Arguably the worst film ever made and perhaps the low point in the Star Wars prequels. Nevertheless, Episode One, comparatively, is a fairly fine and fun piece of entertainment. It's fatal flaw is one that escapes even most fans. The story is a literal COPY of A New Hope. In terms of writing, there isn't much new here or even worth criticizing.
The main focus is on the acting, especially by Ray Parker as Darth Maul (though the voice is artificial as is the one Natalie Portman has as the Queen Amidala). The major problem is Lucas is trying to hard to recreate the magic from the old films. The story as such kicks off with a trade negotiation masking a grand conspiracy by Lord Vader to capture Naboo. Why is tis important or why does it matter? The rest of the films - sort of - explain more behind the motivations of the characters but this entire film is arbitrary.
It in no sense does Episode One really moves the story forward. So are the light-saber battles featured here the only reason to watch it. Portman is passable as always. And Jake Lloyd does the best he can with the incredibly bad dialogue that frames as him as Jesus Christ(??). The real stars here are the special effects - which are hardly top rate despite the money poured in - and set designs and even those are overdone and overused. Still, the film, at least, potentially gave us a universe of characters to care about. But the lack of any focused plot or even real tension - aside from the Sith conspiracy render this a enjoyable but empty film experience. Only mildly recommended.
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