Word: gon
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...encounter two cloaked figures, Jedi master Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) and his apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor), who are trying to prevent a war between the greedy Trade Federation and the small, peaceful planet of Naboo. Traveling along with the planet's teenaged queen Amidala (Natalie Portman) to appeal to the senate of the galactic republic, they pit-stop on the desert planet of Tatooine to make crucial repairs on their damaged ship...
...here that they stumble upon Anakin Skywalker (Jake Lloyd), a confident and too-cute 9-year-old slave who possesses an unprecedented potential for the all-powerful Force. Qui-Gon believes that the boy may be The Chosen One, the one who will restore balance to the Force. There's all kinds of ridiculous scientific mumbo jumbo about Anakin's seemingly immaculate conception, but Qui-Gon's so far-gone by this point that we have no choice but to follow his lead...
...store for Anakin or even hint at a latent evil within him (although master Yoda is fervent in his assertion that he senses danger in the boy). The story doesn't really center on Anakin but on the Jedi, which is probably a mistake, because neither Qui-Gon nor Obi-Won is an engaging enough character to give the movie the gas it needs to really move...
...Which is not to discredit the performances. Neeson is a rock as the stoic Qui-Gon, an aging longhaired maverick among the Jedi who is uncannily certain of Anakin's great potential. And McGregor gives good Alec Guiness in a role that rarely gives him much to do but look concerned and buckle swash. Which he does splendidly--the lightsaber battles are perhaps the most authentically exciting parts of the film, and he and Neeson give us what we secretly missed in the original series--real fighting. We finally get a chance to see why the Jedi are considered...
...Watching the movie, one aches for a certain glory, but the camera never seems to linger long enough, and the awe and agony that pervaded the original movies never registers in the faces of Ewan McGregor or Liam Neeson. When those actors, respectively playing Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon, "swim" into an underwater metropolis at the start of the movie, one feels a tinge of wonder, but it is immediately muddled by over-done special effects. Often, the music is off (John Williams' score seems affixed, chopped up by Lucas' manic pace). And of course, one expects...