The Phantom Menace is not a bad film. It’s not a good one
either. Its “meh”. Described by Screen Junkie’s “Honest Trailer” series as “The
biggest letdown in movie history” the film has received a reputation as an
abomination, proving that Lucas either lost it or never had it in the first
place and got lucky because he was forced to work with people who could keep
him in check. And this movie is a letdown. I still feel let down every time I
watch it. Compared to the original trilogy it is incredibly subpar—filled with
bad decisions on the part of the writer.
The movie stars with a Jedi investigation into a trade
blockade over the planet of Naboo. The blockade soon turns into an invasion and
the Jedi are forced to flee the planet with the queen. Landing on the planet of
Tatooine for repairs they encounter Anakin Skywalker: a young slave who is unusually strong in
the force. Heading back to the capital of Coruscant, the Queen finds that the
senate is corrupt, incompetent and unable to aid her planet. After calling for
a vote of no confidence in the chancellor she heads back to Naboo in an attempt
to liberate her people. Bringing together an army of Naboo security officers
and native Gungans she leads an attempt to retake the capital from the Trade
federation and their secret patrons the Sith.
Just reading the description would wouldn’t think there was
anything particularly wrong with the movie. The fault lies more in the execution.
The choice to make Anakin a prepubescent child often means his dialogue and
role in the story come off as awkward. The choice to include the “likeable”
fool Jar Jar Binks as a main character mires the story in juvenile humor. Everything
about Queen Amidala is weird, the fact she was elected ruler of a planet at age
13, the makeup, the sub plot where she poses as her own handmaiden, it’s all
weird. Perhaps the worse choice in the movie was how horribly underused Darth
Maul is. We get one brief fight, one much longer fight and almost no dialogue.
Contrast to Vader who is constantly menacing everyone throughout the original
trilogy we can see how the opportunity was lost to use this fan favorite. All
these things could be fixed with only minimal changes to the story itself.
The Star Wars prequels of notorious for their CGI. There
actually are some practical effects in this film but the movie does have a
digital sheen to it that sometimes gets in the way of enjoying it. This is yet another
weakness that has revealed itself with age. Much of the CGI just does not hold
up. The robots and ships are fine but CGI life forms are so obviously fake that
they look out of place with the real actors. Ironically Jar Jar is the most
glaring example of this. He sticks out like a sour thumb from the moment he
appears.
The acting is alright. Most of the actors are trying, but
were given lines which no one could make natural. Many attacked Jake Loyd for
his performance of Anakin Skywalker but the kid didn’t do bad considering what
he had to work with. Most of the bad acting could have been fixed by better
directing and an editor taking an axe to some of the dialogue.
The biggest weakness of The Phantom menace is pacing. The
movie starts out fast paced but quickly slows down once they escape Naboo.
Anakin isn’t introduced for a half hour and Tatooine drags on for nearly an
hour without any fighting. This leaves a big boring hole in the middle of the
movie. Coruscant has even more talking and exposition, but unlike most I found
the political theater interesting, and while some mindless action would have
helped to focus my interest this segment of the movie wasn’t nearly as boring. The pod race scene on Tatooine was interesting, but far from my cup of tea. IN my opinion it just doesn't make up for the rest of that segment of the movie.
On the
plus side Phantom Menace does have great fights. Light sabers are a lot more fun to
watch than blaster battles. The light saber fights were also expertly
choreographed. The battle of Naboo pales in comparison to the battle of Yavin
or Endor in terms of impact it is at least at least watchable. Also on the plus is some of the design and music decisions
which really add to the movie. The ships look cool, the fight music is
excellent. The peripheries were strong.
The universe was set up perfectly for an epic movie. it was the follow through that failed: a lesson that great world building and effects does not a great movie make.
Overall The Phantom Menace is watchable. If it hadn’t come from the
creator of the original trilogy it would even be something to be proud off. Unfortunately
it just doesn’t live up to moves like The Empire Strikes back and A New Hope. It’s
manly the contrast with these masterpieces which is so disappointing. It’s
worth watching, if you like Star Wars otherwise just leave it be.
6 out of 10
-Gedaemon
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