

Star Wars:  The Phantom Menace (1999)

A Film Review by Mark O'Hara

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The verdict:  my wife and two children and I liked it more than we thought 
we would.

With all of the hype surrounding the first episode of the 'Star Wars' saga, 
who would expect any mere human effort to succeed completely?  Yes, we had 
heard lots of lukewarm reviews from critics - but hey, critics are not the 
main target audience of George Lucas.  As for us, we were enthralled more 
than we were skeptical.

The premise we knew before going to view:  LucasFilm's finely-tuned 
advertising had exposed us umpteen times to the main characters and their 
quest.  At the heart is political intrigue:  the huge Trade Federation has 
blockaded the small planet Naboo, whose queen is Amidala (Natalie Portman).  
Two shady heads of the Federation have already tried to assassinate the Jedi 
knights sent as ambassadors - Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) and his master, 
the hulking Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson).  After the Jedis liberate the queen 
and her retinue, her highness appears before the galactic senate, 
complaining about the persecution of her tiny planet.  What follows is a 
series of complications typical of the other installments.  The underdog, 
equipped with cleverness and unfailing determination, faces off with the 
darker forces, equipped with superior numbers and weaponry.  The hidden card 
is a supposed legend:  the Federation lackeys report to a mysterious Sith 
lord named Darth Sidious.  We discover that the Sith are in fact real, and 
that there are only two at any one time;  Sidious' apprentice is named Darth 
Maul.

Really the plot is thin.  Lucas is obliged to incorporate countless elements 
that had their genesis in episodes four, five and six - so many that there 
is little room for plot development, aside from the knights guarding the 
queen from being coerced into signing a treaty with the despicable trade 
ministers.  Another necessary plot detail is the introduction of Anakin 
Skywalker.  He's a slave boy on Tatooine, the planet where the Jedis have 
landed to repair their ship on the long voyage to Coruscant.  The boy, 
played by Jake Lloyd, soon joins up with the venerable warriors.  His 
advantage is that the Force seems incredibly strong within him.  Qui-Gon 
(pronounced 'KWAI-GONE') recognizes this latent gift, and insists the boy 
become another apprentice.  The plot detours into various complications, but 
it turns out that this boy has talents that belie his years.

On the whole, the movie has preserved a good deal of the light-heartedness 
and camp of the earliest treatment.  True, there is not a character of Han 
Solo's ilk, nor of Chewbacca's;  but the tone is light in the right places, 
and the pace does keep the interest it needs to keep.  I had the impression 
that the plot would find better and grander settings sooner than it did.  
Hence my judgment that the first minutes could have moved faster, a la 
flicks in the 'Star Trek' series.  The wandering plot builds, however, a 
series of wonderfully rich subtexts.  We see an astonishing underwater city 
inhabited by the Gungans, the home of the computer-generated Jar Jar Binks.  
The other architectures are equally eye-catching:  Amidala's Italian 
Renaissance palaces, for instance.  It's true in this episode that the 
backgrounds - and thus the special effects - play an even greater role than 
they did in the other episodes.  Perhaps this prominence is noticeable 
because some type of CGI appears in 95% of the shots;  but perhaps it is 
because of some lapses in acting.

Jake Lloyd is cute, but some of his lines include the Beaver-like "Yippee!"  
Plus, in many scenes he looks like he's trying to act:  the absence of 
contrivance is not yet perfected.  Even worse, when Queen Amidala dons a 
disguise, dressing as the handmaid Padme, Natalie Portman delivers the most 
wooden style in the picture.  She is much better as the subdued queen.

Then there is Liam Neeson as Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn.  His bearing is 
always natural and stately, and he delivers his lines with the dignity and 
wisdom fitting his role.  Qui-Gon is especially effective when chiding 
Obi-Wan, his apprentice who is almost a full-fledged knight.  I'd argue that 
just as imposing a presence as Neeson is McGregor - this actor commands our 
attention in much the same ways as the originator of the role, Sir Alec 
Guiness;  McGregor seems to have the solid demeanor of a host of British 
actors - Trevor Howard, even Claude Rains.  In short, if you are reading 
this, Mr. Lucas, put more focus on the best actors that you probably already 
have in the bag for the next two films!  Ewan McGregor should be the 
cornerstone of Episode Two.  Finally, the baddest villain here is the 
physicality of Darth Maul, played by Ray Park.  His evil stare is unmatched 
by the threatening visages of any other baddie in 'Menace'.  The light saber 
fight - a three-way between Maul, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan - is perhaps the best 
small-scale combat footage in all of 'Star Wars'!  (On the topic of combat, 
my son complained about the paucity of space dog-fights.  I personally 
missed Wedge, who appeared in Episodes 4, 5 and 6.)

As for Jar Jar Binks, he is a wonder of computer animation, but does speak 
in a quasi-Carribean accent that makes him annoyingly marble-mouthed.  He's 
an ineffectual side-kick, along as a guide as he owes a life-debt to 
Qui-Gon.  He provides occasional comic relief, especially in a large battle 
with the Federation's droids.  But, uh, Mr. Lucas, say it won't be Jar Jar 
who is the only Chewy wannabe in the next flick!

Some assorted tidbits of amusement:  we get to see the origin of CP30, the 
droid voiced by Anthony Daniels.  Typically, in his first acquaintance with 
R2D2, CP30 acts flustered over his nudity (his gold "coverings" are not yet 
installed).  "Artoo" collects his laurels of heroism by saving the queen's 
ship, and later by acting as the rear-riding sentry in a craft filched by 
the precocious Anakin.  A bigger bit of fun is the pod race, which has been 
compared to the chariot races in 'Ben Hur' (in keeping with the Biblical 
symbolism that pervades the narrative);  this race is exciting and fast.  
The vehicles themselves are plain cool, uncontrollably dangerous - two 
jet-like engines with a cockpit suspended somehow behind them, a stream of 
neon electricity coursing about.  Though it is gripping and displays 
Anakin's prowess as a pilot and thinker, the race does not play an important 
role in the plot - unlike the speeders in the forest of 'Return of the 
Jedi'.

Cartoonist Jim Borgman of the 'Cincinnati Enquirer' drew two teens emerging 
from a cinema showing 'The Phantom Menace':  "The movie was good, but I 
liked the hype better," is what one says, which leads me to believe 
overexposure can hamstring the best of entertainments.  But entertainment 
value is high with this episode, and I have to admire the PG rating.  As 
parents of a girl nearly eleven, we would have had to compromise our usual 
enforcement of the ratings.  Go to see 'The Phantom Menace' and do it in a 
theater first;  it's never the same on a home screen.

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