I will be going to see The Force Awakens next Saturday, so I thought that in the run up to the film, I would review the six preceeding Star Wars films in chronological order, so we start with the film that started the divide among the Star Wars fanbase, Star Wars Episode I.
I first saw this film in the cinema in the town over when I was 9. At the time, I was blown away (I was 9, did I mention that?). But as time went on, up to now, the film's flaws became more evident. Let's start with the start. The intro explains that there has been a trade dispute, and that as a result, the evil Trade Federation have blockaded Naboo. The Chancellor of the Republic has gone behind the Senate's back and sent two Jedi ambassadors, Qui-Gon Jinn and his apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi, to Naboo to settle the dispute. Unknown to them, the Trade Federation is backed by Darth Sidious (let's face it, all us who watched the older films knew who he was straight away), a Sith lord and sworn enemy of the Jedi, who orders the Viceroy of the Trade Federation to kill the Jedi and invade Naboo. This part is fine in my view: we have a light skirmish aboard the Trade Federation ship as the Jedi fight their way to try to get to the Viceroy, only to have the tables turned on them and have to flee. It's after this that many people started seeing the film's problems.
The Jedi escape to Naboo, where they meet a local Gungan by the name of Jar-Jar Binks. He's clearly in the film to cater to a children's audience, but those who watched the original films despise him with a passion. He's clumsy, unfunny, you could have cut him out of the film and it would not have made much of an impact on the plot.
So, Jar-Jar leads the Jedi to his underwater city home, where he is arrested and brought before Boss Nass, the Gungan leader. Qui-Gon tricks Boss Nass into allowing them to leave with Jar-Jar and a submarine that will take them to Naboo's capital, Theed. When the arrive, they jailbreak Queen Amidala, and try to escape in the Queen's starship, but a lucky shot from the Trade Federation battleship disables the hyperdrive and they are forced to arrive in familiar territory, Tatooine (the sand planet from the real first Star Wars film). Here, they meet a slave boy named Anakin Skywalker, and make a deal with Anakin's owner, Watto, that if Anakin wins the upcoming Boonta Eve podrace, they will get both Anakin and the hyperdrive they need to reach Coruscant, capital planet of the Republic. Anakin has tough competition in the form of the Dug Sebulba (the Star Wars equivalent of Michael Schumacher) but of course, he wins and is freed.
Our heroes fix the hyperdrive and head for Coruscant after an encounter with Darth Maul, Darth Sidious' apprentice, only to find the Senate gripped in beurocracy and unwilling to act on the Trade Federation's invasion of Naboo. Under the suggestion of Naboo's Senator, Palpatine, the Queen forces a vote of no confidence in the Chancellor, with Palpatine becoming the favourite to be the next Chancellor. Meanwhile, the Queen returns to Naboo with her entourage, where she convinces the Gungans to aid them in defeating the Trade Fedeartion. The Gungans draw the Trade Federation's droid armies away from Theed while the Queen and Jedi infiltrate Theed in an attempt to get to the hangar, use the starfighters there to knock out the Droid Control ship in orbit and capture the Viceroy. This would have been a better sequence if they had not cut so much to the Gungan battle.
Anakin accidentally sets off in a starfighter into orbit, and crashes inside the Droid Control ship, where he is perfectly positioned to take down its main reactor (what a coincidence). Meanwhile, the Jedi duel Darth Maul and the Queen is captured by the Viceroy, only to have the tide turn when the Droid Control Ship is destroyed. Meanwhile, Maul kills Qui-Gon and is soon defeated by Obi-Wan (rather gruseomely for a Star Wars movie, he is bisected). The Trade Federation surrenders, Palpatine becomes Chancellor, the Sith threat is seemingly over... or is it?
This movie was great when I was a child, and funnily enough I still get a sense of entertainment out of it. But it could have been a better movie. There were continuity errors when you compared these events to what happened in the original films, and George Lucas relied too heavily on Jar-Jar to keep the children entertained without balancing it out with something for older fans of the franchise. Is it a good film? Not by any stretch of the imagination could it be considered great, but it could have been worse (I find it better than Attack of the Clones). It's by no means the worst thing ever, like some fans would have you believe, and there were some truly awesome moments in there, such as the duel at the end of the film. The score, by renowned composer John Williams, is top-notch (if you listen to it correctly and not butchered) and the sound work is fairly solid. I'm sure buried under all the effects and Jar-Jar inclusions, there's a better film. It's not 'bad', but it certainly is far from the strongest this series has to offer.
Final verdict: 6/10.
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