Non stop action thrill ride... Just like all the others

Rating: 6/10 (30 June 1999)

Star Wars was not put on the AFI's top 100 list because it looked good, had cool special effects, or exciting action sequences. It is there because it is a great film. The Phantom Menace is a typical 90's action/adventure heavy on Special Effects and light on substance. Obi Wan was in Star Wars less than half the movie, but I know more about him than I do about any character in Phantom Menace. Han Solo is a character everyone wants to be, or at least meet. Luke is a gape jawed simple farm boy who is thrust into the big bad world unprepared. Leia is the leader of a movement she knows is more important than herself, or indeed any one person.
The Phantom Menace has all the drama and intrigue of C-SPAN. "The motion before the floor is, should we care about a war over trade on a planet no one cares about? The yeas are 192, the neas are 387, the measure does not pass....Next item of business..." (Yawn!)
There was no character development, no internal conflicts, no hard decisions to make. In short it was a mindless romp through a story we all know the end to, full of pretty pictures and flashy sword fights. Check your brain at the door. We have special effects now, who needs a good story.