

Star Wars I-  The Phantom Menace (Review)

**** Stars out of ****

Short Background/ Why Star Wars fans SHOULD love this Movie

    I would like to personally start off by mentioning that I am NOT a
die hard Star Wars fan and have never been one.  I did enjoy the
original trilogy, but I found Empire Strikes Back (1980) to be one of
the most boring films of all time as no one really died and no special
"war" took place.  The whole Hoth scene was simply filler.  I think
people have been mystified by the unbelievable relevation "Luke, I am
your father!" and have gone ga-ga over it more than anything else  As
for Return of the Jedi, I think my enjoyment quickly ended when Teddy
Ruxpin and his buddies started slugging the empire.  I mean, come on!  I
was laughing my way through the whole thing.  That leaves us here,
almost sixteen years later.  Would Star Wars go back to its cutsie roots
from Jedi or bore us to sleep like Empire?  I am happy to say,
definately NEITHER.

The TRUTH

    Star Wars: The Phantom Menace has to be considered one of the best
films of the year, definately better than the last two sagas.  I mean,
think about this:  There were REAL ACTORS in this film!! Sit back and
think about it: Mark Hamill has done nothing since the trilogy and
Carrie Fisher has disappeared off the face of the earth too.  The only
actor of any merit who survived was Harrison Ford, and he hadn't learned
how to act by the original trilogy either.
     Liam Neeson and Ewan MacGregor were masterful in their roles and
kept me smiling the whole way through.  Ewan even mimiced Sir Alec to a
certain extent!  As for the rest, Natalie Portman did her job and little
Jake Lloyd was fine too.  I mean, did you really expect to hear those
infamous hissing noises from a little boy?  Give me a break...he played
the role very well.  Lastly, I really LIKED Jar-Jar Binks.  His so
called "accent" was not intentional in my humble opininon.  He was just
a little side kick who did his job.  For your information, I truly HATED
C-3PO from the original trilogy.  Talk about an annoying piece of space
trash!  All he could say was "You did it!" and "Oh my, Ive forgotten how
much I hate space travel" yada, yada, yada.  Let it go.  I let C-3PO go
too.
    What made this episode really special were the action scenes and
REAL intellectual stimulation.  Just in case you didn't catch it, (and
LOTS of you didn't, unfortunately) "Master" Darth Sidious IS the Emperor
from the first Trilogy and Senator Palpatine is one and the same.  That
is the whole concept of the Phantom Menace: Darth Sidious was the one
wrecking havoc on the Star Wars universe by making an issue out of an
otherwise non-important "trade" dispute and influencing Princess Amidala
to have himself promoted in the Senate.  Consequently, the victory on
the planet down below was a hollow one and probably "forseen!".  As far
as the action scenes, they were much better than the original trilogy as
well.  Darth Sidious may not have talked, but he was pure evil
nontheless.  As far as I am concerned, if Phantom Menace is heralding
similar sequels, I am happy for it.  If I wanted the original trilogy, I
would wish for bad acting and a silly, brainless love triangle in
space/evil father/ soap operal plot.  Phantom has none of the above.
What a fantastic film!!

-Brian Adelstein