10 Movies That Put Fans In Denial

Considering the scathing reviews Phantom Menace has received over the years, it's hard to believe how good the initial response was. Indeed, fans who queued outside cinemas for days to watch it on opening weekend praised it, and early reviews used nostalgia to justify favourable ratings, where even Roger Ebert gave it 3.5 stars out of 4.

In their plaudits, many said that the pod racing and climactic sequences alone are reasons enough to love Phantom Menace. While they may have been good moments at the time of release, they haven't aged quite well.

Now, these are little more than fleeting moments in an otherwise disaster of a film with dull, lifeless characters and seemingly endless scenes of empty political dialogue where nothing significant happens story-wise in the first two acts. And the less we talk about Jar-Jar Binks the better.

It's no wonder fans eventually saw Phantom Menace for what it was. In accordance with the stages of grief, many fans then progressed from denial to anger, so much so that child actor Jake Lloyd quit acting over the vitriol he received. Comes to show that for all our fan disappointment, it's important to keep the big picture in mind.