You should know that I paid to see this movie three different times, and yes, I will admit to having snuck into a showing on a 4th occasion, to view part of it while waiting for another movie to start. So, be forewarned that I may be biased.

But that is because I'm a product of my culture. Star Wars, which is now known as Episode IV - A New Hope, was released my senior year in high school. I cut class to stand in line on opening day. One of my co-workers was so obsessed with the original Star Wars that we would go every Friday night after work and see the midnight show at the Chinese Theater in Hollywood...and he would pay for all of us.

Now that I've explained why I might be biased, on to Episode I. George Lucas spent the better part of 15 years preparing this movie, his 4th effort from the director's chair and unfortunately, in many ways, the preparation time didn't improve the final product by the degree one would expect.

In many ways, Episode I is an inferior film to the three episodes that were released back in 1977, 79 and 81. The storyline is weaker. But I decided, after much thought, that this is a product of the responsibility Lucas had to be true to the storyline we'd already seen so much of. This is a true prequel in every sense of the word and as such, must set up future events that we have already seen.

That brings me to one of the really good things about Episode I. The choice of Jake Lloyd as the young Annakin Skywalker, and his incredible performance. I'm assuming that the majority of the people who might read this already know that the evil Darth Vader was originally named Annakin Skywalker. Lloyd is adorably cute, precocious, but most of all, without guile or evil in any way, shape or form. To show us such a completely innocent young boy, while we all know that this boy will grow up to be the most evil man in the universe...well this is one of the strong points in favor of Lucas's story.

The big stars, Liam Neeson and Samuel L. Jackson are alright, but don't provide anything extraordinary in their performances. But Ewen MacGregor (A Life Less Ordinary, Trainspotting) and Natalie Portman (Beautiful Girls) are very good. MacGregor was perfectly cast as the young Obi-Wan Kenobi, a role originated in the much older version by Sir Alec Guinness.

I could rave about the special effects, the digital magic that Lucas's band of technicians created. But why? It's all old hat, as computers continue to make films more visually appealing while removing that required element of humanity from the process. The fight scenes are elegant and surprising in the element of physicality demanded from the performers. The climactic battle as Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi face off against the cruelly evil Darth Maul was excellent. But in the end, I would rank this effort among the 4 Star Wars movies released so far as tied for 3rd with Return of the Jedi.