Could have been awesome...

Rating: 4/10 (24 February 2004)

As a true blue STAR WARS fan, I was expecting a superb story with top notch special effects. It seems I only got the "special effects" part, since the story is so confusing, it's pointless to try and decipher it. It's true that trying to top something like the original STAR WARS is next to impossible, but it CAN come quite close, as evidenced in THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK. George Lucas completely forgot that most Hardcore Star Wars fans are grown ups now and that we would have liked a bit more substance in the story, and I'd like to emphasize "a bit", because ultimately these movies are intended for younger audiences. By the same token, the story is so full of complicated mumbo jumbo (about a trade federation and about a conspiracy, etc, etc) that children won't fully grasp what the whole deal is. There is some terrible acting going on with some of the minor characters. Liam Neeson is good as Master Qui Gon and Ewan McGregor does good as the young Obi Wan Kenobi, but that's about the only "good" acting you'll see in the film. PHANTOM MENACE rises more questions than answers. Why did Ben Kenobi said in THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, "Yoda, the Jedi Master who instructed me" when it's now obvious that he was instructed by Qui Gon?!?!?! Why does C3PO acts like he doesn't know OWEN LARS and the planet TATOOINE in "Star Wars", when we now know (through "Phantom" and "Clones") that he was PREVIOUSLY OWNED by him (Owen Lars) and that he was virtually BORN on TATOOINE?!?!? These minor contradictions have infuriated many a hardcore STAR WARS fan and it only goes to show that George Lucas and his collaborators weren't paying attention when writing the prequels. PHANTOM MENACE's saving grace are its formidable Special Effects and the obligatory light saber fight between Qui Gon, Kenobi and Sith Warrior Darth Maul. The so much hyped tatooine pod race isn't as breathtaking as the asteroid chase in THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (and we're talking about a movie that is almost 20 years older!). All my complaining aside, PHANTOM MENACE is still a watchable and mildly entertaining STAR WARS movie, although I think George Lucas shamelessly aimed this movie at the younger audience (kids between 8 and 13 years old). I think he could have made a nice balance and he almost got it right with ATTACK OF THE CLONES. Let's hope Episode III packs the punch that this one lacked.