STAR WARS: EPISODE I - THE PHANTOM MENACE (1999)
Reviewed by George Wu
**1/2 (out of 4)
Like it affected others of my 20-something generation, Star Wars left its indelible impression upon me. It defined the ultimate goal of escapist cinema for the worse, though that was not George Lucas' intention. Star Wars came amidst attempts by other directors to make the Great American Film -- from Nashville to The Deer Hunter, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest to Network. But it was Lucas who succeeded, at least in the minds of the American public. And he did it with an (apparently) apolitical fantasy. Today, (attempted) apolitical fantasies are practically all Hollywood produces. Because this is the context that Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace arrives in, it is only special because it has been 16 years since the last Star Wars film.
Whatever one thinks of the original Star Wars, it did not lack what The Phantom Menace suffers from -- a strong sense of vision. Despite Star Wars' comic book-like origins, Lucas refused to play it for camp and for the most part, that worked. The lack of self-consciousness about the material helped make Star Wars feel new even though its story was not. Lucas loses that focus in Menace, which is entirely too cute and self-aware. R2-D2, C-3P0, even Jabba the Hutt are not here because of the demands of the story, but because they serve a sentimental purpose. The result is to make the Star Wars universe entirely too incestuous. It was bad enough that Lucas made Luke and Leia siblings in Return of the Jedi. Now we learn that Luke's father, Anakin, created Luke's later happenstance companion C-3P0 and that Anakin was also assisted by R2-D2 in his own fateful space battle. This is just too capricious. Seemingly taking part in every major event in galactic history, R2-D2 must be the Forrest Gump of the Star Wars universe.
Lucas' lack of focus leads to a very uneven motion picture. The story begins with two Jedi, Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) and his apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor), attempting to reconcile a (unspecified) conflict between the Trade Federation and the planet Naboo. After a failed assassination attempt against them by the Federation, the Jedi stowaway on ships bent on invading the planet. There they encounter the Gungans, amphibious creatures who inhabit an underwater city. The sole purpose of this meeting is to set up the Gungans for later in the plot, and as such this otherwise seemingly pointless encounter feels incredibly awkward. However, the worst thing to come out of this is that the Jedi get a Gungan companion named Jar Jar Binks. Jar Jar's sole purpose is to act as comic relief, but not only is he not funny, his perpetual jabbering is endlessly annoying. Jar Jar's reputation as the first fully-digitized character in a live-action film falls into the same category as The Jazz Singer's being the first talkie -- unmeritorious.
Too much of the time, Menace feels like its only going through the motions. Qui-Gon seems to take for granted that he can take Anakin (Jake Lloyd) from his mother (Pernilla August) and neither will object. When the time comes to do so, Anakin and his mother display only mild hesitation. This would have worked perhaps if the film had stressed their lives as slaves so that Anakin's mother would obviously want him to escape to a better life. As it is, the mother has some vague notion that Anakin is special, so why not put him in the hands of this Jedi she hardly knows? The whole scenario in which Qui-Gon gets Anakin under his wing is convoluted and could have been greatly simplified. The Menace script needed two more drafts.
Despite the obfuscated plot, the film feels very rushed. Establishing shots go by quickly, often wasting the effort that went into creating some stunning digital landscapes. The climax mirrors that of Return of the Jedi, intercutting among a lightsaber duel, a ground war, and a space battle, but the pacing is too frenetic. Although sporting supposedly superior special effects, these sequences are less involving than those in Jedi. This is particularly surprising with the space fight. This sequence suffers from the film not establishing how to accomplish the goal. When it is finally achieved (and who doubts that it would be), it happens completely by accident.
In terms of action, the highlight of Menace is the lightsaber duel in which Darth Maul takes on Qin-Gon and Obi-Wan. The choreography, taking note of Hong Kong cinema's recent influence in Hollywood, far surpasses that in the three previous Star Wars films. On the other hand, there seems to be far less at stake. Taking the conflict for granted, Lucas does not even have the antagonists speak to one another, thus lessening the emotional involvement over why they are fighting. In only a couple of instances during the duel do we even get a sense of momentum shifts. The beauty of the choreography takes precedence over who wins or loses.
None of the actors ever really get to let loose. They all feel too uptight. One of the problems is that they do not have an internal conflict, only an outside goal. In the original Star Wars, Luke yearned for more in his life but was also plagued by the self-doubt festered upon him by his uncle. Han Solo had to decide what was more important to him, money or risking his life to help others. The only internal conflict in Menace is Qui-Gon deciding whether to break the Jedi council's prohibition to train Anakin and this situation only arises halfway through the movie. Everyone else's main goal is to save Naboo. Characters who have no inner life are not very interesting.
Instead the focus should have been put on Anakin. Menace hints at his desire to free the slaves on Tatooine, but this is only spoken, not shown. Yoda cites Anakin's fear, but this too is enormously abstract. Unfortunately, Jake Lloyd would not have been up to the task to carry the film anyway. Like most American child actors, he overacts or is too self-conscious (which I blame on the watching of too much television acting). Compare Lloyd's performance to that of the children in the British Hope and Glory or the Swedish My Life as a Dog, and we see how much is wanting. Lucas does not help him by putting all sorts of 1990s colloquial expressions in his mouth, which will date the film quickly. (In general, the film is filled with bad dialogue.)
Anakin's relationship with the Naboo Queen, Amidala (Natalie Portman), also feels forced (no pun intended). While we know the two will eventually become Luke and Leia's father and mother, the strains of their caring for each other rings false when these two barely know each other. No chord is struck between them. Perhaps had Lucas given them the playful antagonism between Han Solo and Leia, this could have worked. As it is, their relationship is sterile.
All this said, the appeal in The Phantom Menace is simply that it gives us the first chance in 16 years to return to the Star Wars universe. In terms of fulfilling this nostalgia, from the opening fanfare to the lightsaber duel, Menace succeeds. Menace is also more of a stand alone story, a prelude to the "epic" events to come, like J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit. Luckily, Lucas can use Menace as a testing ground and learn from his mistakes for the next two installments, which will be desired all the more for the lackings in this one.
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