A new beginning...

Rating: 10/10 (19 October 1999)

I will admit, when I came out of the theater on opening night (or rather early morning), I felt cheated. The film I had waited 16 years for didn't change me. It didn't solve all my problems, nor did it heal my troubled soul. It wasn't until I saw it for a second time, a few hours later, that I began to see what made this movie so special...
(WARNING - small spoilers ahead)
Now, everyone can wail and whine over how annoying Jar-Jar was, how wooden some of the acting was, how little Darth Maul had to say, etc, but maybe I am one of the few ones who can truly appreciate the true beauty of this film.
First of all, the podrace is fantastic. Mr. Lucas has taken the speeder bike chase from Jedi, the asteroid field sequence from Empire, and the final Death Star battle from ANH, and outdone all of them with the 15 minutes or so of the race.
The lightsaber fights ? Stunning. You can really see the difference between what Kenobi was when he was younger (headstrong, and a little too cocky), to what he becomes (a slower, yet more cautious warrior, much like Qui-Gon is.) It will be interesting to track Kenobi's progress in the future prequels.
Jar-Jar, although mildly annoying, grew on me pretty quick, and I also grew to appreciate what he brought to the film, and those people who want him dead, I only need to remind you of all the other annoyances of the Star Wars universe (ie. Chewbacca, C3PO, The Ewoks, Salacious Crumb, etc.) It wouldn't be Star Wars without them. I'm so glad George decided to keep him for the other films.
Darth Maul - easily the coolest villain to pop up on the big screen since Vader. He may not say much, but when you can do what he does, words don't seem to matter. He also has the (two) best on-screen entrance(s) in all the Star Wars films - whether he appears over his master's shoulders like an evil genie in the hologram, or when he makes his final appearance in the hangar.
The acting - I enjoyed Ewan and Liam's performances quite a bit, and I had enjoyed Natalie since I saw her in the Professional, but everyone seems to be annoyed with the performance of young Mister Lloyd. All I have to say on that subject is : what did you expect ? He's only a kid (a damned lucky one, IMHO), and even though he isn't Sir Laurence Olivier, he did a good job with what he had to do. The way people bash him all the time, it's like they expected him to be dressed in a mini-Vader costume and start choking everyone in sight from the get-go. Albeit I didn't agree with the whole "Yippee" thing, but hopefully George can get someone to help him with those small details in the next film.
One thing that bothered me came from another IMDb viewer, who asked why the Federation bothered to go after Queen Amidala when they were a democracy. All I have to say is look at England. They are a democracy, with a working government. The Queen has little official power, but if she was being held hostage by a vast army, you can bet that the British Parliament would spring into action and do exactly what she said.
I think the only thing I didn't enjoy in the movie was the whole "Midicholrian" aspect - which made it sound so Star Trek-ian, and the whole immaculate conception thing was a little hard to swallow. I kept expecting Qui-Gon to be the father (a better plot twist IMO).
I also enjoyed seeing actual Jedi's using their Force powers, like the Force Push, and Force Speed. And I loved the whole idea that the Trade Federation used a robot task force to do their dirty work, but after seeing them in action, it shows why you can't go wrong with Stormtroopers (mind you, they weren't much better...). My advice to the Trade Federation - stop getting those awful Battle Droids, and get yourself a few more Droidekas (the Destroyers) - they seemed to get the job done pretty well.
Also, I loved the four-way battle sequence at the end, it was visually stunning, and my advice to people is, don't look at Jar-Jar during his segment of the battle, look at the other Gungans - it's a lot funnier.

All in all, I'd have to say that this movie was well worth the wait, and it just goes to show why George is the master of the movies that he is. By the way, hurry up with Episode 2 !!