Stands up to its name

Rating: 8/10 (20 May 1999)

While Phantom Menace is worthy of the Star Wars name, it lacked the special personalities which made the original trilogy special. Some 20 years later we can all remember Solo, Chewy, Luke and Ben and many of their lines, but in two years will we remember the Phantom Menace characters? Probably not. I wanted to see more of Darth Moll and less of Jar Jar Binks. Still, this is a fine film on its own and must be considered that way. The special effects were brilliant. I scored it an eight.