A spectacle for the eyes, but a mix of jumbled lines.

Rating: Null/10 (31 May 1999)

Ah, Episode 1. It was just a year ago, now, that I gained word of this film, the new "Lucas Extravaganza" that was coming out. Oh, how I longed for a film that could somehow outdo the other three combined in special effects, and have plenty of room left for action, romance, drama, nasty space beasts, you name it. Well, I'm somewhat proud to report that, although this film nowhere near followed along the same action/adventure path as the other three films, it still had it's share of thrills, spills, and quite a number of hair raising scenes. It was somewhat unfortunate that Lucas chose not to create so many nasty and and hideous beasts as in the first movie; the creatures at the cantina in this movie seemed a lot more goofy than threatening. Much of this film's dialogue was rather banal and innefective. Liam Neeson was decent in his role, but even his performance was somehow subdued by the barrage of special effects blasting out of the screen. The one suprise of the movie was that Jake Lloyd, the lad playing Anakin Skywalker, actually pulled off the best performance among the whole lot of them. Shows you what budding talent can do, hmmm? I was satisfied, overall, you better bet I was, but oh, the Sabre scenes.... Yes, the Lightsaber fights in this movie were perhaps the best out of all four movies combined, with a little split suprise at the end..... As I watched the film, I found myself drifting back to other movies, sci-fi films from the Nineties, and I began to rate this movie up alongside those films. Certainly, Star Wars is heads and tails above even the colossal Jurrasic Park in the special effects department. It's creation and bending of reality allows us to see things, as if we are looking into some bizarre dream. Truly a halluciogenic quality. Unfortunate that the same humanity and drama as carried out in movies like jurassic park wasn't included in The Phantom Menace.
I assume that is all I'm allowed to divulge about the film. Don't want to get George angry.