The worst of the saga

Rating: 2/10 (9 February 2010)

Star Wars: The Phantom Mencae easily has two of the most annoying characters in film history. I'm talking about Jar Jar Binks and young Anakin Skywalker. These aren't just minor characters, either. I swear, if I heard one more yippee or the high-pitched nasal- whine, I was going to throw something through the TV. Fourtuneately, the TV is still there and I was able to restrain myself, especially since the rest of the film was pretty good. I love that pod race scene.
It should be understood immediately that the worst of the original Star Wars series is better than the best of the prequel trilogy. And this is by no means the best of the new saga. While it isn't bad, most of the movie is pretty fun, if not handled with utmost care. But those two aforementioned characters are really a horrible drag on the film. Jake Lloyd can't act worth a dime. And he looks nothing like Hayden Christensen either. Although that was a problem with future casting, so Ill save that rant for a later review.
As it stands, this is a movie with more impressive cinematography than an actual story. George Lucas basically took the information already revealed in the original trilogy and put in on screen, with a few characters tacked on. I got the feeling that with the ending already a foregone conclusion, Lucas seemed to forget to pay any real attention to the script. It's still somewhat interesting to see the origin story on screen, though. But those two characters...
The standbys from the original, and much better, trilogy are here, at least for the most part. The younger characters-Luke, Leia, Han Solo-they aren't, but Yoda's back, Obi Wan, etc. They're back and as important as Ever. (And Yoda still seems to be older than dirt.) He was also one of the coolest characters, and still is. Darth Vadar was pretty awesome too.
The cinematography is amazing. With camera jumping from desert landscapes to jungle terrain to whatever other geographical features anyone could possibly imagine. You know what would make these already impressive sets even better? If a certain Jar Jar character wasn't traipsing across them. I can put up with Little Anakin, at least, because Jake Lloyd isn't in any future films, and He is an integral character. I honestly sometimes wonder whether George Lucas just threw him in there to bug people.
So while the film isn't great, it is good for the most part. However, I can't honestly say I enjoyed myself when a certain two who will go unnamed left me debating whether or not to claw out my eardrums.