Review of Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) by Peter L — 22 Feb 2018

Anyone can critique the prequel films for hours nonstop and make a lot of logical points. At the end of the day though, all of the prequels are still better than The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi. The prequels had some of the best lightsaber duels and fight choreography in the series, the films didn't ruin already established characters (Han Solo, General Leia, Admiral Akbar, Luke Skywalker, Chewbacca, etc.

), the films featured a lot of different characters the fans cared about so much, fantastic soundtrack, original plots, a lot of world-building showcasing the lore of the Star Wars universe, no Mary Sues or Gary Stus, and no SJW propaganda in sight.

Sure characters such as Obi-Wan and Anakin had plot armor at times, but both lost in a duel against Count Dooku in Episode II. The dumbest scene in The Phantom Menace was little Anakin blowing up the battle droid control ship.

He's a good pod-racer, but it's a bit stupid to see a kid that young accomplish what the adult, experienced pilots failed to do in the Naboo space battle. All in all, the pod-race scene, the Battle of Naboo between the gungans and battle droids, and the lightsaber duel between Darth Maul, Obi-Wan, and Qui-Gon Jinn at the end of the film made it worth watching.

The last half hour was great despite the idiotic scenes with Anakin. Perhaps, the film would have been better with less Jar Jar and an older Anakin.