we waited a long time for this!!

Rating: Null/10 (25 May 1999)

Well, it's been a couple of years, and finally, we all got a chance to see The Phantom Menace. I have to say that i naturally loved the movie. But i did have a few problems with the film.
I'll start with Jar Jar. I had to admit, that he did make me laugh, but he supplied way too many jokes. This caused the film to seemingly be geared towards the younger generation (15 younger). Compared to the oringinal trilogy, there was plenty of humour supplied by Han, 3p0, R2, and whomever, but Phantom Menace's comedy was mostly all slap stick. And i thought that Jar Jar was a little bit annoying. And i had to really concentrate hard to understand what the hell he was saying. Even the Gungan leader played by Brian Blessed, i couldn't understand him most of the time. I was telling my friends that i think Lucas should've had them speak a totally different langauge, and give them subtitles.
I thought that the acting was only mediorce. I realized that Lucas can't really direct actors. I want to compare Lucas to Michael Bay (armageddon). As seen in Armageddon, the acting wasn't too good, especially Bruce Willis' performance wasn't that great. I thought that Samuel Jackson was miscast as Mace Windu, only having 2 or so scenes in the whole movie. And Jake Lloyd was kinda annoying (YIPPEE). Though his last scene with his mother was very heart felt, and is by far his best acting in the film. As for Liam Neeson, and Ewan Megregor, their performances were pretty good, especial Mcgregor's with his impersonation of Sir Alec Guinness. I was also disappointed that Darth Maul only had a few lines in the movie, though his voice was pretty cool, not to mention evil.
The special effects were very well executed, though, there was just too much of it. Practically the whole movie was special effects, or paintings, or computer images, or cartoons. If they toned down on the effects, the film would be perfect, but then again, it wouldn't be Star Wars would it? The light saber fight was totally awesome and exciting, and the pod race was amongst my favorite part in the film (did ya guys see Warwick Davis?[willow])
As for the story, i think it was pretty good. Some people may say that Star Wars' story is only an excuse to show case it's special effects, but i beg to differ. I think that the whole Star Wars saga is one gigantic political war drama, set in space of course.
Oh i forgot. Natalie Portman was pretty damn hot!
Even though it had a few flaws, I still thoroughly enjoyed this awesome movie! I predict that the upcoming episodes will get even better.