Subject: Review: Star Wars - Episode 1: The Phantom Menace (1999)

From: "Harvey S. Karten" <[email-masked]>
Date: 13 May 1999 06:03:35 GMT

STAR WARS: EPISODE ONE--THE PHANTOM MENACE

 Reviewed by Harvey Karten, Ph.D.
 20th Century Fox
 Director: George Lucas 
 Writer:  George Lucas
 Cast: Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Jake
Lloyd, Ian McDiarmid, Samuel L. Jackson, Oliver Ford
Davies, Terence Stamp, Pernilla August, Frank Oz, Ahmed
Best, Adrian Dunbar, Hugh Quarshie, Kenny Baker

   The plot hasn't the twists and turns of "Goodbye, Lover,"
the language hasn't the elegance of "A Midsummer Night's
Dream," the pathos of "Cyrano de Bergerac" is lacking and
the bon mots wouldn't challenge those of "The
Importance of Being Earnest."  Yet whether you're an
eight-year-old addict of Nintendo or an eighty-year-old
peruser of the films of Akira Kurosawa, be prepared to be
caught up in the lavish video game that is "Star
Wars--Episode 1: The Phantom Menace."  While George
Lucas's current offering lacks the eye-opening novelty of the
first "Star Wars" shown in 1977 and the polished
sentimentality of Richard Marquand's "Return of the Jedi"
released six years later, this "Star Wars" engages by its
sheer variety of characters, many of whom perform in a
wonderfully stiff and mechanical style.  While there may not
be much to the theory that the entire "Star Wars" series
possesses mythic resonance, this version, like all others, has
its share of warfare, scientific gobbdygook, spirituality and a
grandly epic style.  One of the scenes--that of a pod race
which recalls the writer-director's youth as a racer and fan of
hot rods--is as stunning as any car chase you've seen in
"Ronin," and one of the characters, Jar Jar Binks, will delight
the young 'uns demonstrating more pratfalls than Chevy
Chase and a stranger language than Mrs. Malaprop's.

   Perhaps there's no need to compare 1999 Lucas with the
guy that broke new ground twenty-two years ago with the first
of the "Star War" series.  We've heard that the current
offering does not match up to the prototype in terms of plot
development and witty interludes, but oh, those special
effects! Ninety-five percent of scenes utilize digital creations
which in the not-too-distant future could threaten the small
percentage of actors that actually can find work in Hollywood. 
Automation has hit the cinema so hard that theatrical director
Gordon Craig's theories could eventually be realized.  In the
early part of this century, Craig, frustrated that actors
constantly thought to exalt themselves by ignoring the
director and casting their own impressions on their parts,
favored the use of superpuppets, or ubermarionettes. These
plastic figures would be capable of carrying out all demands
of the director.  While Lucas still depends on the voices of
real human beings, most of his characters--indeed, the more
interesting ones--are played by digital marvels.  Still, the
132-minute movie is dominated by four human beings--Liam
Neeson as Jedi knight Qui-Gon Jinn; Ewan McGregor as his
apprentice, Obi-Warn Kenobi; Natalie Portman as Queen
Amidala; and young Jake Lloyd as Anakin Skywalker.  But
their dialogue is often so wooden, their personalities so
bland, that our attention shifts easily to such inventions as the
aforemenetioned Jar Jar for comic relief, the adorable R2-D2
as a metallic robot with compassionate responses, the
eponymous phantom menace, Darth Sidious as a mysterious,
hooded figure who appears as a hologram, and arch-villain
Darth Maul, who engages the two heroes in the culminating
battle to the death.

   While a familiarity with the rest of the series is helpful, no
prerequisites are essential.  You can understand the plot,
such as one exists, by recalling your high-school history
lesson on the causes of all wars: nationalism, imperialism,
alliances, the arms race, and international anarchy.  For
nationalism, you have the brave citizens of the planet Naboo,
ruled by the courageous Queen Amidala (Natalie
Portman)--determined to ignore the advisers that suggest she
sign a treaty of virtual surrender to an invading force.  For
imperialism, count on The Trade Federation, a sinister energy
determined to humiliate that otherwise obscure planet in a
galaxy far distant from Earth. For alliances, look to the linkup
of the Jedi knights with the nine-year-old Anakin Skywalker
(Jake Lloyd).  The principal armaments are the laser pens
used with mastery by the Jedi knights and their nemesis and
an array of weaponry that appears low-tech by contrast.
While a galaxy-wide body exists to oversee territorial
violations, its leader is a weak chancellor who--like those in
our world today who take a pusillanimous stand of neutrality
in the face of ethnic cleansing--is fearful of upsetting the
status quo.

   What is called "Episode I" actually takes place three
decades before "Episode IV--a New Hope." The Naboo queen
is held captive by the Trade Federation, which has sent a
squadron of ships to the planet, and its honchos are
determined to have her sign a treaty of surrender.  Like
medieval knights who have pledged their lives to the defense
of womanhood, Jedis Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) and Obi-
Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) take off to rescue her.  The
Federation may have the uniformly obedient droids as its foot
soldiers--all under the precise management of a control ship--
but they will prove no match for the combination of the Jedis
and the youthful Anakin Skywalker.  (Those who follow the
series will recall that this young man, who is being used as a
slave, will later marry Amidala, later to become the parents of
Luke and Leia Skywalker.)

   The cognoscenti in the preview audience who have
followed the epic series with more rapt attention than they
have given to "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey" cheered most
when familiar character re-appeared, individuals such as the
adorable R2-D2 and the most Martian of all personalities,
Yoda.  Who can blame them?  The only human being who
inspires true empathy is Pernilla August who, as the mother
of Anakin Skywalker is torn by her desire to keep her boy by
her side until he is of age and her wish that he be freed from
bondage by the brave and noble Jedis.  Ewan McGregor is a
fine actor who had turned in a poignant performance in the
British comedy "Brassed Off" but despite his educated and
resonant voice cannot mine the depths of Obi-Wan Kenobi's
character as did his predecessor, Alec Guinness.  Liam
Neeson, who gave life to Oskar Schindler in Steven
Spielberg's "Schindler's List," is pale and wan this time
around.  Natalie Portman will be remembered primarily for
her succession of royal costumes, though she does exhibit
reasonably solid chemistry with Jake Lloyd, who is himself
the predictably darling movie kid.

   The vast array of digital images is at once a tribute to the
level of technology that Hollywood has brought to the world's
cinema and an unfortunate symbol of the glut that must be
projected to a young audience to keep the targeted market
involved.  Adults will more likely appreciate the less cluttered
beauty of the desert scenes, while game fans will happily go
frenzied gazing at the astounding multiplicity and variety of
creatures.  

   As Roger Ebert said in his review of the original "Star
Wars," the film was a technical watershed like "Birth of a
Nation" and "Citizen Kane" that influenced many movies that
came thereafter.  For better of worse, George Lucas ushered
in a barrage of megabudget movies that all but clobbered to
death the more personal films of the 1970s.  Happily there is
yet an abundance of such intimate works, both comic and
dramatic, silly and deep, on the indie circuit.  If movies are to
continue to survive and prosper against the fierce competition
of the VCR, the Internet, and video games, material of the
nature of "Star Wars" must reach out to those who would
otherwise substitute the privacy of the home for the
community of the movie theater.  For his contribution to the
continued prosperity of the cinema, we owe George Lucas a
debt of gratitude.

Rated PG.  Running Time: 132 minutes.  (C) 1999
Harvey Karten