Underwhelming

Rating: 5/10 (29 July 2004)

This movie was the first of the new trilogy, and expectations were running high. I was fortunate to see it on the first night of general release in the UK; it was a colourful affair, with people brandishing lightsabres, donned in capes and wearing Danish pastries on their heads! After half an hour of trailers, the film finally rolled...and it was astonishingly, well, average.
The acting and script stank to high heaven, a number of characters were down-right annoying (J.J. Binks, Anakin), and the pace of the film was all a bit slow - it was apparent that George Lucas had become overwhelmed by the special effects, and was reluctant to chop out scenes to keep things cracking along. The original trilogy was not directed by Lucas (he directed only the first movie), and rightly so; his personal involvement with the project got in the way of his directorial duties, which really should have been given to a more able person. Lucas is a fine producer and creator, but his directorial career is patchy.
I saw the film a number of times that summer (I was bored and had a pass to the cinema), and it did improve with each viewing, but it fails my DVD test, which is, would I pay money, even at budget price, to have this on DVD? Answer: No.