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STAR WARS: Episode 1 The Phantom Menace
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Well I was lucky enough to make it in to the new Star Wars film opening weekend and for someone who has waited the majority of his life for a return to that galaxy far, far away I found the experience rather anti-climatic. I have to admit that when the Lucasfilm logo sparkeled on the screen and the crowd rose to an applause I felt my whole body tingle in anticipation. As whole, the movie is entirely satisfying, but does not live up to the enourmous hype that led up to it's release.
The first half of the film drags as Lucas sets us up for a rollercoaster of finale. This is forgivable because the last half hour of The Phantom Menace is a visual tour de force of the likes that has never been seen before.
This film's entry into the alien side kick department is Jar Jar Blinks, an amphibious annoyance whose speech is barely coherent. This is a problem with a lot of the creatures in TPM, some of their speech is babble that is indistinguishable from actual words. I found this confusing because you had to strain your ears to tell what they are trying to say. This becomes very tiresome since Blinks and the other Gungans are given so much screen time.
Another flaw is young Jake Loyds portrayl of the future Darth. His lines sound as if they were dubbed into the film. Can you really blame him though? Lucas has an incredible visual imagination but he has lacked focus in expressing his characters in their words. Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor succeed in making their characters transcend their under-written parts through their veteren skills.
Another disapointment is the untimely departure of the excellent Darth Maul. Maul, although he is given hardly any lines, instantly becomes the best bad guy in the Star Wars universe and one of the greatest in cinematic history. He is visual character anyway, and one that will be missed in episodes II and III.
All criticism aside, the final battle is nothing but heart stopping excitment. We can even forgive the absurd Gungan battle scene. Which is the equivelant of Mel Gibson's rowdy scotts in Braveheart taking on the entire Third Riech. Though the Gungans(think of them as amphibious ewoks) are nowhere near as entertaining as a bunch of vulgar, medievals. Completly ridiculous, but still entertaining in a guilty way. Nothing tops the spectacular lightsaber duals that steal the entire film. Theses scenes blow the previous three films away, mostly because the original triolgy's battles were limited by Vader's bulky costume. Darth Maul is a much more agile villan and his double sided lightsaber is fantastic visual. Kudos to Lucas on that one.
In between action sequences the story is driven by politics and beurachracy that led to the creation of the empire. Senator Palpatine is excellent as a psuedo good guy with his own hidden agenda. This is not revealed in the film but anyone who has seen the trilogy should be able to make the connection between him and the emperor. The question is, is Palpatine Darth Sidicous or is the Sith Lord really someone else? If so, what is the connection between the two? There actually is a compelling and mature story hidden underneath a visual empathis, a lazy screenplay, and a cheasy, made for children 10 and under feel.
I once said that I would be happy even if Episode I was a pile of shit, as long as it was had something to tie it to the original triology. While nowhere near disapointed, I forsee bigger and better thing for the next two films which are supposedly much darker. Darker is better because in my opinion The Empire Strikes Back was the best of the originals. It will be a difficult three years now that our appitites has been wetted. So here are the numbers:
Overall: 8/10 still a must see.
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