It was okay

Rating: 6/10 (6 September 2000)

The movie was okay although the whole fight scene with Darth Maul made the movie. I was one of the people who saw the movie on the first day, 12:01AM showing. Although I will say this much, unlike some people who stayed in line all day, I stood in line for about fifteen minutes, was told that the movie sold out, then told that there was a drawing being held, lost the drawing, then had my Mother go up to the lady passing out winning tickets and had her ask for two tickets in which the lady said okay. And I am happy this I got in that way because I would have been upset having waited for so long and paid money for that.
Don't get me wrong, but I was not to happy with the movie itself. It seemed rushed and the plot didn't work for me. They spent too much time focusing on Jar Jar Binks and his dopey running and falling down bit, and not enough on the story and the characters. I wanted to know more about Darth Maul, let's get more information about why the blockade was surrounding the planet, lets focus more about Darth Sideous and how he it into the grand scheme(as if most of us don't know, but I still think it would be good to have that in the movie) what about the relationship between the Gungan's (did I spell that right?) and the Naboo, why are they enemies, and if they are not enemies, why are they separated like that. Those are things that could have been focused on, not Jar Jar sticking his tounge out at everyone. What about Anikin, why not focus on his fears, why is he so angry, we need that for the back story for Darth Vader's birth. Give us just a little more information on the corruption in the Senate. What about the head of the Senate, why is he corrupt? These are things that needed to be focused on. Sword fights, battles and special effects don't make the movie. The space battle should have been just a little bit more intense at least focusing in a little on the pilots and seeing a few of them get killed and shoot down some of the enemy fighters and throw out some flight lingo. That's what made the space fights so cool in the previous movie.
We take a look at some of the earlier movies and you got to see the emotional feelings the major characters had. We got to see Luke Skywalker's life, how he wanted more but was being held back. He wanted a life of adventure whereas his uncle wanted him on the farm. We see Han Solo as the selfish smuggler who only worries about two things, himself and money. But you also saw another part in him, the brave side, risking his life by running down the Stormtroopers while Skywalker and the Princess made their escape. We get the impression that Princess Leia is a very strong person who is also a very high ranking person in the rebellion. We learn things about the characters along the way. Solo's debt with Jaba the Hut. Princess Leia cover as diplomat being blown, her home planet being destroyed. We find she is a very determined woman who will not betray her friends even under torture. We really don't learn too much about C-3P0, R2-D2 and Chewbacca untill the next movie and as for Darth Vader, we can see that this is the man. Don't mess with him, he is very powerful. You learn about Obi Wan Kinobi and how he trained Luke's Father and fought with him during the wars and get a glimse of what happened to Luke's Father.
In the next movie, Lando Calressian appears, and even though he isn't in the movie very long, we learn a little about him. We know he is a friend of Han Solo, the Millenium Falcon was his, he is an expert con artist and won control of Cloud City through a gambling debt. We know enough that he has lead an adventurous life and that he is a very brave person. Lando is one of the few characters to ever confront Vader with a verbal assault and one of the few people who double cross Vader when the deal goes sour to rescue his friends. Boba Fett arrives. Not much is given on his character, but the man is good and we can see he is very clever. Admiral Piett enters into the movie and we see him go from a regular command officer to the commanding officer, a promotion that causes him serious emotional problems due to fear of failing Vader.
This was character development. These characters were well developed from the start even though they did not have much screen time. The characters in this movie seem to just appear. We know little of the history of Qui Gon Jin except that he has had problems inside the Jedi Counsil. Obi Wan is just a pupil, Anikin is upset about being a slave, and as for the Queen, we know that she is strong individual who can take charge. But nothing above that. There are other important characters who jump in and that's it. Captain Panaka is just there as the body guard, Ric Ollie is there as a fighter pilot. We have Senator Palpatine who gets control of the Senate about the end of the movie. What about Boss Nass. What about the Queen's body guard. What about Anikin's Mother. There needed to be more development of some of these characters and more storyline around all the cast members and especially more around the real major characters. Let's pull them out a little and make them characters, not people on screen reading lines.
Star Wars: The Phantom Menace was okay, but it needed a lot of work. This will be my least favorite episode so far. I hope things get better because I really want to enjoy this series. By the way, I think I miss spelled some of the names on this review. If I did, I'm sorry.