Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)

User Review

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  JRhagan

  5 / 10

  Phantom Menace is a disappointing film. It captures little of the hope and excitement that was so evident and loved in the original trilogy. The dialogue is rubbish, and the film relies on the premature cgi way too much; charters like Jar Jar Binks perfectly encapsulates the previous two points, and everything that is hated about this film. Not to mention the too complicated, and incredibly boring political mumbo jumbo that seems like the nail in the coffin for this film. However don't let the negative backlash for this film deter you. The world building Lucas manages in this film is stunning. All the wide shots of Naboo even in the "premature" CGI state are still superb. Liam Neeson and Ewan Mcregor are great, and they do their absolute best with the lines they have. Jake Lloyd as the young Anakin Skywalker is given too much hate for a far from terrible performance. Darth Maul was good in the scenes that he was in, and it's a shame that the main villain is on screen for such a a short time. All the boring political nonsense finally leads to a great final 30 minutes; including a great lighsaber duel and some interesting space battles. This movie is incredibly boring, and the dialogue is terrible most of the time, however we must not look part the amazing scenes that Lucas was able to produce when CGI was used correctly and even though the movie may be boring; the overall story is pretty good along with some great action sequences and performances (not to mention the amazing soundtrack by John Williams. I must respect and admire what George Lucas planned for this film, and even though this film is greatly disappointing; there are still fun things and moments to take away from this albeit disappointing film.

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