother me because the two main characters in SW1 were Jedi and therefore were supposed to be solemn as opposed to eccentric. What bothered me were the implausibilities, inconsistencies, and cameos of characters that were only in the movie so the audience would cheer. C-3PO's part in the film was ridiculous because in SW4, when he was on Tatooine, he told Luke he didn't know what planet he was on and I doubt he'd forget. Threepio may be a coward, but he's not an idiot. Also, the idea that Anakin built him and 30 years later, of all people, Luke ends up buying him is just too much of a coincidence for me to swallow. Let me get this straight, not only is Vader Luke's father and Leia Luke's sister, but now Threepio's his brother? Come on! What is this a Sci-Fi soap opera? Next thing you know, in episodes 2 & 3, Chewbacca will be Anakin's dog! R2-D2's part also seemed forced. Any arbitrary droid would have sufficed in that role and it seems like, again Lucas put him in there just to have a familiar character. One thing I've always wondered is why does Lucas feel compelled to keep coming back to Tatooine? Is he running out of ideas for planets or does he just like filming in the desert? You'd think in the vastness of space with as many aliens you see in these films, odds are Luke and Anakin would come from different planets. Space battle at the end seemed forced, too. At one point, they're shooting each other on Naboo, the next, they're shooting each other in space. It wasn't like SW4&6 when they had a set-up so we knew what the point of the attack was. I didn't even know what they were trying to accomplish, until they accomplished it. It seemed with the obligatory climactic dog fight and maximum possible cameos, that Lucas was trying to re-create the Star Wars formula with no logical reasoning. Maybe I'm being too analytical, but I don't consider myself a huge Star Wars fan and If I can spot these flaws without any real effort, how come Lucas can't? After 16 years, I expected more authenticity.