Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace Review
by Chuck Dowling (chuckd21 AT leading DOT net)May 20th, 1999
The Phantom Menace (1999)
*** out of *****
Cast: Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Jake Lloyd, Ian McDiarmid, Samuel L.
Jackson, Terence Stamp, Frank Oz, Kenny Baker, Warwick Davis, Brian Blessed, Anthony Daniels
Written and Directed by: George Lucas
Running Time: 131 minutes
Date Reviewed: May 19, 1999
I always wondered how I would review the original Star Wars trilogy if I was seeing it today for the first time. After all, I'm not a wide-eyed, impressionable youth anymore. Now I'm a tough-to-please, sarcastic, cynical film critic. I thought I would have this opportunity when George Lucas released the "special editions" of the original Star Wars trilogy back in 1997. The fact of the matter was that even though I hadn't seen these films in the theater in ages, too many childhood memories came flooding back as I viewed them to sway my opinion at all. Simply put, I love the original Star Wars trilogy. Growing up, I must have seen those three films hundreds of times. So now that there's a new chapter in the Star Wars saga, Star Wars Episode I - The Phantom Menace, I get my chance for an unbiased review.
The Phantom Menace is a prequel to the original Star Wars trilogy, which were episodes 4-6 of George Lucas' science fiction vision. When the first trailer for The Phantom Menace hit theaters last year, I saw it once... maybe twice. I tried my best to withhold judgment against everything I saw, simply because I didn't want to have any preconceived notions about anything for the film. Months passed, and a second trailer was released. Again, I only saw it once, trying not to get my hopes up. I didn't read anything online about the film's production, and only briefly scanned through the preliminary reviews that flooded the web after the initial press screenings.
On a side note: I saw all the people waiting in line for tickets weeks before the film's release, and I saw all those same people standing in line again so they could be the first ones into the theater for the Wednesday, May 19th 12:01am show. On a whim, I walked up to my local gigaplex at 12:15am that Wednesday and asked if there were any tickets available for the second show at 12:30am. I was told that over 300 were still available. So I purchased one, walked into the theater and got my usual middle of the theater seat... all of which took me about 60 seconds to do. Waiting an extra 29 minutes saved me hours of standing in line.
When the 20th Century Fox and Lucasfilm logos appeared on screen, the crowd I was with cheered. Those cheers exploded into energetic frenzy when the Star Wars logo came on screen to the familiar John Williams score. At this moment, I actually had a chill of excitement run through my body. I was seeing the new Star Wars movie. But despite my attempt at low expectations, by film's end I was disappointed.
I won't even bother getting deep into the plot of The Phantom Menace simply because it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter to you reading this because I'm sure you already know it, and it doesn't matter much to me because quite frankly, it's not very interesting. Two Jedi warriors try to save a queen and prevent a war... amongst trade negotiations and political debate and Senate meetings and the like. Most of it is as exciting as watching a futuristic version of C-SPAN. Yawn. At the center of all the political blah in the film is the introduction of Anakin Skywalker (Jake Lloyd, not doing a very good acting job I'm afraid), who of course grows up to be the father of Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia, and also becomes Darth Vader.
Now I must admit, one thing that I knew I would have a problem with is the character of Jar Jar Binks. Put simply, this might be one of the most annoying characters not only in the Star Wars films, but in film history. Completely computer generated and talking in an embarrassing Buckwheat-style slang, Jar Jar is an abomination to the Star Wars universe (take the annoying Ewoks and multiply them by a million and you still don't have the annoyance factor that this character produces). George Lucas has stated that he made this movie for kids, and so kids are supposed to love Jar Jar. Good for them. As a kid though, I hated the Ewoks... and I'm pretty sure I would have hated Jar Jar too. What makes me sad about this "kid humor" factor is that Lucas feels that fart jokes and Jar Jar stepping in piles of crap are funny. Is that how you reach a kid of the 90s? Poop?
Now yes, the special effects in the film are great... but they are CGI effects. Now I don't know about you, but I just don't like CGI effects because to this day they just don't look real. Give me models and guys wearing latex masks and puppets any day. Until CGI effects blend in with real action, I'm not going to be a big fan of them. Of all the huge effects in the film, my favorite was the underwater sequence in the first hour of the film. Many will say that the pod racing sequence was their favorite, and maybe it would have been one of mine, but at that point in the film we've seen oh... 10,000 CGI effects! Nothing about it stood out, except maybe how annoying the two headed CGI creature that was announcing the race seemed to be.
The most disappointing thing about the entire film is it's lack of a main villain. Darth Maul (Ray Park) is the closest thing the film has to a villain... he's the apprentice of another villain of sorts in the film Darth Sidious (who becomes the emperor that we see in both The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi). But the character of Darth Maul (like all the characters in the film) is so underdeveloped that the only way you know he's a villain is because he scowls at our heroes when he sees them. As a matter of fact, you'll see more of Darth Maul at your local Taco Bell than you will here. This character had huge potential, and I would have loved to see more of him. But as I've said, Lucas didn't make this movie for me (nor does it seem he made it for the die hard fans either).
A positive note for the film is it's final 20-30 minutes or so. Cutting back and forth between a land war, a space battle, and a lightsaber duel between Darth Maul, Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor), and Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson), the sequence is what Star Wars is all about. Had the whole film been on this level of interest and intensity I'd be delighted.
Quick questions about the film: Why do the droids C-3PO and R2-D2 not recall any of the events in this film when we see them in Star Wars? Why are the battle droids used in mass number for anything? Sure they may look pretty cool, but the battle droids are the most ineffectual fighting force I've ever seen. I think I saw them hit exactly one target that they were shooting at throughout the course of the film. Why not use more of those droids that could roll into a ball and chase after you? Those were much more effective. What on earth was that force field contraption that the Jedi get trapped in during their battle with Darth Maul? And finally, what does the title The Phantom Menace even mean? Who is the titular phantom menace? Technically, this film could also be called The Pesky Ghost, or The Troublesome Spectre.
When I left the theater I was left with the question "Is the new Star Wars film any good?" It's so hard to really say. Is it as good as the original trilogy? Definitely not. Is it even a good science fiction movie? Almost. The story lacks a human element to it. There's no Han Solo character for the audience to identify with, instead there's just a lot of Jedi jargon which sounds dangerously like Star Trek inspired technobabble.
I'll say this for it though, even though at about thirty minutes into the film I started to feel the effects of the silo full of soda which I was enjoying, I didn't even consider leaving my seat. I wasn't going to miss a second of the film. Despite all of my disappointment, that has to say something about the film. So to you George Lucas... you made me not want to go to the bathroom. Cheers to you. [PG]
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© 1999 of The Jacksonville Film Journal. No reviews may be reprinted without permission.
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