| Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace Review My Rating: 7/10 The Star Wars prequels are some of the most unjustly maligned films of all time - especially The Phantom Menace. It's not a bad film. It's just that expectations were raised so incredibly high that people just don't see it for what it really is - a good movie. This film really does have an interesting story to it - something different that what the old trilogy films had. It was about two things - the discovery of Anakin, and Darth Sidious/Palpatine's political manipulation. The story of Anakin is what we all expected. But Palpatine's story is something that, if you pay attention, is quite interesting and comes out of nowhere. And many people didn't realize that HE is the "Phantom Menace." This is really Palpatine's movie. Palpatine is playing both sides of the chess board, with the goal of one side winning in the end - the dark side. On one side, he's disguised as Senator Palpatine, pretending to care about his people on Naboo. But really he's manipulating the queen and the Trade Federation to do his bidding so that ultimately he becomes Chancellor - which puts him in the perfect position to become Emperor, declare the Republic as the Empire, and backstab everyone, including the Jedi. To me, this is what made the film good. Ironic how when he's in his Sith robe, he's not in disguise, but rather it's his true self. Now granted, this film had a lot of kiddie stuff in it that turned audiences off. Jar Jar Binks had too much screen time, and Darth Maul had too little. Yes, this film is flawed, and can seem kind of like it was made for 8 year olds. Not everything in this film worked. However, if one forgives those flaws (and yes, they are the type of flaws that are forgivable) and looks at the story, it's quite good. And it still has the best lightsaber duel in Star Wars film history, even better than the Yoda saber fight IMHO. I'm thankful that JoBlow gave it an 8/10. I think that's an adequate rating. For once, a critic on the net isn't so cynical about the prequels! -Dan Geer |