Movie Review - Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace
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1999 / 135 Minutes / PG
Reviewed by Dale Nauertz
Just as some movies improve on repeat viewings, some also get worse. Such is the case with “The Phantom Menace”. It is amazing that something that was such a fun ride in the theater can prove such a disappointment in one’s own home.
Without the benefit of THX and a humungous screen, the film’s shortcomings become astoundingly obvious. I watched the film in total disbelief. This is it? This is the thing that was so fun I went to it four times? No, this can’t be it. Unfortunately, this IS it and, boy, after sixteen years… what a letdown.
The first thing that becomes painfully noticeable is the dreadful dialogue. Good dialogue crackles, adequate dialogue flows naturally, the lines in “The Phantom Menace” clunk. You can actually hear them hitting the floor. The sentences often do not even seem to connect with the one that came before it. “Are you completely brainless?” “I spec!” “The ability to speak does not make one intelligent.” Ouch! This sample should be included in a how-not-to-write-dialogue book. It’s the sort of thing that would be in a first draft but would be improved on later revisions. However, it’s in this finished movie.
Another problem: character motivation. There is none. Would Anakin’s mother go from being dead set against her son being in a pod race to telling everyone that he was their only hope within a minute? I don’t think so. And what about Darth Maul? Why is he evil? No reason is given. He simply is. If George had taken the time to back Maul’s malice up with a motivation, he may have been a better adversary. At first, I thought the fact that you had no idea how Darth Maul became Darth Maul or why he was doing what he was doing added an impenetrable sense of menace to things. Now, I just think that it demonstrates the laziness of the plot.
Characters from the old trilogy show up, and I was happy to see them there, but aside from R2D2 saving the Queen’s ship, they are given nothing to do. They are just there to remind us of the old movies, which were much, much better. They are like the cameo appearances in a “Cannonball Run” film, and they serve the plot even less.
Another problem was that George did not seem worried about acting quality when casting the movie. Yes, the old movies were not on a par with Citizen Kane where performance was concerned, but there were no actors as howlingly awful as Jake Lloyd (being a kid is no excuse, I can’t act either, but at least I don’t try to) or the man who plays the Queen’s chief of Security. You can actually see him watching for his cues.
The special effects are good, but the mouths of the creatures do not match to what they are saying as well as the old puppets did. And, speaking of the characters, everyone was so eager to hate Jar Jar that they forgot all about the Trade Federation. Their mock-Oriental patois is actually offensive. Not only that, but it is lame. It has no real purpose and it does nothing for the plot.
The pod race is still an impressive spectacle, the Galactic Senate is still amazing, and the scenes with the Jedi Council are the best of the movie. Watto is a wonderful little slimeball, I still like him, and he has the best lines. Liam Neeson does a fine job, considering the limits of his lines, and Ewan McGregor actually makes you believe that he IS a young incarnation of Alec Guinness. And the light saber fights are still a lot of fun. Although you can’t help but think that it would have been nice to see them kill something other than battle droids. That gets kinda old.
Once the novelty of seeing a new Star Wars movie wears off, what are we left with?
Ultimately, we are left with a cold, heartless mess. There are moments of that old magic still fluttering around in here somewhere, but they are few and far between. I liked it at first but, ultimately, I was left feeling as though I were swindled by a very good con man.
