Review of Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) by Dion D — 18 Sep 2017

Return of the Jedi was a big step down after the quality of the first two films, but The Phantom Menace represents a further drop in quality, marking it as the first truly mediocre Star Wars movie. Diehards will find many things of worth here, particularly the freewheeling exploration of hitherto unseen corners of the galaxy far, far away, but most audience members will find the movie sterile, if spectacular.

in turns Everything at the core of the original trilogy's popularity was jettisoned, and the result is niche filmmaking buoyed by brand recognition.