An awful start... - Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace Reviews

Despite a truly menacing character in Darth Maul, a wonderful score by John Williams, and a terrific fight sequence among the Jedi (with the exception of how absurdly easy Darth Maul is eventually killed), this movie flops, fails, falls hard and couldn't get back up with a walker and a crane. Much of the final battle is waged between computer generated creatures that we couldn't possibly care less about, and the overall plot is weak and very thin. Plus there's Jar Jar Bings, a character so unforgivably bombastic and annoying that even the other actors seemed put off by him. Only Liam Neeson really puts his best into it, but even he was clearly uncomfortable with his decision to appear in this movie. Despite how much I loved and enjoyed the original trilogy, Lucas proves--with this film and "Attack of the Clones" as well, if not more--that he's an overblown second-rate writer and probably the worst director there is. The only way I can explain the original trilogy is by looking at the credits, and realizing that--contrary to popular belief--Lucas actually had very little to do with the original movies. And if he's smart, he'll have very little to do with Episode III either.