Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace

Because everybody already knows how the chronology of the Star Wars movies goes compared to how they were released, I'm just going to call them like they are, this is the first of the six part set. Sadly George Lucas did not begin his tale of the beginning with a good start. The thing is that this movie almost has it all. The special effects are astounding, and to be sure, this is no exaggeration, from the underwater cities to the magnificent pod-races the movie never fails to blow you away visually. The story is also good; a desperate young Queen flees her besieged planet, blockaded from all trade by the Trade Federation, to plead for help in the galactic Senate. She and her two Jedi bodyguards must repair their ship on the desert planet of Tatooine. There they are helped by a gifted boy named Anakin who leaves his life of slavery with them. Once in Courescant, the home of the Galactic Republic, Queen Amidala uses every means necessary to help her planet, including overthrowing the current Chancellor; Vellorum, and putting her planet's senator; Palpatine in his place. However this cannot save her home world, so the queen returns to her besieged people to fight for their freedom. However her two Jedi guards, Qui-Gon Jin and his apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi, have their own problems to deal with as they discover that the Trade Federation is being led by a Sith Lord and his devil faced apprentice Darth Maul. The film concludes with an action packed set of three battles, one aerial battle in space, one on the grassy plains of the planet, and a light saber duel between the Sith Darth Maul and the two Jedi Knights. The Trade Federation is defeated, as is Darth Maul, however Qui-Gon Jin dies, but only after making Obi-Wan promise to train Anakin in the ways of the Jedi. The story sounds complex, but this is only because of the order in which the films were released, and Lucas has to assume that anyone watching will already know what the heck is going on. The point is that as a story it is complex and makes a nice beginning for the massive epic that is Star Wars as a whole. Besides good effects and a good story, this movie has a great cast, Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Samuel Jackson to name a few. It's not the cast’s fault that the script is inconsistent, choppy, clumsy and just plain boring. It really is hell to sit through, and Jar Jar Binks a character who accompanies the Queen and the Jedi, can only be described as a disgusting bane on the Star Wars, nay the Cinematic Universe. The point I try to make is that though this movie is really good,but at the same time it's also so terrible that you wind up feeling like you haven’t really achieved anything after watching a two-hour film. The only reason I can recommend this movie is that it is the beginning of one of the most influential, and truly one of the best film sagas of all time, but that still can't completely save this confusing mess of a movie.

C+