I've seen it a second time...a good albeit flawed addition to the Star Wars universe

Rating: 7/10 (6 July 1999)

The first time I saw Episode 1, I was uplifted by the incredible action scenes and special effects whilst being constantly annoyed by some of the dialogues and the acting of some of its casts.
The second time around..it left more or less the same impression. However, the critically lambasted acting of the cast was more of the result of some badly written dialogue (eg. 'Bye Threepio') and Lucas's uneven directing.
Some highlights: - The 'combo' finale of lightstaber duels, space dogfight, ground battle and palace inflitration) will take your breath away. The pod racing scene, whilst exciting, was a bit too long though... - The scenes at Coruscant, in my opinion, are higlights (ie. the Jedi council, the 'incredible' conference scene, with a brief cameo by ET, Palpatine's manipulation of the Queen). - Other highlights include Darth Maul, criminally underused but still one of the coolest character since good ole' Vader. - Portman's portrayal of the queen was quite good, as well as Neeson's and McGregor's.
On the downside, the film was 'paced' just like the original ie. slow in spots, especially the sequence at Tatooine. Lucas' overly focus on special effects doesn't really help either. Overall, it's not as good as the original trilogy, but still a good albeit uneven 'summer' flick. (7/10)