

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]

The Jacksonville Film Journal -- Film Reviews by Chuck Dowling
URL:http://users.southeast.net/~chuckd21/
Email:[email-masked]

© 1999 of The Jacksonville Film Journal.  No reviews may be reprinted
without permission.