Subject: Review: Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)

From: Matt Prigge <[email-masked]>
Date: 7 May 1999 05:28:26 GMT

STAR WARS: EPISODE I - THE PHANTOM MENACE (1999)
A Film Review by Ted Prigge
Copyright 1999 Ted Prigge

Writer/Director: George Lucas
Starring: Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Jake Lloyd, Ian
McDiarmid, Pernilla August, Ray Park, Samuel L. Jackson, Terence Stamp,
Olvier Ford Davies, Ahmed Best, Frank Oz, Kenny Jones, Anthony Daniels,
Warwick Davis, Brian Blessed

How the hell do I even write this review?  That's been the question on
my mind ever since I became a critic, as amateur as I am, since the
announcement that a new Star Wars film came out long before I even began
to write these things.  I'm a Star Wars fan, I may admit it; though I'm
not a "die hard fan" (amongst the scariest people in the world, I assure
you...though a quaint second compared to Star Trek fans), and because of
this personal problem, I have a huge bias against judging this film on a
fair basis.  I love the other three, though hardly on equal levels, and
would easily and without much trepidation award each of them the coveted
four star rating - yes, even 'Jedi' - but how does one even begin to put
into logical order the thoughts concerning the viewing of the newest
installment in this saga, let alone the first in nearly 16 years?  I
pictured early drafts  of this review that would lapse into considerable
amounts of hyperbole, virtual years before seeing the actual movie, and
I swore tonight, a mere hour after leaving the theater, that I would: a)
write the review and get it out there before I passed out from fatigue;
and b) try not to do what I feared I would do under pressure.

But though the temptation may have been strong to over-dramaticize the
greatness thereof before, it's remarkably easy not to after actually
having seen it.  As people talked about how incredible it was on the way
out, remarked about the action sequences with flustered enthusiasm, and
already began speculated about the way everything we saw is incorporated
with the other three, I kept a mild and reserved contain on my
emotions.  A big grin plastered on my face, not merely because I had
actually seen the most anticipated movie of all time two weeks before it
is released to the general public in America (a feat I am almost certain
I would have been killed for, or at the very least tortured inhumanely
for), but also because it did in fact work for me.  Thanks to several
unexpected disappointments within the past couple years with highly
anticipated movies that had actually blown, I made a conscious decision,
say about six months ago, to not get too pumped up for any movie (and
this includes new films from the likes of Greenaway, Egoyan, and Leigh),
and thus lessen the impact of disappointment on me.  Instead of building
this new film up to be the Most Incredible Motion Picture Experience Or
Else, I kept a handle on things, and by walking into the movie, I was
more excited about actually being there, seeing a big exec from 20th
Century Fox in person, et. al., than I was about the fact that what
would unfold in front of me in a very short amount of time was yet
another movie in the saga that is the most embraced cinematic saga of
all time, and a personal favorite of mine.  I was prepared for the
mediocre, to put it bluntly.

That may have backfired on me though.  Instead of either really loving
it above all or hating it above all, I just really liked it.  I sat
there watching the movie, nearly forgot that it was a Star Wars movie
from time to time, and was just really entertained.  The story was well
told, the characters were for the most part nicely drawn, and the action
was phenomenal.  Even the CGI effects, which I swore would be its
downfall (I mean, it looks so...fake...), worked extremely well and
didn't bother me for a second.  So in short, very recommended.  But my
big problem is this: do I really like it because I wasn't expecting much
and it delivered more than I thought it would; and if so, am I sure this
movie isn't really the mediocre mess my friend made it out to be (a
non-Star Wars fan, for the record, who must be glad I haven't targeted
him for scorn in this)?  There were things that bugged me, namely the
fact that instead of running smoothly like the other three, it seems to
have adopted an ebb-n-flow technique that isn't incredibly satisfying,
at least not as satisfying as it should be.  It introduces elements to
us that are terrific and mesmerizing <i>in theory</i>, but does it work
as a whole in execution?  I'd answer that with a reasonable "sort of,
for the most part."  Looking at the plot structure of the film from afar
makes it sound incredibly incredible.  The Federation may be overtaking
the Republic with an illegal attack that may run its course due to
corrupt politicians and legal technicalities.  The Queen of the Republic
of Naboo is saved by two Jedi Knights who stop by Tatooine on the voyage
to safety due to a damaged ship and stumble upon no less than Annakin
Skywalker at the ripe age of about eight.  He helps them in their
current predicament, gains their trust, and the fact that he is a Jedi
is made known to everyone.

The rest is, of course, predictable, but just look at the situation, by
god.  Annakin, the same guy who becomes Darth Vadar even before the
original 'Star Wars' (or probably to be forever recognized under the
more dour title, 'A New Hope'), becomes the completely ironic hero of
the film!  Star Wars geeks get to have a field day with this situation!
If the most prominently figured character - a Jedi Knight named Qui-Gon
Jinn (played marvelously by the ever-reliable Liam Neeson) - is the most
wise character in the film, and he fingers Annakin as the messianic one
of the Jedis who will bring everything together in peace and harmony,
he's in fact dead wrong, isn't he?  Or is he?  Isn't by training Annakin
to become a Jedi Knight only to have him turn to the dreaded Dark Side
the good option since his becoming evil actually causes everything to
come together so neatly in 'Return of the Jedi?'  This is loads of fun
to think through, especially for anyone who's ever given any serious
thought to the 'Star Wars' saga in terms of novelistic entrapments, but
does this automatically make this new film - called 'The Phantom
Menace,' by the way, though there doesn't appear to be an 'official
official' title for it - a brilliant piece of art?  Is it great merely
because it comes fourth in being made but first in terms of order, thus
giving it a weight it wouldn't have to begin with?  Lucas may have
stumbled onto something quite clever by making the fourth episode first,
but it doesn't automatically make this film anything great.

Yet what I admire, perhaps most about this film, is how it doesn't at
all play up to this contrivance.  There isn't a lot of Lucas pointing
out irony here in the delicious situation he's cooked up for us; no
clever asides that gawk at the brilliance of himself, how he managed to
make an entire movie that could potentially hold onto the reins of the
previous moneymaking machines without doing any of the steering for
itself.  In fact, it seems, quite refreshingly, that Lucas is actually
<i>working</i> to make this good.  He actually cares about the storyline
and isn't automatically set to shoot anything in front of us and feel
confident that everyone will like it because it's Star Wars.  No, Lucas
is the real deal.  He doesn't bullshit us with all the work he's done
before creating this universe.  He makes it all seem incredibly real and
fresh and new.  In fact, it hardly seems a thing like the other three.
The  irony is here, not only with Annakin, but with Emperor Palpatine
(Ian McDiarmid), the gentle, kind man who becomes the head of the
counsel, but who by the next trilogy becomes the dreaded Emperor who
shows up prominently in 'Jedi' and is done away with nicely by
Vadar/Annakin (McDiarmid, by the way, is great).  This paradox hadn't
even occurred to me during the run of the film (though Diarmid also
portrays Darth Sidious, who like Emperor Palpatine in the other films,
is only seen with a cloak brought down over his head mysteriously), and
only afterwards did this hit me.  This kind of thing makes me excited,
not only because this means we also get to follow his assured path to
evil, but because that means this film is for real because it doesn't
play it up.  Even Annakin isn't overblown.  The kid they've chosen to
play him, Jake Lloyd, plays him like he was playing just a normal kid
who's entranced with everything he sees.  There's no sign of Vadar in
him yet, and if you hadn't seen the other three (and had subsequently
been living on Mars in a cave with fingers placed firmly in ears), you'd
have no idea of the tragedy about to ensnare him.  That he plays this
completely straight is marvelously commendable for anyone else would
have wanted to brag about the fact that they've developed something so
immensely adroit.

For most of it, it's an exciting, engrossing motion picture, mostly
because it's slow paced enough to take in the situations and
interestingly enough structured.  Neeson commands most of the movie,
bringing a realistic and natural feel to the first act and it's more
standard escape-from-the-bad-guys stuff, and thus to the rest of the
movie which plays out a whole lot smoother.  In fact, once Annakin has
popped up for the first time by around the 40 minute mark, the film
begins to really take off.  He becomes a source of selfless aid to
Neeson and company (including his apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi - played
with dour temperament by Ewan McGregor - and Queen Amidala - played with
reserve, dignity, and head dresses galore by Natalie Portman) during
their tenure on Tatooine, and though some of the plot points are
contrived (as are their explanations: "Nothing happens by accident." -
gimme a break), it at least feels fresh while happening, mostly due to a
state of intellectual tension that's there (read: if you think about the
fact that if they don't hurry up and get the Queen to her rendezvous,
more and more people will die, though they hardly keep reminding you).
I was even impressed by the way Lucas seems to purposely gloss over the
inclusions of characters from the next trilogy, including a brief
appearance by Jabba the Hut, a couple scenes with Yoda (as a senator,
walking cane firmly in hand), and introductions to both R2-D2 and C3P0.
R2-D2 is even glanced over when he first appears, and C3P0 is given such
a brief role that it's refreshing that Lucas didn't pander too much to
his audience.  The same goes for the inclusion of Samuel L. Jackson and
Terence Stamp, two terrific actors given unglamorous cameo-sized roles.

Still, a lot of the film feels like it was pasted together out of neat
ideas that don't gel terribly well together, something not present in
the other films.  There's also an odd air of "we should be completely
enthralled though we aren't that enthralled" throughout.  My reason for
this is because, with the exception of Annakin and Qui-Gon Jinn, there's
no real source of emotional appeal.  Neeson's likable just because he's
commanding and wise and confident, and Annakin's likable because Lloyd
makes him so darned appealing (also, kudos to Pernilla August for
playing his mother so damn well, adding a considerable amount of
emotional weight to the film).  But most of everyone else is a bit
disappointing.  Amidala is underwritten, and the same times two goes for
Obi-Wan Kenobi (McGregor turns in a 'not bad but not great either, is
it?' performance, consisting of trying too hard to appear like a young
Alec Guiness and coming up with vacuousness).  The other films, even the
first one, had sharply drawn characters that were full of personality if
nothing else and only got better as the series went on.  With these
characters, I doubt much can be done, though.  Amidala possesses some of
Princess Leia's feistiness from time to time (probably because she's her
mother), but she's mostly authoritative and kinda cold; I can already
picture her reasons for wanting to marry Anakin in a later episode.  And
Obi-Wan's future seems painfully clear already: he'll learn more and
more and become stern and wise as he gets older.  For Annakin, though,
it's wonderfully vague.  I'm nearly anticipating the second episode
already, just so I can see where Lucas takes his character on his
journey to assured evil.

While this all factors in the fact that I shan't be giving this a four
star rating like the other ones (sorry, guys), I was at least totally
thrilled with the film's final act, a juxtaposition a la 'Jedi' where
three battles go on simultaneously and are shown via cutaways at key
moments, that was exciting, filled with originality, and
pulse-pounding.  The inclusion of the character Darth Maul plays a key
role in the impact of this section as he's probably the most incredibly
fascinating minor character in the saga since Boba Fett: his face is
painted red and black stripes, he has horns on his head that aren't
revealed till the finale (and with lots of 'oo's and 'ah's from the
audience), and he says all of one or two lines.  A mysterious character
like this, especially one so menacing, is all this film needs, and his
final battle with both Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon is nothing short of
breathtaking.  The orchestra adds choir voices and then pounds away with
intensity, the acrobatics and choreography are probably better than the
stuff in 'The Matrix,' and there's so much tension, namely in the
survival of Qui-Gon, that it's sublime.  Only problem is the other two
aren't nearly as captivating, though still terrific, and every cutaway
is like a massive jolt that lasts until the next time they come back to
it.  Same thing happened with 'Jedi'; why this structure wasn't avoided
at all costs by Lucas is beyond me (well, really not; he probably thinks
'Jedi' is just flawless stuff).

But still, this entire section, plus a nifty (and short) denouement cap
the film off with an enjoyable feeling, leaving the audience pumped up.
And while I left with a big stupid grin on my mouth, the thing I really
respected is how divorced this is from the other films.  It doesn't try
and play like one of those films, and by playing it so differently, the
CGI effects actually work.  They don't look too unreal, as I feared, but
they do give it a whole other feeling that wasn't there in the other
films, which relied mostly on puppets and real creations, not CGI.  But
that all works with this film.  The characters seem to have more life in
them, and we're able to visit places where more diverse creatures dwell
in large numbers.  This didn't work at all in the re-releases (where you
could visibly tell where they injected CGI), but it works here because
it's consistent and clearly defines its reality (the flip-side ot this
is it seems to have given Lucas the chance to add broad comedy to the
brew - mostly in the form of 'comic relief' Jar Jar Binks - most of
which falls flat and proves quite annoying).  It'd be nice for a return,
just because I prefer the look of those films, but if this is the
direction Lucas is taking this trilogy in, I'm glad to follow along.
His dialogue may still be shit, and he's lost a bit of his storytelling
magic, but 'The Phantom Menace' is at the very least incredibly
satisfying, which is commendable since this is, in fact, the most highly
anticipated film of all time.  It's nice not to be letdown by such a
film, even if you have turned skeptical.

MY RATING (out of 4): ***1/2

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