Story Tellers Are Not Athletes

Rating: 6/10 (14 April 2000)

[WARNING: May Contain Spoilers.]
If you've ever had a favorite athlete in whatever sport, you've probably noticed that you never tire of his or her remarkable mastery of their sport. Whether its a figure skater, running back, or basketball player, the jumps, runs, and dunks never get old. Alas, the same is not true for the storyteller.
Repetition in story telling is a death knell. I'm very familiar with the Star Wars universe as a setting. I don't have a problem with that. Once you create a fictional universe, you must operate within the confines of your creation to tell other stories which reside in that universe. However, you don't have to tell the same story with different characters.
I was absolutely shocked to see young Skywalker blowing up the Trade Federation ship by destroying its power supply with a lucky shot from the inside. Echoes of the past passed through my mind. "Luke, what's wrong, you turned off your targeting computer?" See my point? Well, at least Anakin had the help of a friendly droid named, R2D2. Oh yeah, so did Luke. Good lord George, is the force with the cute little droids too? Do they have little midichlorians running around in their non cells?
Did you also notice that in The Phantom Menace we have a young royal in trouble. I think I've seen that one before with Princess Leia. Well this time it is Queen Amidalia, approximately the same age as Leia was in Star Wars IV. I also found it odd that Queen Amidalia was the elected leader of Naboo. A seventeen year old elected queen? Hmmmm. This just doesn't make sense. Who elected her?
The absolute worst aspect of this film is with Anakin himself. Acting is a serious profession. I've never seen an eight or nine year old pull it off with any sense of believability. To be sure, the script doomed Anakin even further. The attack on the Droid control ship contains three separate instances within ten minutes in which Anakin's lines include an elongated, "Ooooops." This is both sloppy writing and horrendous editing. It doesn't get much better though. When the ship spins or rocks, Lucas gives us a comic shot of Anakin yelling, "whoooooaaa." Once might be forgiven, but he does it again and again.
Don't ask me how Anakin penetrates the shield. This is never explained. To be sure, the grown up pilots couldn't do it.
There are good points to this movie, however. Ewan McGregor did an outstanding job mastering the accent and mannerisms of Alec Guinnes' Obi Wan Kenobi. In addition, Liam Neeson delivers well as the individualistic and somewhat weary defender of the universe, Qui Gon Jinn.
In addition, I thought the supporting cast performed well. Although, they had limited roles, Terrence Stamp as Chancellor Valorum and Hugh Quarshie as Captain Panaka performed exceptionally well. I feel that Panaka will be back in the next installment. In fact, I'll bet he becomes Boba Fett. Ian McDiarmid is probably the most memorable of all of the supporting roles. He plays Palpatine remarkably.
And finally, the shining triumph of the film; the swashbuckling at the climax. Simply, it is the finest sword fight scene ever to make it to the screen. Darth Maul was played to perfection through facial expressions. How unique to give life to a character without lines. Bottom line is that it worked. Ray Park is not a physically imposing fellow. Darth Maul was. Unfortunately, three different action sequences are occurring during the Sith v. Jedi action, and Lucas constantly cuts from the gem of the movie, to show Gungans and Anakin accidentally blast their separate ways to victory.
In the end, this installment falls far short of being a good film. The genre is quickly becoming the self fulfilling prophecy that Lucas told us it always was, a 'Saturday Serial.' I guess I'm feeling generous. 5 out of 10.