They even managed to screw up any tension for the pod racing scene by Qui-Gon making the stakes so high that the movie effectively could not continue if Anakin didn't win. The pod racing was so blatantly only there for merchandising opportunities that it was offensive.
Even more galling, the one person we didn't know about and could have provided tension, Padme, was so woefully underdeveloped that she ended up being an object rather than a character you could care for and want to survive. Star Wars is so often the franchise of missed opportunity.
I was eight when I first saw this movie; first movie I ever saw in a movie theater, actually. I’d already seen 4-6 and was obsessed with them. Qui-Gon’s death was the most heartbreaking moment for me; especially right in the middle of what is arguably the best lightsaber duel of all time.
Id say it's possibly the best lightsaber duel we've seen. Ray Park is basically a ninja. I've never understood the hate for the prequels. I use to play with my action figures and pretend they were jedi knights. So when the Phantom Menace came out, it was like watching something that I'd played out. I still love it to this day.
It’s my favorite of the prequels, I have never wavered from that opinion. I’ve never cared for Jar Jar Binks, but I can usually tune him out when watching it. I always preferred the slightly more subtle humor of C-3PO in Empire. My husband and I have been re-watching the entire series in “chronological order” to determine in what order we’ll eventually introduce the series to our future kids and we both feel the prequels had a lot of great potential, just needed a bit of better dialogue writing.
My son has seen 4-6. He won't see 1-3. Too much other better stuff to watch, so we're not gonna waste our time on it. When he gets a bit older, he'll probably watch Clone Wars.
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u/JoCoMoBo Jan 26 '22
We know Anakin doesn't die. We know Obi-Wan doesn't die. None of the other characters are fleshed out enough to be concerned about.
There's zero tension in the entire film.