WE WAITED FOR SOMETHING MUCH MORE THAN THIS

Rating: 7/10 (22 January 2003)

I know that someone would say that expectations for the new Star Wars trilogy were too high, but when You think about it, it just had to be high (the expectations were also very high for The Lord of the Rings trilogy and Peter Jackson sure did live to it). I mean, Lucas was pointing that he waited almost 20 years to film another chapter because he needed visuals not possible in those days. Why is then that after watching The Phantom Menace I had the feeling that this one is so much beneath the previous trilogy (including the effects). Don´t get me wrong, CGI done here are correct, but that´s mostly it - correct. That´s just not good enough for the Star Wars. Previous movies with five times lower budget took us to the most beautiful, imaginary, challenging and powerful places. The Phantom Menace did no such thing. Now let´s come to the story. I think that it´s a big lie that Lucas wrote all six chapters at once. It just can´t be true, ´cause quality´s fall is more than obvious. Mr.Lucas is, let´s face it, not any more full of flashy imagination that we loved so much. I mean, The Phantom Menace isn´t a bad film at all. It has a very unique moments and a story that holds on it´s own, but that´s it. I hope that, in some way, I was wrong and that time will show me the real importance of The Phantom Menace. I really do.