Trying to be impartial

Rating: 2/10 (8 March 2020)

I am not a star wars junkie. I saw the original star wars (since renamed a new hope) decades ago, and when I told my friend I didn't watch any other star wars movies, he said I was the only one; that I've lived a sheltered life.
What I've been doing now is watching the movies chronologically (not in the order they were made, but in the order things happen from start to finish).
I'm going to be as objective as I can. There's really not much bias because I'm not a fan, but I'm also not a hater. I like sci fi movies, in fact I like all genre's.
That said, let me give my thoughts and I'm not saying this is why I do or don't like the film, I'm just pointing out things that do or don't work for me.
The biggest critique I can give this film is that - at least in so much as what I've seen and know - this film did not need to be made.
So let me give my points of view and maybe that'll explain to you why I feel the way I do.
This movie is so old, there shouldn't be any spoilers by now, people should have seen this, but I'll give fair warning now. Don't read further if you're like me and you've been sitting around 18 years to watch and review this...
I liked seeing Anakin Skywalker grown up, but I did not think he was that good of an actor.
I didn't like the chemistry between anakin and Padme. I wish she'd stayed strong and not given into her puppy love desires. Her character was better when she was stronger, not mushy, but when you get to Revenge of the Sith, you'll see the relevance.
I don't like the scores in any star wars movies thus far. The background music is usually loud, and the worst part is that it's constant. I'm really not into that, especially when people are talking or the sound effects of spaceships and such can carry the scene, so I found the music incredibly annoying.
There were aspects early on that I enjoyed, but once the fighting sequences begin - and there are a lot - this movie becomes very predictable. You know the jedi's are going to win every fight, you know there'll be a happy ending, and there were a lot of ridiculous aspects to this film.
I'd say worst of all is there was no humor. If there was meant to be, it came off as really dumb.
I believe these early films must be expecting that people have seen the films made earlier, but to me they do a poor job of explaining things.
Example. Maybe this is just me not being a Star Wars nerd, but why does the Master Yoda walk with a cane, then when he fights with a light saber, he's jumping in the air, doing back flips, bouncing off walls and enemies? As soon as the fight ends, he gets his cane and goes back to walking really slow. I'm not sure if that's humor, or if he's got some special powers when he fights, but maybe that's my lack of knowledge, but really the films should explain that stuff. In the end, it was those aspects that left me thinking, "ridiculous".
Overall I found this film really hard to sit through. I did my best to keep myself glued to the screen to be fair. I will see it again when I understand things better, so maybe I'll edit this review if I come to appreciate it better, but I will say having seen the phantom menace, revenge of the sith and the original from 1977, this is my least favorite. I feel with this and phantom menace, my main problem is there's too much that's unexplained. What's with all these beastly creatures, where'd they come from, why are they allies of the main characters, why are all the robots of the enemies so weak, frail and easy to kill? Too many unanswered questions and too much that I simply don't understand.
Final point, I don't know if I'm supposed to watch these films in the order they were made, but I'm watching them as they're supposed to progress, so that could be part of my problem.
Regardless, I don't believe you have to be a fan or have seen all the other movies to be able to critique a film (even if it's somewhat) out of context, which I don't think I'm even doing anyway. You should be able to enjoy any film on its own without any understanding of sequels or prequels.
In the end, I just don't think any of that matters. This film is too much of a mess to truly enjoy. There's a real lack of any storyline or progression of a story line from Phantom Menace, and I also don't feel all that much is setup for the future. There's one point and that's the relationship, which to me is awkward anyway. Overall, there's no real story compelling enough to recommend. I believe bits of this movie could have been added to the end of phantom menace (flash forward), or it could have happened prior to Sith without needing an explanation, let alone a whole film. I should give this 1 star, but I suppose there's bit to the storyline that I guess need to be seen. It's just too bad they spent a whole film for one aspect of the future. Seriously, they didn't have to.