

THE PHANTOM MENACE

A Film Review by Brian Takeshita

Rating:  *** out of ****

The opening crawl tells us that the galaxy is in turmoil over the
taxation of trade routes, and the greedy Trade Federation has used
it's armada of powerful space battleships to blockade the planet
Naboo.  We soon find that the Federation plans to invade the planet
with an enormous army of warrior robots and force Naboo's ruler, the
young Queen Amidala (Natalie Portman) to sign a treaty giving the
Federation control.  However, the galactic Republic has sent Jedi
Knights Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) and Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor)
as emissaries to the Federation in order to negotiate for the ending
of the blockade.  No sooner do they arrive than the Federation leaders
are instructed via holographic transmission by a mysterious cloaked
figure to destroy the Jedi, and the first battle begins.

It seems that for me and thousands of people like me, the love for
George Lucas's trilogy of  STAR WARS movies has only grown over time.
We're the fans, not the freaks.  We won't go dressing up like Darth
Vader (although you have to admit those Imperial uniforms are pretty
darn cool), and we won't incorporate lines from the script in our
everyday conversations (not all the time, anyway), but if someone
wants to challenge us to a little trivia contest, we're throwing down.
All right, stop looking at me like that.

We have been faithfully and patiently waiting.  Waiting for this movie
ever since the end credits of RETURN OF THE JEDI started to roll.  You
see, The Trilogy is not just a set of movies, but a religion of sorts
to we, the faithful disciples, and THE PHANTOM MENACE is tantamount to
the second coming of the Messiah.

Unfortunately, it is not Our Savior.  For weeks beforehand, I was
going around telling people that this movie had better be damned good
- stupendously good - miraculously good.  Anything less and it'll be
the biggest disappointment of the century.  I didn't want the
doomsaying prophecy to come true, really I didn't, but this film
nevertheless fails to reach the pinnacles of filmmaking.

Character development is virtually nonexistent.  With the possible
exception of Qui-Gon, most of the film's characters seem left with
nothing to do but go through the motions.  None seem very affected by
their experiences, and few even show any passion at all.  Contrast
this with the horribly irritating comic relief we are nearly
continuously subjected to in the form of Jar Jar Binks, a creature
belonging to a race which lives in underwater cities on Naboo, in
precarious symbiosis with the land dwellers led by Amidala.  Jar Jar's
life is saved by Qui-Gon early in the film, and travels with our
heroes for the sole reason of making us laugh (or supposedly so).  His
speech mannerisms are so "cute-ified" that I couldn't understand a
third of what he was saying, and the slapstick he performed was just
distracting.  His head gets caught in an electronic field, his foot
gets caught in the stirrup of some large beast, he describes being in
trouble as "deep doo doo," and even manages to step in some of the
same while walking around in Mos Eisley Spaceport.  Therein lies a key
difference between this film and one of its predecessors.  In STAR
WARS, we had Obi-Wan telling us Mos Eisley was a "wretched hive of
scum and villainy."  In THE PHANTOM MENACE, we get doo doo.

The films of The Trilogy took me away from my everyday life and
immersed me in a story "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...."
This film, on the other hand, constantly reminds me that it's only a
movie by including situations and phrases that are so uniquely modern
American that they seem incredibly out of place and serve to jerk the
viewer from the experience.  Perhaps the most blatant offense occurs
during a scene where young Anakin Skywalker enters into a pod racing
competition (it's kind of like chariot racing with large engines
instead of horses), and there are a couple of commentators in a press
box delivering Indy 500-like play by play.  I liked the pod race; it
was really exciting and ratcheted the tension, but when the heck did
Lucas think up the idea of putting in the sportscasters?  The race
would have been even more exciting without the distraction.  This
aspect, coupled with the emphasis on humor simply baffled me.  I
suppose one may say that Lucas was trying to appeal to the younger
viewer, but would more intelligent scenes and dialog hurt this appeal
at all?  Didn't millions of youngsters still go back to see the
original STAR WARS in 1977 over and over again?  Didn't the action
figures still sell like hotcakes?  Of course they did, and it's only
poor judgment that allows the most-eagerly awaited film in history to
be marred by pandering to children who would still have enjoyed a film
with more appeal for adults.

One aspect that will appeal broadly, however, is the use of special
effects.  The people at Lucas's Industrial Light and Magic, the
world's premiere effects house, outdid themselves in providing
seamless integration of computer-generated images and real-life
footage.  Some of the scenes have to be seen to be believed,
especially the shots of a land battle between the Federation's robot
army and Jar Jar's countrymen.  The space battles are also impressive,
although improved over past efforts by only subtle margins to the
casual observer.  This, however, is a testament to the work which ILM
produced two decades ago and still holds up well today.

John Williams is back, of course, providing a score for the film as
only he can.  His music is pervasive throughout, as rousing and as
dramatic as ever, always serving to punctuate scenes noticeably and
appropriately.

Since this film is supposed to be the first installment in a
nine-episode story (STAR WARS, THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK and RETURN OF
THE JEDI being episodes four, five and six, respectively), THE PHANTOM
MENACE has the daunting task of setting up the origins of several
characters we know already, in addition to those with whom we
unfamiliar.  As a result, attention to history and characterization
was spread a little thin.  It would have been nice to get more in
depth with Yoda and Obi-Wan, for example, but given the fact that
there were several new characters to cover, it is understandable that
some of the development has been left for the next two films.

One of the new characters is Darth Maul, hailed as the new villain
with as much hype as marketing forces could muster prior to this
film's release.  In spite of the hype, Darth Maul is a character which
almost didn't have to be in the film, his role is so insignificant.
He has maybe three spoken lines (believe it or not, a second actor
voices the character) and the rest of the time just scowls and looks
mean.  With that working against him, he never has a chance at being
interesting and instead ends up an utter disappointment.

Lucas seems to have wanted to develop the spiritual nature of the STAR
WARS universe, something which has been prominent throughout.
However, he does so largely by paralleling the STAR WARS spirituality
with the bible, offering an easy out for story-writing and once again
bringing the viewer back to planet Earth with a real-life connection.
Oddly, while trying to capitalize on spirituality, Lucas at the same
time introduces the fact that mastery of The Force is dependent upon
having little Force-loving parasites in your body's cells.  This only
serves to de-mystify the workings of The Force a few notches by
offering a scientific connection.

Don't let me mislead you too far.  THE PHANTOM MENACE, by most
standards, is a good film.  It contains a lot of visual treats, sets
the stage for an epic story, gives us a bit of excitement here and
there, and even allows us to revisit some of our old friends.  It's
just that when held up to it's predecessors (and to not do so would be
unrealistic), this film simply pales.

Review posted May 20, 1999