7: The Phantom Menace
Expectations were unreal when George Lucas announced he would return to the Star Wars saga with a prequel trilogy. It was doubtful that The Phantom Menace would live up to the hype behind it, but nobody expected it to be this bad, either. It introduced us to a selection of unlikable characters like young Anakin and the infamously clumsy Jar Jar Binks, with the only redeemable factor being the stellar three-way fight sequence between Darth Maul, Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon.
Despite the spectacular action scene, The Phantom Menace ended up being an all-round unenjoyable film with troubled pacing, underdeveloped characters, and an unnecessarily convoluted political plot that feels vastly different from the material we’ve come to love. Clocking in slightly above two hours, the entirety of The Phantom Menace lays the foundation for the two sequels as well as potential spin-offs that are still explored to this day in the form of comic books and animated series. It’s a functional basis, mind you, but it doesn’t have enough personality in and off itself to be justifiable.
