Like I said, I finally went to see The Phantom Menace tonight. What can I say, I’m cheap and I waited until it got to the discount theaters. And quite frankly, I’m glad I didn’t pay seven bucks to see it.
Pretty much what I expected; phenomenal special effects and very little story. I did expect better acting from such a good cast. Maybe the prevading woodeness was due to the fact that they had to act so many scenes against non-existent co-stars who were added in during the editing. I thought only Liam Neeson and, surprisingly, Jake Lloyd did a credible job.
Jar Jar Binks and the Gunguns were as offensive as I had heard. So was Watto. I’d also heard some people accusing the Trade Federation of being either anti-Asian or anti-semitic, but actually their accents sounded vaguely French to me. I guess Lucas wanted to make sure he offended everyone equally. (I missed the Jar Jar Binks joke in South Park. What was it?)
I realize that this movie is part of a series, but after all these years, I wish Lucas had had more to say. Does anyone think that if this had actually been the first Star Wars movie released, there would have been a demand for any sequels? Now that Lucas has said he is only going to have six movies in the series (with parts 2 & 3 to come), has anyone considered where the series will end? Due to the shuffled order of the films, the actual last Star Wars movie will end at the lowest point of the series. Palpatine and Vader will be at the peak of their evil, will have total control of the galaxy, and the Jedis will be broken and hiding in exile. The End.
Anyway, I know there was at least one earlier thread on the movie and I’d like to read what others thought. I tried to do a search but it didn’t work. If anyone has better luck can they post a link to the earlier posts?
