Most of us in the vast middle between critic and nut probably won't get around to seeing it for a little while. We've been warned about Jar Jar Binks, and about the fact there's too much computer animation and not enough Ewan McGregor and Samuel L. Jackson. We're a little leery of Liam Neeson's hair (not digitized; they're real extensions). We know it can't be all bad, but we don't want to tromp all the way to the multi-prestidigiplex to get squeezed out by a bunch of geeks dressed up like Boba Fett -- on a Thursday afternoon in June. Oh, most of us will see it eventually, although the early intimidation factor could make "Titanic" a tough tub to catch. The betting here is that all those other movies whose schedulers were so worried about going up against Lucas's Memorial Day Dominator are going to do quite well. And when we do see it, we'll probably come out of it a little dazed and a little disappointed, just like the Boba Fetts are, deep down. And we'll begin the long, delicious wait for 2002, when Episode II comes out. I hear Samuel L. has a bigger part.
'Star Wars': All Hyped Up and Ready to Roll
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Diehard fans contain their disappointment and rate it better than "Jedi" but no "Empire," and in a different category altogether than the dreadfully scripted, poorly acted and infinitely enjoyable "Star Wars." Critics range from "crap" (The New Yorker's Anthony Lane) to a wan "up to snuff" (the Times' Janet Maslin). No matter: "Episode 1: The Phantom Menace" is here, having opened in theaters on Wednesday morning at 12:01 a.m. And with pre-sold-out, round-the-clock showings in every theater from here to Tatooine -- and an estimated 2.2 million people playing "Wookie Hooky" from work Wednesday -- no earthly force (sorry, Force) can keep it from pulling in, at the bare minimum, a record $100 million by Monday.