Huge disappointment, but not a complete loss.

Rating: 6/10 (2 June 2008)

First off, let me say that I don't hate Jar Jar as much as most of the people who review this film. I feel that most of the intrinsic problems with this film stretch way beyond pointless comic relief. That was more or less just thrown in to cover up the other problems. However, since we're on the subject, let me talk a little about Jar Jar. First off, yes, there is way too much Jar Jar in this movie and the fact remains that they could have easily cut most of his pointless antics out of the film. However, I don't feel that Jar Jar's character was pointless or that he should have been cut out of the movie altogether. Jar Jar represents one of the only archetypes that George hadn't used in the original trilogy - the joker. It totally understand George's intent in putting Jar Jar in this movie as its probably the only one with a plot line that would suit that archetype and if you think about it, not every character in his saga has a real purpose for being there, sometimes there just there for pure enjoyment's sake, and unfortunately Jar Jar's character falls flat where characters like Chewie and Lobot for example were just plain cool. Oh well, I still bought his action figure anyways ... and it came with this stupid staff thing that he never uses in the movie. Anwyways, off of my rant and back to the movie. Flaw #1: Medichloreans - What the hell? Am I honestly supposed to believe that the force is controlled by biology? Jeez, George! Way to kill the mystery of something that was once cool because it was mysterious. Medichloreans are the worst example of the prequels over-explaining everything. Flaw #327: (What, you thought I was actually going to keep count?) bad plot. The plot of this movie is really lackluster, especially compared to the originals, and it really doesn't have much to do with the other Star Wars movies, so it's kind of a waste of screen time except that it introduces us to the really young versions of some of the sagas main heroes and sets up some really boring political subplot. Once again, I understand why George included it, to basically show the Emperor's rise to power through playing both sides against each other, but it doesn't change the fact that it's boring. Anyways, on to the movies strengths which pretty much balance out the weaknesses in my opinion. First off, I love the look of this film. The bright soaring clean quality definitely depicts the galaxy in the height of its economical prowess, before the "dark times" of the original trilogy. It really captured the big screen essence of the original trilogy in a lot of ways in my opinion. George did what he did best and went BIG with this one. Everything is so over the top and full of eye candy that it works in the same way that the originals did, at least visual-wise. George Lucas is a brilliant man when it comes to visuals, but the story is where he really falls short here. Fortunately, he makes up for his failures in storytelling with incredible visuals and stunning fight scenes with a climactic fight scene that really blew my mind and not to mention that amazing podrace. Great moments like that really require a theater for proper viewing. So, all in all, George did what he set out to do with this one, he introduced the characters, got them all together and depicted the beginning stages of Palpatine's rise to power with a plot that definitely gives you lots to look at (including a completely pointless, yet somewhat enjoyable underwater chase sequence with giant fish), but it fails to do much else and the story isn't layered enough to offer much more than eye candy upon repeated viewings. Oh well, despite its flaws it'll still be the first movie I watch the next time I have a Star-Wars-a-thon.