Star Wars - Episode I, The Phantom Menace (Full Screen Edition)Rating:
Release Date: 12 November, 2002 Retail Price: $19.98 OUR Price: $13.99 You SAVE: $5.99! Cast: Complete Cast (13 total) |
Star Wars - Episode I, The Phantom Menace (Full Screen Edition) Reviews
this movie is realy woopen tushy
this movie was very very very good darth mall i like sha sha binks i like and itwas very funny to
The Bad, The Ugly, And (Yes) The Good
What the Hell happened to Lucas?
How could he go from a wordy but brilliant writer/director to a creator of this dross? In recent years, I've decided that I've been too harsh on my initial views of "Phantom" (I guess seeing where he was finally going in "Sith" made me appreciate the little things in here more), however, this reassessment has NOT made me decide this film was in any shape "good" or measured up to "Star Wars."
Where to begin? Well, let's start with the bad. Lucas has obviously fallen in love with what can be done with CGI. The special effects in here, like the trial balloon effects he did in the reedited first trilogy, are breathtaking. He seemed to forget, however, that jaw-dropping vistas and lifelike illusions are no replacement for characters we care about and plot that actually make sense. A lot of people blame poor Jake Lloyd for being a bad Anakin, but he was all of 8 when "Phantom" was made. It was also his first major movie. A good director can make a zucchini passable and a child actor good. Lucas dropped the ball with him, though, and without proper mentoring, he probably felt like a real-life Dorothy dropped in an Oz not of his own making.
Oh, yes, let's not leave out the dialogue. Lucas has been known for his "wordy" characters, but here we go over the top with whole technobabble soliloqueys about "Midichlorians" and the Sith "having (their) revenge" with no subtext, no connection with any past that an "extended universe" virgin would undertand. And the hints of racism that permeate the whole production (the "chinee waiter" Trade Fed leader Neomoideans were only a start) hint at darker things to come, such as Jar Jar Binks.
Ah, Jar Jar Binks. The Ugly. Entire books have been written trying to surmise just what the Hell Lucas was thinking when he put this Stepinfechit/Mushmouth lovechild so prominently in an important chapter of his story. I have to admit that the CGI on him was first-rate - he really seemed to be with the human characters - yet he really was a horrorshow, as he mirrored all those happy, bouncing "House Negro" characters so prominent in '30s film. One has to wonder what photos of Ahmad Best Lucas has in his office safe to make him go along (and defend in interview after interview) with bringing Binks to shuffling "mesa okey-day boyos" life. And I was unfair to Bill Cosby's beloved character by comparing him with Binks, but really, doesn anyone even KNOW what the heck he's saying? Even Lucas probably isn't sure.
After all that crapping on "Phantom" (sorry if it was a bit much, but when I saw it in the cinema, I had such high hopes for it and they were bitterly shot down in flames, so it's hard to be kind), you'll probably wonder just what I see "good" in it. Well, actually, quite a lot - not "whole film" quantities, but enough to keep me from attempting to leave a "zero" as my rating. I can't deny the beauty of Lucas's worlds, even the desolate Tattoine, and he really knows how to create action sequences (the lightsabre duels and podrace sequence did recapture some of my childhood "wow"). The occasional bit of slapstick does bring a giggle to me, when they're not overused (too many flatulence/gas gags). But what saves the film is the cast. And what a cast it is - Ewan Macgregor as a youthful Obi-Wan, Liam Neeson as the grumpy-yet-caring Qui-Gon, and the beautiful Natalie Portman as Padme'. Brilliant and able to make us care about our folks despite - not because of - Lucas's hackwork.
So, the bottom-line; is it essential? I'd have to say, very-reluctantly, yes. We get to see the development of a sarcastic apprentice Obi-Wan and know he wasn't always all-wise. We get to see Qui-Gon bucking the Jedi system and showing a depth of compassion for his charges we'd need another half-hour of film time anywhere else (and with anyone else other than Neeson). And we get to see the last, painful moments of innocence from Anakin Skywalker (please, again, give young Jake a break. I thought he did well with what he had) before the coming fall.
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