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DVD : Star Wars - Episode I, The Phantom Menace (Widescreen Edition)

Rating: - Just as Great as the Originals.
As in many of my other reviews, I shall start by saying that if you have a problem with the new movies, whether it be acting, directing, ect; and you only like the "Old School" Star Wars, then you are no Star Wars Fan. As a true fan I love all the movies. Phantom is filled with action and starts the series with a huge KABOOM! There are no continuity problems and it explains much that was not told in the original three. This just as Episodes II, III, IV, V, & VI is a masterpiece and should not be under rated just because you are over critical. If anyone has any questions about the movie or my review just email me at RevanFormVII@yahoo.com. I am willing to answer any questions to make this the most helpful review you have ever read.

May the Force be with you,

RevAnakin

Rating: - Technically brilliant but flawed
Nana: My grandmother, Anne Gillis

Of the eighty quadrillion reviews written or televised about this eagerly awaited Star Wars prequel, most seem to have a common summary: The film is technically brilliant, stunning and innovative in its scope and visual computer-generated wizardry, but painfully slow, actually dull in some places, and has little or no character development and little human drama.

I was disappointed to learn that the critics are correct. But let's talk about the good stuff first.

First up, there isn't a word powerful enough to describe the amazing technological leaps that Lucas had made in computer magic. Of course, Lucas founded the Industrial Light and Magic special effects company that has created some of the most innovative, impressive and memorable effects in movies for the last two decades. What's amazing is that he keeps raising the bar - the effects just keep getting better.

A full 95% of the scenes in Phantom Menace have some degree of digital component, with live people interacting seamlessly with computer-generated characters. The fully-three dimensional landscapes and scenes are so realistic that you actually get vertigo. The Jedi temple and planet Coruscan scenes are breathtaking. Make no mistake, when it comes to cinematic breakthroughs, Lucas still sets the standards others are measured by.

The little touches in Phantom Menace are nice as well - the fact that spaceships and light-sabers cast shadows on the ground, that control panels are in an alien language and not English, that you actually see waterfalls flowing in obviously computer-generated vistas, all make for a more believable experience. Also, since this prequel takes place thirty years before the other Star Wars movie, Lucas made an effort to make the technology look a little more quaint and primitive. He succeeded.

The sets - the real ones not created by computer, such as the interiors of Queen Amidala's place - shot in a real palace in Italy, are awe-inspiring. Speaking of the queen, I liked Natalie Portman as Amidala. Not just because of the interesting accent she speaks in, and the cool costumes she wears, but this 17 year old is terrific in her role as the young ruler of the planet Naboo. The movie doesn't tell us, but we know from the hype, that Amidala is destined to marry Anakin Skywalker, the future evil Darth Vader, and give birth to the twins Luke and Lea, the heroes from the fist Star Wars movies. So it's great that there's chemistry between her character and young Anakin, played by Jake Lloyd. But we'll get to him in a Moment.

Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor are well-cast as the Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jin and his apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobie. Kenobie, or course, was played with style and flair by Sir Alec Guinness in the previous Star Wars movies, and McGregor does the younger version of the character justice while still making it his own. Unfortunately, neither character is given a lot to do. Kenobie, in fact, spends much of the first part of the movie on board a ship, making repairs and talking to Qui-Gon Jin on a futuristic communicator.

Samuel L. Jackson appears in a cameo as a member of the Jedi Council; he has a lot of presence on film and you end up wishing he had more to do in the film.

Unfortunately, there's a lot to dislike about the picture, and I'll start with the most aggravating, maddeningly irritating character I have ever seen on film: The computer-generated Jar Jar Binks, who is a silly, floppy-eared vest-wearing frog-man with an absolutely incomprehensible accent. This character, supposedly played for laughs, hurts the film, and gives an infinitely greater weight to the word "annoying" than anything imaginable. This "comic sidekick" character detracts from the main story so severely that I honestly considered walking out twenty-minutes into the film.

And what's the deal with the new villain, the devil-faced Darth Maul? We get no insight into this character whatsoever, except that he is obviously a very bad man with extremely fake-looking horns glued to his head, and that he's very adept with a light-saber. Beyond that, nothing.

The battle scenes featuring entire battalions of computer generated robots and characters is breathtaking in scope, but quickly becomes a little boring. There simply isn't anything compelling about watching thousands of robots and unreal characters being killed or exploding. It's a big video game with no human connection, and really no reason to care what happens. In fact, the battle scenes are so massive and complex that the mind occasionally wanders with thoughts of, "This must have cost a lot of money to make." When one lengthy battle scene ended, I almost expected the screen to flash "GAME OVER, insert 25 cents to play again."

My biggest disappointment in the film is the waste of the character of Anakin Skywalker. This has nothing to do with actor Jake Lloyd, who plays the young version of the dark lord. Lloyd is very likable, and although his character seems written to be almost a "Home Alone" cute-as-pie moppet, you never get annoyed with him because he's interesting: He loves his mother, is tough but vulnerable, can fix any machine, can build androids like C3P0, and pilots a pod-racer like Mario Andretti.

And that's the biggest problem--We know that he'll grow up to be Darth Vader. But we don't believe it. Not for a second. It makes no sense. The kid is pure sugar, all "Gee-Whiz, Mom, can I go be a Jedi, yippee!" and there isn't even a HINT of a darker side - he never even throws a temper tantrum. This kid should be on TV, hawking Grape Juice.

Yes, the two planned sequels will deal with Anakin's transformation from good to evil, but the transition would be more believable if we saw even a glimmer of the evil that is to come. All we get is Jedi Master Yoda's cryptic feeling that the boy is dangerous. We know he'll be evil. This movie should have at least given is a glimpse of WHY. A hint. As "Austin Powers" Doctor Evil says, "Throw me a bone here!"

No doubt Phantom Menace will make hundreds of millions and Star Wars fans will see it in droves repeatedly. But remembering back to the amazing explosion of the original Star Wars film in 1977, how it changed the future of movie making, and having waited 16 years for the new sequel, I was expecting a lot more story.

Much like the first Star Trek movie, which had a weak plot and was bogged down by endless special effects, Phantom Menace could have been so much more if the special effects had been pared down a notch in favor of more character development and human drama. A little more humor wouldn't have hurt either. The incredible visuals and good acting simply aren't enough to carry a movie. The underlying story feels underdeveloped.

Parts II and III are better, but that is they say, another story.

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Rating: - Frustratingly flawed
Any film awaited with the kind of hyped eagerness as THE PHANTOM MENACE, George Lucas' first STAR WARS installment in sixteen years, would have had a hard time convincing audiences and critics. However, even given that, the film is a miscalculation on George Lucas' part. Clearly, Lucas wanted to start his saga on a lighter note as a contrast with the dark deeds he had waiting in the wings for the next two "prequels." The problem is that he went too far. MENACE plays like an expensive Saturday morning kids' TV program. I can't help notice that many users have the same comment: "my five-year-old loved it." As a childrens' film, it may be successful--though I can't imagine kids following all the political goings-on or not being disturbed by the image of the slave-child Anakin being torn from his enslaved mother--a motive that is never resolved satisfactorily. For adults, MENACE doesn't hold together. The comedy is too prevalent and juvenile--including bits of "poo-poo humor" and the most hackneyed of slapstick gags--for any of the serious elements to work. It is typical to regard the CGI creation Jar Jar Binks as emblematic of the problems. But really, Jar Jar, however irritating he is, sets the tone of the film--a kids' movie--more than anything else. It is the tone itself that is the problem: it is unsuitable for the beginning of a monumental saga whose last three chapters (the first filmed: STAR WARS, EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, and RETURN OF THE JEDI) are iconic and have long been part of our common cultural language.

The core of the prequel trilogy is the rise and fall of Anakin/Darth Vader, but the Anakin we see in MENACE, as weakly played by Jake Lloyd, is far too young, even if some lines convey a certain awareness. Moreover, the age difference between him and Padme (Natalie Portman) makes an attraction troubling if he's eight when she's about sixteen in MENACE. Of course, in the next film, they reduce the difference: she only seems about twenty to Anakin's nineteen, so the issue disappears.

Lucas also introduces an idea which is very unfortunate indeed, in that it demystifies the Force as something which, as Alec Guiness's Obi-Wan describes it in STAR WARS (1977), "surrounds us and penetrates us, binding the universe together." In MENACE, it is reduced to the overabundance of "midi-chlorians" in the blood, making Jedi status a superior race, reminiscent of the horrible, crackpot, racist (and Nazi) eugenics theories of the early 20th century.

In short, THE PHANTOM MENACE could have been far superior with certain elements corrected, re-balanced, or eliminated. But Lucas didn't see it. As it stands, it would have been better as a half-hour introductory short to ATTACK OF THE CLONES.

---

Rating: - In the Beginning, there was The Phantom Menace!
This is the film that people who are new to the Star Wars Saga should view first, after all, it is Episode I. Those familar with history, and have a passion for science fiction, should find The Phantom Menace as George Lucas' masterpiece, as it truly is. And the good part is that it keeps getting better, as there are five more chapters in Lucas' Epic that add on to this piece. A true Triumph!

---

Rating: - Star Wars Episode I, The Phantom Menace
Though it is not the first Star Wars film in many peoples minds, it is in mine. Here's my review for Star Wars Episode I, The Phantom Menace.

The Phantom Menace does not try to be anything it isn't, the film is overshadowed by the creepy, elusive, and demonically tattooed Darth Maul, that will scare the crap out of kids who have come to see something along the lines of Harry Potter. The ending battle is not overblown, and it also ends up being fairly fun to watch.

Besides some weak acting the only prominent error in the film resides in one name.

Jar Jar Binks

This stupid and irritating characters next to destroys every scene he's in, with his crontroversial manner of doing things (which some seem to believe is a Jamaican steretype, which might very well be true), his stupid way of talking and his clownish appearance he succeeds in irritating the audience to death.

Besides this major flaw, this is a fun movie that I recommend, and a good start to a very good sci-fi epic.

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