Star Wars: The Phantom Menace (1999)
A Film Review by Mark O'Hara
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The verdict: my wife and two children and I liked it more than we thought we would.
With all of the hype surrounding the first episode of the 'Star Wars' saga, who would expect any mere human effort to succeed completely? Yes, we had heard lots of lukewarm reviews from critics - but hey, critics are not the main target audience of George Lucas. As for us, we were enthralled more than we were skeptical.
The premise we knew before going to view: LucasFilm's finely-tuned advertising had exposed us umpteen times to the main characters and their quest. At the heart is political intrigue: the huge Trade Federation has blockaded the small planet Naboo, whose queen is Amidala (Natalie Portman). Two shady heads of the Federation have already tried to assassinate the Jedi knights sent as ambassadors - Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) and his master, the hulking Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson). After the Jedis liberate the queen and her retinue, her highness appears before the galactic senate, complaining about the persecution of her tiny planet. What follows is a series of complications typical of the other installments. The underdog, equipped with cleverness and unfailing determination, faces off with the darker forces, equipped with superior numbers and weaponry. The hidden card is a supposed legend: the Federation lackeys report to a mysterious Sith lord named Darth Sidious. We discover that the Sith are in fact real, and that there are only two at any one time; Sidious' apprentice is named Darth Maul.
Really the plot is thin. Lucas is obliged to incorporate countless elements that had their genesis in episodes four, five and six - so many that there is little room for plot development, aside from the knights guarding the queen from being coerced into signing a treaty with the despicable trade ministers. Another necessary plot detail is the introduction of Anakin Skywalker. He's a slave boy on Tatooine, the planet where the Jedis have landed to repair their ship on the long voyage to Coruscant. The boy, played by Jake Lloyd, soon joins up with the venerable warriors. His advantage is that the Force seems incredibly strong within him. Qui-Gon (pronounced 'KWAI-GONE') recognizes this latent gift, and insists the boy become another apprentice. The plot detours into various complications, but it turns out that this boy has talents that belie his years.
On the whole, the movie has preserved a good deal of the light-heartedness and camp of the earliest treatment. True, there is not a character of Han Solo's ilk, nor of Chewbacca's; but the tone is light in the right places, and the pace does keep the interest it needs to keep. I had the impression that the plot would find better and grander settings sooner than it did. Hence my judgment that the first minutes could have moved faster, a la flicks in the 'Star Trek' series. The wandering plot builds, however, a series of wonderfully rich subtexts. We see an astonishing underwater city inhabited by the Gungans, the home of the computer-generated Jar Jar Binks. The other architectures are equally eye-catching: Amidala's Italian Renaissance palaces, for instance. It's true in this episode that the backgrounds - and thus the special effects - play an even greater role than they did in the other episodes. Perhaps this prominence is noticeable because some type of CGI appears in 95% of the shots; but perhaps it is because of some lapses in acting.
Jake Lloyd is cute, but some of his lines include the Beaver-like "Yippee!" Plus, in many scenes he looks like he's trying to act: the absence of contrivance is not yet perfected. Even worse, when Queen Amidala dons a disguise, dressing as the handmaid Padme, Natalie Portman delivers the most wooden style in the picture. She is much better as the subdued queen.
Then there is Liam Neeson as Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn. His bearing is always natural and stately, and he delivers his lines with the dignity and wisdom fitting his role. Qui-Gon is especially effective when chiding Obi-Wan, his apprentice who is almost a full-fledged knight. I'd argue that just as imposing a presence as Neeson is McGregor - this actor commands our attention in much the same ways as the originator of the role, Sir Alec Guiness; McGregor seems to have the solid demeanor of a host of British actors - Trevor Howard, even Claude Rains. In short, if you are reading this, Mr. Lucas, put more focus on the best actors that you probably already have in the bag for the next two films! Ewan McGregor should be the cornerstone of Episode Two. Finally, the baddest villain here is the physicality of Darth Maul, played by Ray Park. His evil stare is unmatched by the threatening visages of any other baddie in 'Menace'. The light saber fight - a three-way between Maul, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan - is perhaps the best small-scale combat footage in all of 'Star Wars'! (On the topic of combat, my son complained about the paucity of space dog-fights. I personally missed Wedge, who appeared in Episodes 4, 5 and 6.)
As for Jar Jar Binks, he is a wonder of computer animation, but does speak in a quasi-Carribean accent that makes him annoyingly marble-mouthed. He's an ineffectual side-kick, along as a guide as he owes a life-debt to Qui-Gon. He provides occasional comic relief, especially in a large battle with the Federation's droids. But, uh, Mr. Lucas, say it won't be Jar Jar who is the only Chewy wannabe in the next flick!
Some assorted tidbits of amusement: we get to see the origin of CP30, the droid voiced by Anthony Daniels. Typically, in his first acquaintance with R2D2, CP30 acts flustered over his nudity (his gold "coverings" are not yet installed). "Artoo" collects his laurels of heroism by saving the queen's ship, and later by acting as the rear-riding sentry in a craft filched by the precocious Anakin. A bigger bit of fun is the pod race, which has been compared to the chariot races in 'Ben Hur' (in keeping with the Biblical symbolism that pervades the narrative); this race is exciting and fast. The vehicles themselves are plain cool, uncontrollably dangerous - two jet-like engines with a cockpit suspended somehow behind them, a stream of neon electricity coursing about. Though it is gripping and displays Anakin's prowess as a pilot and thinker, the race does not play an important role in the plot - unlike the speeders in the forest of 'Return of the Jedi'.
Cartoonist Jim Borgman of the 'Cincinnati Enquirer' drew two teens emerging from a cinema showing 'The Phantom Menace': "The movie was good, but I liked the hype better," is what one says, which leads me to believe overexposure can hamstring the best of entertainments. But entertainment value is high with this episode, and I have to admire the PG rating. As parents of a girl nearly eleven, we would have had to compromise our usual enforcement of the ratings. Go to see 'The Phantom Menace' and do it in a theater first; it's never the same on a home screen.
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