what a journey it's been. i had originally rated this a half star but this revisit has successfully brought it up.

i'll discuss the negatives first. first off, this very clearly is indeed the first draft. most of the dialogue is extremely expository and emotionless, with everything sounding as if a teenager uses the biggest words they can find to sound the most pretentious as possible. another issue is the acting from both jake lloyd and natalie portman, who have such little chemistry together it almost seems like it's played for laughs.

some of the positives, on the other hand, are just how well the visuals have held up. this film is going on twenty years for god's sake, and the cgi looks better than most marvel projects seen today. sure, almost every location is a green/blue screen, but if it genuinely feels like a real place then i do not mind. another key positive is just how fucking talented john Williams is. there are so many scenes in this that, without his magnificent score, would probably put me and many other viewers to sleep.

overall, i feel I've become less cynical with star wars as the years go along. I'm at the acceptance stage where at this point i'm pretty much done complaining about all the details and plotholes these movies have, and i'm instead just here for the ride.

next, i'll be continuing my star wars revisitation with attack of the clones, which i just learned today was the first studio blockbuster fully shot on digital. i will also be watching the clone wars (or at least a large portion of it) for my first time. also maybe viewing the bad batch if i find myself enjoying tcw.

this is going to be my star wars revisitation order for anyone wondering:

episode i: the phantom menace
episode ii: attack of the clones
the clone wars (the movie)
tcw:
s3 e1 (clones)
s1 e2-4 (malevolence arc)
s1 e5 (rookies)
s1 e9-10 (gunray & grevious)
s1 e19-21 (ryloth arc)
s1 e22 (cad bane)
s2 e1-3 (More cad bane)
s2 e5-8 (geonosian zombies)
s2 e10 (rex)
s2 e11 (ahsoka)
s2 e12-14 (mandalore arc)
s2 e19 (zillo beast)
s3 e2 (more clones)
s3 e10 (more Ahsoka)
s3 e12-14 (nightsister arc)
s3 e15-17 (force arc)
s3 e18-20 (prison arc)
s3 e21-22 (even more ahsoka)
s4 e7-10 (umbara arc)
s4 e11-13 (anakin/ahsoka/obi-wan)
s4 e15-18 (undercover obi-wan arc)
s4 e19-22 (savage opress arc)
s5 e2-5 (onderon arc)
s5 e6-9 (florrum arc)
s5 e10-12 (nathan's pick)
s5 e1, 14-16 (maul arc)
s5 e17-20 (ahsoka arc)
s6 e1-4 (even more clones)
s6 e10-13 (the big cliffhanger finale arc)
s7 e1-4 (bad batch arc)
s7 e5-8 (ahsoka & sisters arc)
s7 e9-12 (the finale)
episode iii: revenge of the sith
the bad batch (if i like tcw)
solo
rogue one
episode iv: star wars
episode v: the empire strikes back
episode vi: return of the jedi
the mandalorian: s1 & 2
the book of boba fett
episode vii: the force awakens
episode viii: the last jedi
episode ix: the rise of skywalker

should be fun i think