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Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999): Written and directed by George Lucas. Starring: Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Jake Lloyd, Ian McDiarmid, Ahmed Best and Ray Park. Rated PG (Blasters, lightsabers, the usual). Running time: 133 minutes.
3 stars (out of four)
The first Star Wars
prequel was in an unenviable position in 1999. By some cultural fluke, George
Lucas’s films about a galaxy far, far away had become an absolute phenomenon
and two decades later, diehards and new fans alike prepared to sit in theaters
and watch the first of three new movies in the series. No other film has had to
endure these levels of anticipation, and the hype surrounding Episode
I will surely never be replicated. The
Phantom Menace was perhaps destined to
disappoint many, thrill others and set box office records regardless.
Now that ample time has passed and the prequels have jelled
into our collective cultural consciousness much as the original trilogy has, we
may look at the film for what it really is. Forget comparing the movie to its
predecessors. Throw away any preconceived notion of what it should have been. Taken on its own terms, Episode
I is a flawed but undeniably entertaining
movie boasting a lighthearted tone and a wonderful sense of invention.
We meet a young Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) as he nears
the end of his Jedi knight training under Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson). The two
have been sent to the planet Naboo to investigate a political squabble. The
squabble soon turns into a full-scale invasion by the Trade Federation – a
nefarious organization led by a pair of green, robed, noseless aliens – and
Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan must protect Naboo’s leader, the young and beautiful Queen
Amidala (Natalie Portman).
One thing leads to another and they are forced to stop on a
familiar planet (familiar to us, not them): the desert world of Tatooine. There
they meet a precocious, little, slave boy named Anakin Skywalker (Jake Lloyd).
There is something special about the boy, Qui-Gon says. Those familiar with the
original trilogy know what Anakin’s future holds but for now he is simply a
gifted child. So gifted, in fact, that Qui-Gon decides to buy him from his
owner, Waddo (voiced by Andy Secombe), a winged creature with the schnoz of an
anteater, and take the boy on as a second apprentice.
Buying the boy will not be so easy though, Waddo explains.
Qui-Gon must win Anakin by betting on a podrace, a delightfully dirty (and very
dangerous) sport where racers fly hovering vehicles through canyons and caves.
Cheating and sabotaging other racers’ pods are not only allowed but apparently
encouraged too.
George Lucas and his team of designers and computer
animators let their imaginations run wild with this and every other scene in
the film. At every turn, Episode I offers
us some new, dazzling thing to look at and the sheer joy of taking it all in is
intoxicating. I have not yet even mentioned Darth Maul (Ray Park), the silent,
shadowy villain with red and black face paint and horns on his head who stalks
our heroes. Or the majestic, underwater world of half-fish people who live in
giant bubbles. Or the city so big it takes up an entire planet.
The Phantom Menace is
a cheerful adventure that hops from one richly detailed world to another. Is
the film’s tone sometimes childish? Sure, but that’s no problem since Mr. Lucas
has elected to make a children’s film. One that has the ability to draw you
into its playful world if you allow it to. (The much-despised Jar-Jar Binks
(Ahmed Best), a resident of the aforementioned underwater world, is a grating
presence, that much I will concede, but no less so than any other goofy, kids’
movie sidekick.)
If the movie is truly aimed at younglings, however, why is
it bogged down with convoluted political exposition? The opening scroll refers
to a tax dispute and trade blockades. There are senators and chancellors
debating the galactic legality of the Trade Federation’s actions. Surely Mr.
Lucas cannot expect children to follow these scenes, much less enjoy them.
Can’t the bad guys just be bad guys for the heroes to defeat?
On top of this, the script is encumbered by clumsy,
hackneyed dialogue. Mr. Lucas’s strength never was for writing dialogue but
this lack was never as apparent in the original trilogy as it is here. The
actors deliver their lines in bland, overly serious, faux-fancy talk, looking
less animated than the ubiquitous CGI surrounding them.
In another film these issues would be damning. That the film
is still a lot of fun in spite of these problems is a testament to the strength
of its action. The finale, a sort of Star Wars Greatest Hits that intercuts a lightsaber fight, a space battle, a
ground war and a stealthy break-in, is thrilling enough to make you forget all
those dull scenes in the Senate and ends the film on a high note.
Is the movie as good as the old ones? Does it have to be? I
am inclined to say that Episode I falls
more in line with George Lucas’s original vision for Star Wars than perhaps some fans are willing to admit. His
original inspiration came from the serialized space operas of pulp magazines
and The Phantom Menace offers
many of the same pleasures as those adventure stories: strange planets, heroic
rescues, epic battles and more than a little cheese. The film might have
benefited from trimming the politics and a few dialogue rewrites but these are
not serious detriments because the plot is not what is on display here. This is
a movie infatuated with its own bright, colorful, zippy self and, now more than
ever, I am all too happy to succumb to its gleeful pleasures.
- Steve Avigliano, 2/9/12
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