

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

Director: 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, Kenny Baker, Anthony Daniels
Screenplay: George Lucas
Producers: Rick McCallum
Runtime: 131 min.
US Distribution: 20th Century Fox
Rated PG: mild violence, thematic elements

Copyright 1999 Nathaniel R. Atcheson

A fellow critic once stated his belief that a reviewer should not speak
of himself in his own review.  I've attempted to obey this rule in
recent months, but to do so would be impossible in this case.  The fact
is, nearly every person who goes to see The Phantom Menace brings
baggage in with them.  The original Star Wars trilogy means so much to
so many people.  For me, they calibrated my creativity as a child; they
are masterful, original works of art that mix moving stories with what
were astonishing special effects at the time (and they still hold up
pretty darn well).  I am too young to have seen Star Wars in the theater
during its original release, but that doesn't make me any less dedicated
to it.  On the contrary, the Star Wars trilogy -- and The Empire Strikes
Back in particular -- are three items on a very short list of why I love
movies.

When I heard that George Lucas would be making the first trilogy in the
nine-film series, I got exited.  When I first saw screenshots from the
film, well over a year ago, I embarked on a year-long drool of
anticipation.  And when the first previews were released last
Thanksgiving, I was ready to see the film.  But then there was the Hype,
the insane marketing campaign, and Lucasfilm's secretive snobbery over
the picture.  In the last weeks before the picture opened, while
multitudes of fans waited outside of theaters and stood in the boiling
sun days in advance just to be the first ones in the theater, I was
tired of hearing about it.  I was tired of seeing cardboard cut-outs of
the characters whenever I went to KFC or Taco Bell.  I just wanted to
see the movie.  Reader, do not misunderstand.  I did not have an
anti-Hype reaction.  The Hype was unavoidable.  I understand and accept
the Hype -- it's just what happens when the prequel to the most widely
beloved films of all time get released.  

Five minutes into The Phantom Menace, I knew there was a problem.  "Who
are these Jedi knights?" I asked.  "Why are they churning out stale
dialogue with machine-gun rapidity?"  "Why aren't these characters being
developed before their adventures?"  "Why is there a special effects
shot in nearly every frame of the entire film?"  These were just some of
my questions early on.  Later, I asked, "Where's the magic of the first
three films?" and "Why am I looking at my watch every fifteen minutes?' 
By the end of the film, I was tired, maddened, and depressed.

George Lucas has funneled his own wonderful movies into a pointless,
mindless, summer blockbuster.  The Phantom Menace is no Star Wars film. 
Take away the title and the Jedi talk and the Force, and you're left
with what is easily one of the most vacuous special effects movies of
all time.  It's an embarrassment.  I looked desperately for a scene in
which a character is explored, or a new theme is examined, or a special
effects shot isn't used.  There are a few of each, but they're all token
attempts.  The fact is, George Lucas has created what is simultaneously
an abysmally bad excuse for a movie and a pretty good showcase for
digital effects.  This is not what I wanted to see.  I didn't want to
leave The Phantom Menace with a headache and a bitter taste in my mouth,
but I did.

The story centers mostly around Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson, looking lost
and confused) and his apprentice, Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor, who
scarcely has a line in the film) and their attempts to liberate the
people of the planet Naboo.  Naboo is the victim of a bureaucratic war
with the Trade Federation; their contact on Naboo is Queen Amidala
(Natalie Portman), the teenage ruler who truly cares for her people. 
After picking up Jar Jar Binks (a completely CGI character, voiced by
Ahmed Best), they head to Tatooine, where they meet young Anakin
Skywalker (Jake Lloyd) and his mother (Pernilla August).  Qui-Gon knows
that the Force is strong with young Anakin, and so the Jedi Knights take
the boy with them on their journeys.  The bad guys are Darth Maul and
Darth Sidious, neither of whom have enough lines to register as
characters.

There isn't anything particularly wrong with this story when looking at
it in synopsis form.  The way Lucas has handled it, however, it
unsatisfactory.  First of all, we don't learn one single thing about
Qui-Gon Jinn.  Not one thing.  What was his life like before this film? 
Well, I imagine he didn't have one.  That's why he feels like a plot
device.  This probably explains why Neeson looks so hopeless in the
role, and why he's recently retired from film (I don't blame him,
honestly).  Obi-Wan, a character I was really looking forward to
learning more about, is even less interesting.  McGregor has just a few
lines, so anyone hoping to see the engaging young actor in a great
performance is urged to look elsewhere.  Since these two men are the
focus of The Phantom Menace, Lucas has served us a big emotional void as
the centerpiece of his movie.  

Things start to pick up when our characters reach Tatooine; young
Anakin is perhaps the only truly fleshed-out character in the film, and
Lloyd does a thoughtful job with the role.  I was also hugely impressed
with the sand speeder scene; rarely is an action sequence so fast and so
exciting.  And when Anakin says goodbye to his mother, I found it
moving.  Also fairly good is Portman, and she manages to give a little
depth to a character where no depth has been written.  Jar Jar Binks is
one of the most annoying characters I've ever had to endure, but he's
more interesting than most of the humans.

As soon as the relatively-brief segment on Tatooine is over, it's back
to the mind-numbing special effects and depthless action scenes.  I've
seen many movies that qualify as "special effects extravaganzas," but
The Phantom Menace is the first one I've seen that had me sick of the
special effects fifteen minutes into the movie.  The reason is obvious: 
George Lucas has no restraint.  I can't say that I didn't find the
effects original, because I did -- the final battle between Darth Maul,
Obi-Wan, and Qui-Gon is visually exceptional, as is most of the film. 
But I also found the effects deadening and tiresome. 

My breaking point was near the end of the picture, as Anakin is getting
questioned by Yoda and the other Jedi masters; in the background, we see
hundreds of digital spaceships flying around through a digital sky, and
I wanted that to go away.  Can't we have one stinking scene that isn't
bursting at the seems with a special effects shot?  I got so sick of
looking at the CGI characters and spaceships and planets and backgrounds
that I really just wanted to go outside and look at a physical landscape
for a few hours.  

And then there's the question of magic.  What was lost in the sixteen
years between The Phantom Menace and Return of the Jedi?  I have a
feeling that Lucas was so focused on how his movie looked that he forgot
entirely the way it should feel.  John Williams' familiar score is no
help, nor is Lucas' direction.  I think it comes right down to
characters:  there are none here.  I longed for the magnetic presence of
Han, Luke, and Leia, but I got no such thing.  And what about the
ridiculous expectations?  Mine weren't that high; I simply wanted a film
that showed me the roots of the films that I grew up loving, a story
that had a few characters and a few great special effects.  Instead, I
got two hours and fifteen minutes of a lifeless and imaginative computer
graphics show.  I don't hate The Phantom Menace as much as I resent it: 
I'd like to forget that it exists, and yet I can't.  It's here to stay. 
I can only hope that Episodes II and III have something of substance in
them, because if they don't, then Lucas will have pulled off the
impossible task of destroying his own indestructible series.

Psychosis Rating: 3/10
 
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