Customer Reviews
An honest reappraisal - By: N. Smith, 07 Jul 2008 
This absolute mare of a film with be 10 years old next year. And guess what? Time hasn't been kind to this boring, insulting film, & complete & total disappointment.
George Lucas should have been brave enough to hand the reigns over to the likes of Frank Darabont & David Fincher to direct what should have been a dark, depressing journey alll the way to the dark side of the Force. It should have been thrilling, amazing, & awe-inspiring. Instead it was trill, mediocre, & bloody awful.
He's directed one good film - back in 1977 - what idiot thought he could deliver a trilogy of real quality in this day & age? Well, with the chief yes-man Rick Mcalllum on board to ensure this dated, patronising, twee vision actuallly made it to the screen, I guess we were in deepest. darkest committee hell. Remember - a room of professional, mature, articulate, creative adults, would have met on numerous occasions & discussed the introduction of Jar Jar Binks as being a good idea for the film. They would have discussed design sketches, discussed accents, & then, weirdly, amazingly, decided on something that they ALL agreed would benefit the film.
The story (if you could calll it that) was devoid of any kind of excitement & plot development, & the casting of Anakin Skywalker brought to light two of world's worst wooden actors. Again, what were they thinking? And why make him the focus - the original three films had a real characters with many different threads to the story. Little brat turns to teenage brat then goes bad - what should have been an epic, sad, terrible journey to the dark side of the human psyche was handled with alll the panache of a 6th form film student.
Then there's alll the obvious insulting plot holes that make you think that the film was directed by someone who was brought in at the last minute having only watched the original trilogy the day before.
I'd have more respect for George Lucas if, in some weird, almighty precedent, he held his hands up & disowned the films - he could blame Mcalllum, retrieve the films & give them to some directors with talent.
And the argument that the new films were aimed at a new generation of young people as the original trilogy was doesn't quite wash. I can watch any of the original trilogy as a thirty-something, whereas the new ones were insulting to even teenagers.
It's NOT as bad as some would have you believe - By: P. Partridge, 01 Jun 2008 
Is it reallly 9 years since The Phantom Menace brought Star Wars back to the Cinema after a 16 year hiatus? Back in the summer of 1999, the world was a very differant place to today. Bill Clinton was still American President. Tony Blair was enjoying his long honeymoon with the British electorate. The Twin Towers were still standing & few people had heard of Al Qeada. As we counted down to a new Millennium the world appeared to be on the cusp of a new golden age of econmic prosperity & relative peace. Admist this background came Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. The hype & expectation for this movie was probably greater than anything before or since in movie history. What film could ever hope to live up to this hype & expectation? No film ever could. The initial response from fanboys & critics across the world was cries of anguish & pain. Claims of childhoods being raped drowned out the more sensible reflections that actuallly this movie whilst not particularly great, was as bad as many claimed it was. Now, almost a decade on from the initial release, perhaps the time is right for a more considered view of this film?
The Phantom Menace is the very definition of a "mixed" film. It has both good & bad points, & whether you end up liking this film will depend on;
1. Do the bad points outweigh the good points for you?
2. Do the good points outweigh the bad points for you?
Thus you will find the answer of whether or not this movie works for you, somewhere in the balance of the two.
Some of the bad points; George Lucas's direction is stiff. Lucas hadn't directed a film since 1977 & it shows.
Jar Jar Binks is annoying & tedious & frequently gets in the way, however, as with so many complaints about this film, Binks is NOT as bad as some would have you believe, & you CAN enjoy this film despite the presense of JJB. Children will love Jar Jar, so if you show this film to your 8 year old child, please don't let your loathing of Mr Bink's ruin your child's love for this character.
Other bad points are that the pod race goes on too long (it went on too long in the theatrical release, & for some reason its been extended further for the DVD)
Ewan Mcgregor unfortunatly gets very little to do.
Natalie Portman shines as Queen Amidala, but as Padme she often leaves a lot to be desired. Jake Lloyds Anakin is given some annoyingly silly lines to read out (as with Binks, Lloyd is NOT as bad as outraged fanboys would have you believe)
The Gungans are probably the worse species in SW history (except for the Ewoks of course ;) ) & the final battle between the Gungans & the Battle Droids is unengaging.
Perhaps my main complaint about Menace is that the two characters that get the most screen time, Jar Jar Binks & Qui-Gon Jinn, are the two characters that don't reallly feature in the next two films. Thus, this is, I think, the central problem with Menace. Its mainly filler. Lucas needed "more" in this film.
Some of the good points; Liam Neeson is the glue that holds this film together. Anybody that says the acting was better in the OT, should look at Neesons performance. Its at least as good as anything in the OT.
The political sub-plot is interesting & engaging & seeing how Palpatine begins his rise to power is compelling. Ian Mcdiarmid is outstanding in the smalll number of scenes he is given.
The Mother/Son relationship between Anakin & his Mother is well done & you do feel a sense of Anakins pain at being parted from his mother & having to leave her as a slave. The twist of Anakin's origins (that he was born without a father) adds a mystical & mythical element. Deeply religious people may be offended, but "virgin births" feature in many mythical stories.
Seeing the workings of the Jedi Council & how the Jedi relate to the Senate is interesting.
Darth Maul is cool & The Duel Of The Fates is probably the most exciting lightsaber battle of the Saga. The piece of music that accompany's the duel is truely outstanding (otherwise John Williams' score on TPM isn't very memorable - Like Lucas, at times you get the sense he is warming himself up with this picture
The general time & effort & attention to detail is wonderful. For Amidala's gowns alone costume designer Trisha Biggar should have won an Oscar. ILM's special effects are amazing. The film looks outstanding & sounds wonderful. As a piece of art, The Phantom Menace is an awesome blend of creativity & artisitic inspiration. Too bad the final product ended up so mixed.
Just to say, the movie ranks as a solid *** affair, but the DVD package itself takes it up to **** The central documentery; The Beginning is one of the best DVD extras you'll find on any DVD release. An absolute gem. It even captures the moment George Lucas himself realise's the movie is not panning out as well as he had hoped. Also included in the extras is a full commentery, deleated scenes, trailers, music video & web-docs (which are also of the highest quality)
In closing, The Phantom Menace IS a deeply flawed movie. Slow, plodding & yes, in places even dull. Much of it is filler & a setting up effort. But it also has moments of pure brilliance & many parts are good or very good. Theres a fascination at seeing the Star Wars universe; BEFORE THE DARK TIMES. This is a film that is about children & for children. Theres a lightness & feeling of innocence that contrasts fantasticallly to the much, much darker Episode III. Given the time in which the movie was released, itself a moment that could be described as "before the darkness" you can't help but feel a pang of nostalgia when you watch The Phantom Menace. Even those that hate this film must feel that somewhere?
To date, my biggest ever disappointment..... - By: R. Mullaney, 20 May 2008 Star Wars episodes IV, V & VI make up the finest cinematic saga of alll time. Originallly written as the middle three episodes of nine stories spanning centuries in the Star Wars mythology, they captivated audiences of alll generations & still continue to do so today. When George Lucas announced he was going to begin filming the three prequels to his original trilogy I almost passed out in excitement. We waited & waited & waited. And then, in a typhoon of worldwide media frenzy, Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace opened in cinemas. I was there of course, my only concern being whether or not I had enough time to run to Toys 'R' us & buy a lightsabre before the film started. I never even considered the film might stink. After alll, this is Star Wars! How wrong I was.
Star Wars: Episode I is a boring, noxious dog's egg of a film. Industrial Light & Magic's gruesome creatures are replaced with irritating, glossy CGI animations giving the film a tacky, shiny gloss not at alll in keeping with the spirit of the originals. Even Jabba the Hutt looks like a slimmer, more sanitized version of his Return of the Jedi self. The story concentrates on Anakin Skywalker (Luke's father), following him as a child growing up on Tattooine & then as he embarks upon a journey towards his inevitable destiny as a powerful warrior. Jedi knights, Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) & his young apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) meet Anakin & sense the force in him & realising he could become a powerful Jedi, take him with them. Standing in their way is evil Darth Maul, a pretty rubbish looking Sith warrior with a cheap looking painted face. His only saving grace is a cool double edged lightsabre. Tagging along alll the time is an incredibly annoying & totallly unnecessary CGI characater callled Jar Jar Binks who is in no way as important to this story as C3PO & R2D2 were to the originals. Add alll these factors to a very dull plot about an intergalactic trade dispute or something & drag the film out to over two hours & you have what could quite possibly be the most massive turd of alll time. I still went to see episodes II & III but don't consider any of them as members of the Star Wars franchise.
Like this? Try: Episodes II & III
Just a mess - By: Jed, 01 May 2008 
Can you handle another Phantom Menace review? Probably not, but having seen this again recently I thought I'd add my view on such a widely discussed film.
The film is regarded by just about anyone who has seen it as a disappointment. However there are some who say it's only disappointing merely because the hype was so huge that nothing could possibly live up to the expectation. Apart from that, some say, it was a great movie.
This is not a good movie.
I am not reallly a Star Wars fan, although I don't dislike it either. I saw the original 3 in the years when they came out, & enjoyed them from a childs perspective. (BTW if you wonder of the original Star Wars reallly did make a cultural impact, you bet, it was huge at the time.) So this is not the view of a disappointed fanboy, just the view of someone who found the film lacking.
Firstly I'll get one thing right out of the way, right here. You know what I'm talking about. Him. Jar Jar Binks. Hype can cut both ways I think, positive hype can lead to disappointment, yet negative hype can have the same result. When people refer to Mr Binks as "a mistake of Apocalyptic proportions" & there are websites devoted to finding inventive ways of killing him, I was expecting something so insanely annoying that I feared I might destroy my TV. He walks stupidly, talks stupidly, gets too much screen time, but I never found him as aggravating as I expected. I would still much preferred if he wasn't in the movie though!
No, the real problem is not with Jar Jar Binks. The real problem I found is that even after having seen this film 3 times, I'm still not sure what it was alll about. The plot is so weak & meandering that boredom inevitably sets in. I know there's something about a blockade & a trade war, but the political shenanigans of Senator Palpatine & Queen Amidala are just so vague that it's hard to know what's going on. Only the presence of sudden ominous music will wake you from torpor & make you think "Whu? Oh he must be the bad guy then? Hmmm, yeah whatver" There is no real defined point to what's happening to the characters. With,say,Jaws, we know that the shark is going to have to be killed. In Lord Of The Rings we know The Ring must be destroyed. In The Phantom Menace we know.....we know...um....Well I don't know reallly.
Apart from that alll the flaws that have been mentioned about this film are unfortunately true;
Wooden acting. There's no real interaction between characters, they just seem like reading grocery lists to each other. When Liam Neesons character says "Be careful, I feel a disturbance in The Force" it wouldn't sound out of place if he added "If they have any decaffeinated coffee left, get some, thanks" It's not the actors fault, I know they're better than this. In contrast with the antagonism displayed between most of the "good" characters in the original films (sarcastic wisecracks aplenty) everyone here seems largely bored in each others company. Obi Wan is relegated to largely a mild mannered yes man to...uh....forgot his name, the one with the fake beard. I can't offhand remember any lines from this movie apart from the derided "I've got a bad feeling about this" Oh & "Yippee!" too. Jake Lloyd just seems too out of place with his bland "Mom are we out of Cheerios?" approach to acting. There are some terrible cast choices too, mostly with Samuel L Jackson. I like the guy, & he's a great actor, but he just isn't a Jedi Knight. He was just too well known at the time to play such an out of character role. Only Jason Robards dressed in a toga playing Brutus springs to mind as a better
example of bad casting.
The aliens are alll either silly like Jar Jar Binks & Pod race announcer, or grating racial stereotypes. I don't believe that Lucas consciously decided to make them so, but how can anyone not see that the evil Trade guys are Oriental caricatures? And just look at that goofy, happy looking egg headed alien at the pod race. *That* was the exact moment when I thought "This movie is bombing"
No real tension. Yes it's a common fault with prequels, we know Obi Wan survives, we know Anakin survives, we know wholesome George won't kill off the "comic relief" character in case the kiddies get upset. The battle droids are there to shoot holes in wallls & get cut down by the Jedis.
The midi chlorians. I understand many Star Wars fans *hate* this idea, that it demystifies The Force. Well, I'm not such a fan as to reallly hate it, but it does seem pretty nonsensical. How do organisms in the blood make you able to move things around, or do mind tricks?
The immaculate conception of Anakin. I'm not religious so I take no offence, except for what a monumentallly pretentious bit of twaddle this is.
Anakin destroying the ship by pure fluke was a reallly lazy & disappointing finale.
And there are just too many inconsistencies in character & believability. Best example of course that Anakin built C3-PO. Pretty impressive for a 9 year old kid who's a slave. Where did he get the money? I guess George loves his soap operas & what's to throw alll these unexpected plot twists to the audience. I was half expecting Han Solo to be revealed as Luke's uncle.
In general just about every ham fisted directorial mistake that can be made, is made by Lucas here. This film should become a textbook case of the danger of letting just one person have too much control over the final outcome of a(highly anticipated) film.
It's not alll bad. Visuallly, it's quite pleasing actuallly. Many say that this is where Lucas abandoned storyline for CGI toys. Well, the CGI ain't bad, but it's not reallly much beyond Jurassic Park. But CGI looks unnaturtal most of the time too no matter how well done. When you see a silvery CGI spaceship you don't see a futuristic space vehicle, you wonder "I wonder how long it took the computer graphics team to add the reflection mapping on?" For me the meagre enjoyment I got from this film was the sets & backdrops. Yeah, George probably only nudged the graphics designers in the right direction & they took over, but a lot of it is aestheticallly pleasing. And the pod race of course is the standard Star Wars obstacle course race. It's engaging for a while, but actuallly the PC racing game was more entertaining. And the battle with Darth Maul complete with John Williams score, is, if you're forgiving, guite good.
Overalll I can't recommend this movie much. Most Star Wars fans will be disappointed to various degrees (some have such a strong aversion to this, that they disown it) The feeling of Star Wars is largely absent here, it unfortunately comes across a Disney movie in space. (Hey, I'm sure even Disney's The Black Hole was a lot more serious than this.) The average viewer like me will be largely bored at the aimlessness of it.
Lucas misses the point - By: Barry Fowles, 21 Apr 2008 
A long time ago in a cinema long since demolished my life changed i was 6 years old & was taken to see my first ever film at the cinema Star Wars. Wow what a film what an experience it was my introduction to sci-fi i was hooked. Then along came empire strikes back & return of the jedi. Every boy my age dreamed of going into space flying an x wing,using a light saber. But where did it alll begin this was episode 4 (a brave concept in itself). We would have to wait 20 years to find out. Now that is a long time for expectation to build. I want to emphasise this we had to wait 20 years & in the opening 5 minutes have rubberised looking creatures with poor voice overs spouting lines like "are you Brain detad". Two jedis fighting a bunch of robots that look like they were made of matchsticks that apparently can think for themselves fire weapons & invade planets but haven't mastered the power of speach (and he voice overs for these again V. Poor). All this & i haven't even mentioned jar jar binks or bos nas yet.
Lucas claims this was a childrens movie but he misses the point. The origional was a childrens movie NOW the films fans are in there late 20's & older & where expecting a grown up explanation of how it alll began.
My other big issue with this film is it does absolutly nothing to move the story along. We alll wanted to see Anakin found, trained, falll in love, fight the clone wars, turn to the dark side, hunt down & kill the jedi & take his place at the emporers side. This was not a part of the story we wanted to see hence we miss out on what could of been some truely memorable sequences later on.
Ok there must be some plus's & the light saber duel at the end is great, & the pod race is great (although pointless). And the CGI effects are fantastic.
Should have been great unfortunately dissapointing.
