made a grand sweeping entrance at the box office but ultimately failed to impress hardened fans or critics. Lucas may have appealed to younger audiences with his futuristic graphics showcase but 12 years later, how does the the beginning of this space opera hold up? Surprisingly well, actually.As the film opens to the iconic fanfare and the much-pastichéd wall of text introduces the basic premise it becomes evident that this new-age Star Wars is catering to a different audience entirely: gone are the cookie-cut villains and instant-story of good vs. evil. Enter instead a distinctly metaphor-ridden tale of the dastardly Trade Federation looking to invade the Republic protected planet of Naboo, unless negotiations are settled with great immediacy. Arriving aboard the Federations headquarters are two Republic commissioned Jedi Knights, Qui-Gon-Jinn (Liam Neeson) and Obi-Wan-Kenobi (Ewan McGregor), acting as diplomats to secure those negotiations but soon the Federation reveals its true nature in a lethal attempt to dispose of the Jedi.
Naturally these two Jedi escape and begin on an adventure to escort Naboo's Queen Amidala (Natalie Portman) in order to take her to the Republic Senate of Coruscant, halfway across the galaxy. Along the way they come across young Anakin Skywalker (Jake Lloyd) whose reflexes and skills display a potent concentration of Force-activity.
Now if you're an established fan of the Original Trilogy and none of the above makes any sense, don't worry. This is ain't your Daddy's Empire and all these ties are established in due course. If you've never seen a Star Wars at all, it might be worth starting with the original trilogy. Although Lucas attempts to explain the importance of the Force and the power that a Jedi Knight has (or what a Jedi Knight is at all) the original 1977 Star Wars (later titled Episode IV-A New Hope)
does a much better job and frankly, half the explanations are clearly aimed at a much younger audience and seasoned fans will pick up on many of the overtones and implications by default of being familiar with the original films.The themes explored in this instalment are interesting and intelligent, if not explored especially well. The relationship between the Trade Federation and the Republic is curiously close to young peoples perception of priorities from the 90's onwards, with materialism and politics becoming conflicting interests more and more as time goes on (although this notion has arguably been diminished by the rise of the Obama administration circa 2008, refreshing young opinions of political possibilities). Regardless,the extent of this comparison is limited by the nature of perception only and it doesn't seem especially likely that your local Virgin Megastores is going to deploy an army of droids into the heart of Ohio anytime soon. The sense of foreboding that all Star Wars fans will have about Anakin becoming a Jedi is glossed over by his 9 year old giddiness at being noticed by anybody at all and the Jedi Council more or less dismisses his abilities solely because he is too old to be trained as a Jedi as opposed to because any of them sense any real danger regarding the notion. Managing to discard these central themes so willingly, The Phantom Menace simply does not live up to any of the Star Wars films as an in depth space opera.
As an enjoyable sci-fi romp, Episode I is somewhat hit-and-miss. It's ultimately a bit too self serious, understandable when considering the dark arc that the Star Wars prequels need to pull off but there doesn't seem to be enough of a balance. Whenever we do get minor injections of humour it's usually at the expense of the Gungan creature Jar-Jar Binks. As an almost universally hated character (by established fans, anyway) perhaps the most impressive feat George Lucas pulls off with Episode I is managing to create a new type of racism, albeit one exclusive to the kingdom of nerds across the world. For what it's worth, although the jokes made at Binks' expense are usually utterly bland and without any real merit, the Gungan himself is not entirely intolerable. Perhaps the most suffering to be had throughout the run time of The Phantom Menace is at the hands of Jake Lloyd who whines his way through just about the entire movie. As great as actors such as Liam Neeson, Natalie Portman and Samuel L.Jackson (playing Jedi Council Master Mace Windu) are, Lloyd is so insufferable as Anakin that he forms absolutely no meaningful connections with any of these, or any other characters throughout the running time. When he's not whining, he's happy in that over-the-top fashion that only a child actor can produce and any attempts at creating cute humour with him is completely and utterly squandered.
The action in Episode I is remarkably sparse with perhaps two notable battles and one hover-pod race. Spread out across the 2 hour, 10 minute runtime, this leaves plenty of space in between for hardcore exposition,which the film dispels ad-nauseum but when it ramps up it's entirely worth noting that Lucas does a damn good job of maintaining the action. The podrace is nothing short of breathtaking and handled with an almost delicate flair that frankly he would have done well to extend to the over-wrought actors. The tension is ramped up during this race as inconsequential racers are smashed and blown to smithereens right up until the final moments. If not for the final lightsaber duel, this would have certainly been the most engrossing moment of the film.
But oh, that lightsaber duel. It was 16 years between Return of the Jedi and The Phantom Menace and Lucas goes out of his way with CG scattered everywhere from backgrounds to vehicles to half of the damn cast (and all of it holds up surprisingly well for a 12 year old movie, it's worth noting) but none of that especially matters in the face of the new and improved duels. The new technology must have made the 'saber effects particularly practical because the energy with which the cast hurl their energy swords around is utterly remarkable. There are tricks and stances, stunts and elaborate motions achieved in seconds of Episode I's finale that most people couldn't achieve if they were to dedicate their lives to practising the art. The fluidity of the motions is simply a sight to behold and I cannot credit the actors and stunt-people enough for stringing together what is still one of the most effective face-off's in movie history, as far as I'm concerned anyway. Extra credit goes to composer John Williams for his Duel of the Fates
track which adds an extra level of light-blasting punch to the proceedings.Ultimately, it is difficult to recommend Star Wars: Episode I-The Phantom Menace as a film, or even as an inclusion to the series. It attempts to play with current (for 1999) cultural attitudes and set up an atmosphere but never really achieves either. Perhaps with another set-piece or two, those flaws could be forgiven but ultimately, nothing can forgive the dire performance Jake Lloyd puts in, except perhaps for the updated lightsaber battles. In the end, it wasn't the new CG aliens that Lucas sold for gold, it was the good old fashioned swashbuckling, but with some fancy lights.
3/5
Also posted on Screened.com on 13th March, 2011
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