The greatest cinematic disappointment of my life

Rating: Null/10 (31 January 2002)

"Star Wars" (1977) represents the birth of my love for cinema. As a child I had seen movies before it but nothing before had gripped me with the wonder and excitement of this film.
Like everyone else I had given up any hope that there would be a Star Wars film after "Return of the Jedi". The whole idea of a prequel seemed like an urban myth. It is thus difficult to explain my excitement when the project began to materialize. In fact, I count the experience of watching the trailer for "The Phantom Menace" in the theater as an event almost comparable to viewing the original films- such was my keen desire.
I went opening night and saw the film. I can never be as disappointed again with a film as I was with the failure of "The Phantom Menace".
Now you could say that no film could have met the astronomical expectations that I set forth. Perhaps that is correct, I will never know. What I can tell you though is that this film is not in the same league as the others in this series and I will tell you why.
It is not because of Jar Jar Binks (though every negative thing said about him is correct), it is because the film has no heart. What is the center of the first Star Wars trilogy? It is the relationship between Han and Luke and Leia. In particular, it is Han Solo who is the spark of life. Han Solo has personality, he has character, and he has humanity. Luke, Ben, Vader- they are more or less sterile and that describes the entire cast of "The Phantom Menace".
The reason the film doesn't work is that we don't care what happens to these people. The portrayal of Anakin is particularly bad. Does anyone buy for a second that this child is a slave, or that he is saddened to leave his mother? I see a child actor smiling and trying to be cute. Period.
The jedi characters may suppress their emotions intentionally but it doesn't make for interesting screen time. As a counter-example, in the "Star Trek" television series the logical character of Spock only really works because he can play off the cantankerous country doctor role of Dr. McCoy and to a lesser extent Captain Kirk. Without a foil to play against cold logic is just that- cold.
This is another reason that the Jar Jar Binks character was such a poor choice. His place in the cast could have been filled by a more substantial role that played off against the jedi and offered Anakin a different choice of paths. Instead we get a slapstick routine that is geared towards infants. And I do mean infants not children. I remember seeing the original movie as a child and I would have considered Jar Jar "babyish" even then. R2D2 and C3P0 work well to provide humor; there was no need to double up.
I think it is obvious that George Lucas has become blinded by special effects, and marketing reports. He has forgotten that the magic of Star Wars had nothing to do with CGI. The line "Don't get cocky kid" is worth more to me than a hundred digitally created creatures or trips under water.
As a movie in its own right the film is unremarkable. Some of the special effects are a tour-de-force of digital magic. However, some of the effects fall quite flat. There is a battle on a field at one point in the film and it is painfully apparent that we are looking at a video game and not reality. I have never in my life seen a field that is a uniform glaring green. Perhaps if the scope of the digital effects had been scaled back a bit what was left would show to better result. (After all, is this a film or the resume for Industrial Light and Magic?) But all things considered the film in its own right can stand on even footing with other space opera offerings. It is when it is compared to its predecessors that it collapses.
I guess you can never go back and relive the excitement of childhood. I just didn't need the door slammed so violently in my face.