Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace [DVD] [1999]

 

 

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Can you handle another Phantom Menace review? Probably not, but having seen this again recently I thought I'd add my view on such a widely discussed film.

The film is regarded by just about anyone who has seen it as a disappointment. However there are some who say it's only disappointing merely because the hype was so huge that nothing could possibly live up to the expectation. Apart from that, some say, it was a great movie.

This is not a good movie.

I am not really a Star Wars fan, although I don't dislike it either. I saw the original 3 in the years when they came out, and enjoyed them from a childs perspective. (BTW if you wonder of the original Star Wars really did make a cultural impact, you bet, it was huge at the time.) So this is not the view of a disappointed fanboy, just the view of someone who found the film lacking.

Firstly I'll get one thing right out of the way, right here. You know what I'm talking about. Him. Jar Jar Binks. Hype can cut both ways I think, positive hype can lead to disappointment, yet negative hype can have the same result. When people refer to Mr Binks as "a mistake of Apocalyptic proportions" and there are websites devoted to finding inventive ways of killing him, I was expecting something so insanely annoying that I feared I might destroy my TV. He walks stupidly, talks stupidly, gets too much screen time, but I never found him as aggravating as I expected. I would still much preferred if he wasn't in the movie though!

No, the real problem is not with Jar Jar Binks. The real problem I found is that even after having seen this film 3 times, I'm still not sure what it was all about. The plot is so weak and meandering that boredom inevitably sets in. I know there's something about a blockade and a trade war, but the political shenanigans of Senator Palpatine and Queen Amidala are just so vague that it's hard to know what's going on. Only the presence of sudden ominous music will wake you from torpor and make you think "Whu? Oh he must be the bad guy then? Hmmm, yeah whatver" There is no real defined point to what's happening to the characters. With,say,Jaws, we know that the shark is going to have to be killed. In Lord Of The Rings we know The Ring must be destroyed. In The Phantom Menace we know.....we know...um....Well I don't know really.

Apart from that all the flaws that have been mentioned about this film are unfortunately true;

Wooden acting. There's no real interaction between characters, they just seem like reading grocery lists to each other. When Liam Neesons character says "Be careful, I feel a disturbance in The Force" it wouldn't sound out of place if he added "If they have any decaffeinated coffee left, get some, thanks" It's not the actors fault, I know they're better than this. In contrast with the antagonism displayed between most of the "good" characters in the original films (sarcastic wisecracks aplenty) everyone here seems largely bored in each others company. Obi Wan is relegated to largely a mild mannered yes man to...uh....forgot his name, the one with the fake beard. I can't offhand remember any lines from this movie apart from the derided "I've got a bad feeling about this" Oh and "Yippee!" too. Jake Lloyd just seems too out of place with his bland "Mom are we out of Cheerios?" approach to acting. There are some terrible cast choices too, mostly with Samuel L Jackson. I like the guy, and he's a great actor, but he just isn't a Jedi Knight. He was just too well known at the time to play such an out of character role. Only Jason Robards dressed in a toga playing Brutus springs to mind as a better
example of bad casting.

The aliens are all either silly like Jar Jar Binks and Pod race announcer, or grating racial stereotypes. I don't believe that Lucas consciously decided to make them so, but how can anyone not see that the evil Trade guys are Oriental caricatures? And just look at that goofy, happy looking egg headed alien at the pod race. *That* was the exact moment when I thought "This movie is bombing"

No real tension. Yes it's a common fault with prequels, we know Obi Wan survives, we know Anakin survives, we know wholesome George won't kill off the "comic relief" character in case the kiddies get upset. The battle droids are there to shoot holes in walls and get cut down by the Jedis.

The midi chlorians. I understand many Star Wars fans *hate* this idea, that it demystifies The Force. Well, I'm not such a fan as to really hate it, but it does seem pretty nonsensical. How do organisms in the blood make you able to move things around, or do mind tricks?

The immaculate conception of Anakin. I'm not religious so I take no offence, except for what a monumentally pretentious bit of twaddle this is.

Anakin destroying the ship by pure fluke was a really lazy and disappointing finale.

And there are just too many inconsistencies in character and believability. Best example of course that Anakin built C3-PO. Pretty impressive for a 9 year old kid who's a slave. Where did he get the money? I guess George loves his soap operas and what's to throw all these unexpected plot twists to the audience. I was half expecting Han Solo to be revealed as Luke's uncle.

In general just about every ham fisted directorial mistake that can be made, is made by Lucas here. This film should become a textbook case of the danger of letting just one person have too much control over the final outcome of a(highly anticipated) film.

It's not all bad. Visually, it's quite pleasing actually. Many say that this is where Lucas abandoned storyline for CGI toys. Well, the CGI ain't bad, but it's not really much beyond Jurassic Park. But CGI looks unnaturtal most of the time too no matter how well done. When you see a silvery CGI spaceship you don't see a futuristic space vehicle, you wonder "I wonder how long it took the computer graphics team to add the reflection mapping on?" For me the meagre enjoyment I got from this film was the sets and backdrops. Yeah, George probably only nudged the graphics designers in the right direction and they took over, but a lot of it is aesthetically pleasing. And the pod race of course is the standard Star Wars obstacle course race. It's engaging for a while, but actually the PC racing game was more entertaining. And the battle with Darth Maul complete with John Williams score, is, if you're forgiving, guite good.

Overall I can't recommend this movie much. Most Star Wars fans will be disappointed to various degrees (some have such a strong aversion to this, that they disown it) The feeling of Star Wars is largely absent here, it unfortunately comes across a Disney movie in space. (Hey, I'm sure even Disney's The Black Hole was a lot more serious than this.) The average viewer like me will be largely bored at the aimlessness of it.

I have to say that Episode I was slightly disappointing...but only slightly. The special effects are amazing, the battle outside Naboo being one of the best, and the lightsaber fight between Obi-Wan Kenobi, Qui-Gon Jinn and Darth Maul is, put simply, AMAZING.

Most people I've spoken to find Jar Jar extremely irritating. I can never understand why: he adds a comic aspect that, given the slightly bad plot, is very welcome. He does get a bit annoying at times, but he's still very funny to watch.

Only one major gripe: THEY CUT SOME OF THE BEST BITS OUT!
When you watch some of the deleted scenes, and read the novel, you'll see what I mean.

The music, as usual, is unfaultable. "Duel of The Fates" has to be one of the best pieces of music in the film.

As for the plot...well, it fades in places that it shouldn't. For example, in the fights involving the Naboo and the Battle Droids...well, they don't really seem that worried about being shot at, especially not Padme Amidala, which is slightly worrying.

Nevertheless, Episode I is a worthy beginning for the Star Wars saga, and well worth viewing.

A long time ago in a cinema long since demolished my life changed i was 6 years old and was taken to see my first ever film at the cinema Star Wars. Wow what a film what an experience it was my introduction to sci-fi i was hooked. Then along came empire strikes back and return of the jedi. Every boy my age dreamed of going into space flying an x wing,using a light saber. But where did it all begin this was episode 4 (a brave concept in itself). We would have to wait 20 years to find out. Now that is a long time for expectation to build. I want to emphasise this we had to wait 20 years and in the opening 5 minutes have rubberised looking creatures with poor voice overs spouting lines like "are you Brain detad". Two jedis fighting a bunch of robots that look like they were made of matchsticks that apparently can think for themselves fire weapons and invade planets but haven't mastered the power of speach (and he voice overs for these again V. Poor). All this and i haven't even mentioned jar jar binks or bos nas yet.
Lucas claims this was a childrens movie but he misses the point. The origional was a childrens movie NOW the films fans are in there late 20's and older and where expecting a grown up explanation of how it all began.
My other big issue with this film is it does absolutly nothing to move the story along. We all wanted to see Anakin found, trained, fall in love, fight the clone wars, turn to the dark side, hunt down and kill the jedi and take his place at the emporers side. This was not a part of the story we wanted to see hence we miss out on what could of been some truely memorable sequences later on.
Ok there must be some plus's and the light saber duel at the end is great, and the pod race is great (although pointless). And the CGI effects are fantastic.
Should have been great unfortunately dissapointing.

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1.0 out of 5 stars Phantom Pants
It's a movie of hollow, empty acting. It's a movie of idiotic religious leanings. It's a movie of missed opportunites and wasted set pieces... Read more

Published 2 months ago by Josh

3.0 out of 5 stars At least half an hour too long and far too " Stop, Start". 2.5 Stars.
OK, let's get one thing straight. This is by no means the worst film i've ever seen, but it's by far the worst film of the six Star Wars films. Read more

Published 2 months ago by Tommo 18/7 ©

3.0 out of 5 stars High Midichlorians, Low Intelligence
WARNING!! Review May contain spoilers...

(If you have never watched a Star Wars film before, and are just randomly thinking of buying one, start with Episode IV: A New... Read more

Published 4 months ago by Dehumanizer

4.0 out of 5 stars Star Wars: Episode 1
The 'Prequel' to the best Sci-Fi series ever.

It never quite matches the originality of the the first 3 films, but is still a good watch.

Published 9 months ago by Mr. M. J. Beacham Lt

3.0 out of 5 stars The best of the prequel, but...
I loved this film when it first came out. I think I was 6 when I first saw it at a cinema; looking back, after recently seeing it on TV, I concluded there was only one reason I... Read more

Published 11 months ago by JamesN

4.0 out of 5 stars The force is weak
The weakest of all the Star Wars movies.

I didn't feel at home watching this until R2-D2 made an appearance.

It's a little Disney somehow. Read more

Published 11 months ago by Dave

3.0 out of 5 stars Greed can be a very powerful ally
Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace is written, produced and directed by George Lucas and stars Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Jake Lloyd and Ian McDiarmid. Read more

Published 12 months ago by Spike Owen

2.0 out of 5 stars A triumph of technology over storytelling
As a man born in the mid seventies I grew up on Star Wars and, even though I recognise the original trilogy has its flaws, I'm of a generation for which it is totally iconic... Read more

Published 12 months ago by Phil Hattie

1.0 out of 5 stars pitiful
This was one of the rare few films from which I've walked out of the cinema before the end.

It stinks.

The worst thing is the obvious: Jar Jar Binks. Read more

Published 13 months ago by Hambletta-Maud

4.0 out of 5 stars Not so bad after all
I had second thoughts about this film while watching it with my children. The flaws are obvious: Jar Jar Binks and lack of menace with the exception of Darth Maul... Read more

Published 13 months ago by R. Cartwright

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