IFDB Review: Star Wars: Episode I - Cloak Of Deception:

Ok. So this is really really weird for me to review.First let me start off with some back story on myself. I was born in 1991 and grew up on Star Wars. I think I watched Star Wars and Empire about a billion times (My dad didn't have Jedi oddly enough) and would always get the toys and books and things like that. So in 1999 when a new Star Wars film was coming out I completely flipped out! I remember watching it for the first time and loving it to death. I don't know what it was, but I thought it was just a treat to watch. I swear I must have wore my old tape down to near nothing as many times as I've watched it.Sooooooo. I was very surprised to find a few years later that everyone hated it. I didn't understand why and defended it like it was my child or something. Even years later and after seeing it again when released in 3D, I just loved The Phantom Menace!So I was very very curious to see what Hal could do to change for the better a film that my childhood self adored. Well Hal, you did one thing for me. You opened my eyes and made me realize the only real reason that I enjoy watching this film.Pure childhood nostalgia.-End painfully long back story-SO! I should start by saying that the video quality was top notch! Everything looked crisp and clear and even the added scenes looked just fine. There were no obvious cuts and everything fit together seamlessly.Audio was fantastic as well. I really liked the added music to the podrace, but I still can't decide if I like the new music over the silent tension of the original.I like how taking out the Gungan city in the beginning really made the opening flow better and help you to understand what exactly Qui-Gon and Obi Wan were doing.Losing the droid dialogue to make them seem more intimidating was a fantastic choice as well!And all the cheesy/weird dialogue really helped to make the film more coherent. But at the end of the day I feel like stripping away all of Episode I's goofy antics and fluff really showed me how hollow and frankly terrible this movie really is. It was a drudge to watch, and this is no way due to your edit! Its just that now that the nostalgia goggles are off I realized that there is zero character development and nothing that really keeps you on the edge of your seat. Its like the whole film was made as a spectacle film meant to be viewed with eyes open and ears shut. Its like the film was just a bunch of random scenes mashed together with a cool lightsaber fight at the end with Star Wars slapped onto it.So at the end of the day I feel this is most definitely the go-to version of Episode I for me, but all the fantastic edits in the world can't really make this a good film. Just a watchable more coherent one.Props to Hal9000! Fantastic job!

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