

STAR WARS: THE PHANTOM MENACE

A film review by Christopher E. Meadows
Copyright 1999 Christopher E. Meadows

MPAA: PG (sci-fi action/violence)

Written and Directed by George Lucas
Produced by George Lucas (Executive) and Rick McCallum

Starring: Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Jake Lloyd, etc

Review Rating: 8 out of 10.

(The first part of this review will be spoiler-free; if you haven't
yet seen the movie, feel free to read it.  There will be a spoiler
warning and pagebreak at the end of the safe zone.)

Long live _Star Wars_!

I have only vague recollections of seeing _Star Wars_ when it first
came out.  I was only four years old at the time, and all I remember
is that I found the Jawas really scary.

Articles and even books can be and have been written on what _Star
Wars_ was and is and did for our culture.  On the face of it, it's
such a simple thing--it took elements from mythoi as old as humanity
itself and blended them together into an epic saga.  Critics have
attacked it for this very simplicity, calling it a predigested
mishmash of old stories that are much better in their original form
. . . and yet, are not _all_ stories taken from earlier inspirations?

Regardless of what one thinks of the trilogy now, or what Lucas has
done with it since, there can be no denying that when the original
_Star Wars_ movie came out, it burst like a bombshell into young
minds, and fired the imaginations of a generation.  Who in his late
twenties or early thirties now can hear that opening fanfare, see
those famous words in blue appear on the screen, and not still feel
that stirring deep inside?  All right, I'll grant that some of you
might, but I'll bet you're in the minority.

Now, George Lucas is hoping to pull it off again for the youth of
today's generation.  Can he?  Well . . . I doubt it.  Not for lack of
trying on his part--_Phantom Menace_ is a spectacular movie, and if
you were to transpose it chronologically into the place of the
original _Star Wars_, I have little doubt that audiences would respond
just as well.  But the atmosphere is different now.

In 1977, _Star Wars_ signalled the end of what had been a ten or
twenty year drought in big science fiction movies, and did it in a
rather eye-popping way.  There hadn't been a story quite like _Star
Wars_ in a very long time--or ever, by some definitions.  Not only was
it science fiction, it was a science fiction _action_ movie; a movie
that didn't just invent new worlds and technologies but _took them for
granted_.  While the audience is oohing and ahhing appreciatively at
the Millenium Falcon, Luke says, "What a piece of junk!"  It spawned a
variety of imitators . . . even to this very day.  And there's the
problem.

Sadly, if you show a kid of today the original _Star Wars_ trilogy, or
even the _Star Wars Special Edition_, the odds are good he'll shrug
and reply, "So?" and perhaps even make disparaging remarks about the
films' special effects.  The eighties and nineties have been, by and
large, the biggest decades for cinematic science fiction since the
horror movie era.  Perhaps even bigger.  Searching on "Genre: Sci-Fi"
in the Internet Movie Database shows, at the time of this review's
writing, 2,404 titles, and at a glance, most of these titles seem to
be post-1977.  Not having grown up in those days of little-SF-then-
Star Wars, they simply don't see it as anything special.  Unless
they're _big_ science fiction fans, no matter how much they might like
it, it's "just another science fiction movie."  And so, I suspect,
might _The Phantom Menace_ also be.

I couldn't help but be amused by the contrast in opinions between a
co-worker of mine and a person I happened to be standing next to in
the movie line today.  My co-worker was saying that _Star Wars_ should
be for kids, and was complaining about all the adults who were
snapping up tickets.  This moviegoer, on the other hand, was saying
that the first showing should be just for people who were old enough
to see the original, and that anyone younger than that shouldn't be
allowed in.  Both of these people were being at least reasonably
facetious in their opinions, of course, but it struck me as amusing
and at the same time poignant--this new movie, _The Phantom Menace_,
might have been _meant_ for the youth of today . . . but I suspect
that, in large part, only those people who grew up on the original
_Star Wars_ will truly appreciate it.  George Lucas might have made it
for the physically-young, but it will let those of us who are older
relive our youth again--if only for a glorious two hours and fifteen
minutes.

And now we come to the movie itself.  A comment posted to the Slashdot
news-for-nerds website pretty effectively sums it up--"as good as we'd
expected, but not as good as we'd hoped."  The movie had action,
adventure, special effects, and science-fiction settings in plenitude,
and yet somehow it didn't quite manage to live up to the hype.  This
should come as no surprise; it is doubtful that even the original Star
Wars could have lived up to this degree of hype, much less The Phantom
Menace.

But the big question is, is it worth the money?  If you ever liked any
_Star Wars_ at all . . . undeniably.  If not . . . well, it's still a
fairly good SF/action flick.

If you have not yet seen the movie and wish to remain unspoiled, read
no further.  Mark this post unread, save it to a file and come back to
it later, or otherwise wait for it.  Don't spoil yourself.  If you
read further, on your own head be it.



Like former _Star Wars_ films, _The Phantom Menace_ is action-packed
from the very beginning.  It starts with the two Jedi, Qui-Gon and
Obi-Wan, arriving at a Trade Federation battleship to negotiate for
the end of the trade blockade on Naboo.  The Trade Federation
representatives, under instruction from a shadowy cloaked figure we
know and love from the later movies, try to kill them, and fail.  They
escape to Naboo, meet a friendly (albeit overcutified) alien, Jar Jar
Binks, and go on to find a way through the "planet core" to the human
Naboo settlement to warn them of an impending invasion.  They arrive
too late, however, and the rest of the film revolves around their
quest to get Queen Amidala of the Naboo to Coruscant to plead for her
people before the Senate, then to return to the planet to save it.

Along the way, they pick up young Anakin Skywalker on Tatooine, who
proceeds to save the day several times (which is sure to infuriate
those people who dislike Wesley Crusher and his ilk).  We also meet
such worthies as R2-D2 (who saves the day once or twice himself) and
the "naked" C-3PO (who was put together by super-prodigy Anakin to
help his mother around the house), and of course Senator Palpatine,
Naboo's senator, who uses the crisis on Naboo to become the Senate's
new High Chancellor and, as those of us who've seen _Star Wars_ IV-VI
already know, is also the mysterious figure in the cloak; he turns out
to be a Sith Lord to boot.

"Always there are two," Yoda says, "no more, no less.  A master and
his apprentice."  The shadowy master (whom we know to be Palpatine),
dispatches Darth Maul, his apprentice, to find and deal with the Jedi
and the Naboo Queen.  And deal he does, though he barely has five
minutes of screen time and most of that is the climactic lightsaber
duel with Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan.  In the end, though there are
sacrifices made, the Trade Federation is defeated, and peace and
goodness reign once more . . . though as we older fans know, this will
not last for very long.  In fact, it is fairly easy to tell that
_Phantom Menace_ is meant primarily as build-up, a prelude to the
second movie that will, like _The Empire Strikes Back_, tell a darker
story.   

Where to begin?  The movie was very much a _Star Wars_ film.  There
was a new world, Naboo, an older world we'd not yet visited directly,
Coruscant, and an old familiar place which will, I suspect, pass into
and out of the _Star Wars_ limelight a number of times in this trilogy
as well as the next--that being Tatooine.  There were new races, new
monsters ("There's always a bigger fish"), new characters, and new
ships.  The technical aspects of the film were, by and large,
flawless.  If the story and the acting fell a little flat . . . well,
these things can be forgiven.

It was good to see _familiar_ places and races and people again, too,
to see how the Jedi lived in their heyday.  A number of questions were
answered, and others posed.  As a friend put it, "The sourcebook [for
the _Star Wars_ roleplaying game] for this one is going to be
amazing."  It's hard to say just when it really hit me--this _is_ a
_Star Wars_ film.  When you fully realize that, when you feel it deep
inside of you . . . you just sit back and enjoy the ride.

The fight choreography was stunning.  From the very beginning, when
Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan mow through combat droids as though smashing
pinatas, it's apparent.  They move with a grace and skill that is
almost poetry in motion, and makes quite a contrast to the later
trilogy.

There are, of course, a few things that are odd or don't make sense,
but that's to be expected.  A small sampler: are we supposed to
believe that the Jedi actually journeyed through the center of the
planet?  And the sacred place of an underwater-dwelling people is
above ground?  How can Obi-Wan's master be Qui-Gon when he's said in
the latter trilogy that it was Yoda?  Then there's the fact that Jedi
abilities apparently come from the equivalent of mitochondria
. . . who are also, if you can believe it, Anakin's "father."  And
Jabba the Hutt seems a lot _bigger_ than "young Jabba" is in _A New
Hope Special Edition_ . . . though perhaps this is meant to be Jabba
Senior.

And a couple of things are slightly annoying, not the least of which
is super-genius-cum-Chosen-One, Anakin Skywalker.  I'm not a
Wesley-hater by any means, but I still find it a bit hard to swallow
that this pre-adolescent boy could do all these things--make C-3PO,
win the pod race, singlehandedly destroy the Federation ship
controlling the droid army . . . it's kid wish-fulfillment.  There's
nothing wrong with that by itself, but this is laying it on just a wee
bit thick for my tastes.  Jar Jar Binks was a bit tiresome after a
while, too, but not to an onerous extent.  Oh, well.  Chalk it up to
incipient Ewok syndrome.

Also annoying is that after all the buildup, all the "Join the Dark
Side" T-shirts and caps with his face plastered all over them, the
Darth Maul pocketwatches that say "At last we will have our revenge"
when you open them . . . Darth Maul only has about five minutes of
screen time, and most of that is lightsaber dueling.  It would have
been nice to see more of him, to make him more of a menacing character
the way Darth Vader was, rather than a one-off throwaway.  Oh, well
. . . he wasn't meant to be the true villain of the piece at any rate.
Perhaps we'll see more menace in Episode Two.

As for the acting, Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor were the stars of the
piece, and they both seemed to handle their roles quite well.  Ian
McDiarmid also shone as the diabolical Senator-then-Chancellor
Palpatine; it was interesting to see him sans makeup for a change.  I
completely didn't recognize him until I heard him called by name.  If
Jake Lloyd was a bit wooden in his acting, it is forgiveable; children
often lack the experience they need to make their portrayals seem more
real, and at any rate, he acted better than some adults I've seen.
The same could be said for Natalie Portman.

The special effects were top notch.  It was easy to forget that Jar
Jar Binks's head, as well as those of the rest of his race, was
completely computer-generated.  It all seemed so _real_.  _Star Wars_
has finally moved beyond the realm of rubbery alien masks into
completely lifelike CGI alien faces . . . and it's about time.  The
monsters in the "planet core" were also wonderfully done.

The score is very interesting for the themes Williams chose to reuse
(or foreshadow).  You can hear hints of the later Imperial March in
"Anakin's Theme," especially toward the end, and at a couple of points
in the movie the distinctive wistful horn solo associated with Luke
Skywalker in Episode IV makes its appearance.  "Duel of the Fates,"
_Phantom Menace_'s signature theme (which is receiving airplay even on
pop music stations, oddly enough), seems to have been inspired by the
piece "O Fortuna" from "Carmina Burana".  There is also, of course,
the de rigeur "alien band"--"Augie's Great Municipal Band," which
performs just before the end credits.

In conclusion, _Star Wars_ Episode One: The Phantom Menace_ is not a
_great_ film . . . but then, the original trilogy plus the
uncontrolled _Phantom Menace_ hype are nearly impossible to live up
to.  But it _is_ a _Star Wars_ film to the hilt.  The atmosphere, the
effects, the _feeling_ is there.  It's hard to explain, but for a
brief two hours and fifteen minutes, it's like being a kid again,
seeing the Trilogy for the first magical time.  For a _Star Wars_ fan,
no amount of wooden acting or mediocre writing can sour that (as the
past amply demonstrates--consider _Return of the Jedi_).  If you're a
fan, this is a must-see . . . but then, you probably already know
that.  If you're a _Star Wars_ agnostic or, Force forbid, have never
seen a _Star Wars_ film in your life, it will still be an entertaining
ride.  If you never really cared for "those _Star Wars_ films," well,
be advised that this is another one.

Review Rating: 8 out of 10.

[This review is copyright 1999 by Christopher E. Meadows.  Permission
granted for Usenet distribution and associated archival, including the
Internet Movie Database, but other distribution rights reserved to the
author.]
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