well...frankly, boring

Rating: Null/10 (19 May 1999)

i originally was not overly excited for this. i enjoy the trilogy immensely, but don't get why people treat them as more than what they are-- three entertaining, well made movies. but i got caught up in the hype and decided it would be best to see this before i heard too much. i really wanted to like it... i checked my watch SO many times, bored and awaiting the pod race i heard signalled the end of the slow stuff and the beginning of the excitement. the pod race was fun, a big video game, but fun... and then it slowed down again. i didn't find the characters interesting, i thought the acting ranged from competent to poor, thought the plot was tedious and repetitive, and didn't feel any threat or sense of adventure. the other three had one of the greatest villains ever, and that gave the them a foundation on which to build an epic. but this has nothing of the sort. darth maul is a lackey who appears only briefly to fight and then vanishes until his next fight scenes. his fights are thrilling, no doubt, but they, and the entire climactic battle scene(s) are not tied to anything of any importance. very unsatisfactory and about 50-70% of it ranges from uninteresting to dull, to at some points, boring as snot. its not a bad movie-- we all enjoy the universe of star wars too much for it to be bad, but it is not particularly memorable or thrilling either. someone shoot jar jar binks, please.