Better than people say!

Rating: 7/10 (9 August 2005)

Okay so yes I do agree very much that Star Wars episode I The Phantom Menace will never be as stunning as other Star Wars films such as "A New Hope, "The Emipre Strikes Back, "Return of the Jedi or "Revenge of the Sith" which are all some of my favourite movies. However I do not believe that it is worthy of all the badmouthing it has received over these last lot of years by many critics.
As regardless of some of the stuff it lacked in certain places I felt it made up for in other areas in the plot, acting and effects etc. Star Wars episode I The Phantom Menace told us the start of the saga involving two Jedi knights Qui-Gon Jinn(Liam Nesson) and Obi-Wan Kenobi(Ewan McGregor) who while on a mission to end the greedy trade federations blockade of the planet Naboo and restore peace to the Galatic Republic have to stop and have there starship repaired on the Hutt dictatorship planet of Tattoine, where they discover the young slave boy Anakin Shywalker who's dream is to one day fly away in a spaceship and train to become a great Jedi knight.
Gui-Gon who believes strongly in young Skywalker chooses to take him with them back to the Jedi council to have him trained in the ways of the force, unaware that the path way he is taking will change him into the evil Sith lord we all now from the originals as Darth Vader.
Another character that deserves a mention is Padme who was played perfectly by Nataile Portman. She is such a cute actress IMO.
When I ask some of my friends why they disliked this film they usually blame it on the one same thing Jar Jar Binks, who I must say yes can be a bit annoying a lot of the time, although I must confess that I did find him rather hilarious in the battle between the Gungans and the federations droid armies.
What I would say to people who hated The Phantom Menace due to Jar Jar is to just ignore him and not let him spoil the whole episode for you and concentrate on the rest of the story.
The character who impressed me the most I would have to say is Qui-Gon Jinn due to the great acting from Liam Nesson who give yet another wonderful performance.
Darth Maul was an excellent new villain and he, Gui-Gon and Obi-Wan have a great fight towards the end of the film, which has very good light sabre effects and is set in a rather interesting location.
To be honest the only problems that I have with this movie are the pod race on Tattoine carrying on for a bit to long, the way it sometimes doesn't connect to the original trilogy very well in parts and there not being enough scenes with Darth Maul featured in them.
Overall this movie is not perfect and by no means flawless. However I think it has been trolled enough over the years and its time to look for the more positive parts in the film which believe me do be come visible to your eyes once you watch it a certain number of times.
Overall a Star Wars episode that is more good than it is bad ( Despite what others would tell you IMO ) I give episode one the Phantom Menace a well deserved 7/10 stars. Nothing beats " The Empire Strikes Back " though!