IT'S A STAR WARS FILM!!!

Rating: Null/10 (18 April 2002)

With AOTC just around the corner, I feel the need to respond to some of the comments I've seen posted here and give my take on Episode I. To all of you who claim this is the worst film ever, grow up! It's not, and you know it's not. Save your exaggerations for your tax forms. To those who claim the film is a far cry from the great films of the original trilogy, or as was written more than once, "not a Star Wars film", I ask you, what were you watching when you saw the original trilogy? Have you watched A New Hope recently? Just like Phantom Menace, ALL of the Star Wars films have lousy, choppy dialogue, a story that is difficult to follow, and often full of holes, borderline acting, and confusing editing. I mean come on, even Sir Alec Guiness, a reknown Shakespearean actor couldn't pull off some of Lucas' ridiculous dialogue.
But that's not why we see Star Wars movies!!! Going to a Star Wars movie expecting to see Oscar caliber production is like seeing Rugrats the Movie and expecting to be philosophically enlightened! It's a special effects laden sci-fi film that excites us with lasers and starfighters and that eternal battle of good vs. evil. More than anything IT JUST LOOKS COOL! That's what was so great about the first film, it blew us away with the visuals, not with the directing, or editing, or acting. Anyone who claims that Mark Hamill could act his way out of a box is a liar or an idiot! And the visuals got better with each movie. Phantom Menace, with it's incredible panoramas and dazzling fight sequences lifted it to even new levels. Yes, Jar-Jar is lame, and yes the story is shotty, but what else is new. And remember, these movies are PG. They are designed for not just an adult audience, or even a teenage audience, but to include children as well.
Bottom Line - take this and all Star Wars films for what they are, sci-fi adventure films... incredibly fun and entertaining sci-fi adventure films, not Oscar contenders.