Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999)

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Since today is May the Fourth, I want to take a look at the first major stumble in the Star Wars franchise. Don't worry, I'll look at the rest of the series too. Before I get into the negatives, I want to look at some of the more positive thoughts I have towards the movie. Yes, there were elements I liked in Phantom Menace. First off, I actually did like the character of Darth Maul. I honestly thought the make-up design on him was pretty damn cool. The final lightsaber battle between Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Darth Maul was pretty awesome in my opinion. I liked the pod race, even if it didn't really serve that much purpose to the overall story. Some of the acting was good. I liked Liam Neeson as Qui-Gon. I did actually like Ewan McGregor as the young Obi-Wan. I liked Samuel L. Jacskon (as I just about always do.) But, as far as I'm concerned, the best actor in the movie was Ian McDiarmid reprising his role as Palpatine. I could just tell he was relishing the chance to play this character again. Aside from these four actors, I thought the rest of the acting was pretty wooden. The effects were very hit and miss. For example, is there anyone who thought the CGI Yoda didn't look weird. The chemistry between child actor Jake Lloyd and Natalie Portman didn't feel natural. Yeah, I'm supposed to buy that these two are going to fall in love? To be somewhat fair to Jake Lloyd, as bad as he is as Anakin, I've seen it get worse. Don't worry, I'll get into that soon enough. And then of course, there's Jar-Jar. The less said about this puke-stain, the better.  

5 / 10