Expect dissapointment

Rating: Null/10 (4 August 2000)

Let's face it. Star Wars- Episode I: The Phantom Menace was the mostly eargly awaited film in recent memory, if not of all time. Fox and Lucasfilm knew they could spend Titanic-style dough and still have one of the biggest hits of all time. But they made a mistake: they contributed to the hype themselves. They inflated the movie so much that people paid for Meet Joe Black just to see the trailer that ran in front of the feature. Hollywood had never seen hype of these proportions. Now, answer me this:
How could anything, save the second coming of Christ as a Jedi, live up to the hype of The Phantom Menace and satisfy audiences?
The story takes place before those of Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi (it is the first of a "prequel trilogy"). The small planet of Naboo is engulfed in a power struggle with the vicious Trade Federation. The Federation wants to gain control over trade going in and out of Naboo, and take a cut of the profits. Queen Amidala (Natalie Portman) refuses, so they blockade the planet's trade until they will sign the agreement. When Jedi Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) and his student Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) arrive to negotiate with the Federation, they uncover a sinister plot, lead from the shadows by the film's title character. Soon, they are racing across the galaxy with the Queen, evading the Federation, pleading their case for the Galactic Senate, and attempting to stop the lethal Sith assasin Darth Maul (Ray Park) from murder. Along the way, they meet young Anakin Skywalker (Jake Lloyd), who unknowingly holds the power to change the universe forever.....
Many people have said that the film's problem was that the audience already knew what was going to happen: Anakin Skywalker grows up to be Darth Vader, he is Luke's father, etc. But the details of how this came to be are interesting and not what holds the movie back. The problem is the hype.
People, manipulated by the media circus surrounding the picture, expected to get the same rush as when they saw Star Wars for the first time; to feel like a kid again. What they got was a movie that has changed with the times: the action set pieces feel like levels of a video game, which is one of the more ambitious of the licensed merchandise attached to The Phantom Menace. Nothing seems to lead to another; you keep watching to see if your characters will make it to the next level, to fight the tougher bosses that you got short glimeses of in the earlier levels. When you see a fancy gun or spaceship, you know that in the theatre lobby, they are selling the exact same thing, ready for you to take home and fight with.
Sure, but the original trilogy had the same thing. Whats the difference you ask?
The difference is that nothing ispires you: only little kids will walk out of the theatre wanting to be Anakin, piloting a pod racer and 20 million miles per hour. You wont laugh in this movie, unless strange alien fart jokes and a totally digital Stooge with a stupid accent is your cup of tea. Everyone is a noble figure, fighting for the "right thing" with no disillusions along the way. Where is Han Solo, who is only after the money until he must admit to himself that Luke is his friend and dash off to help him. Where is Lando Calrissian, who makes a deal with Vader that will seal the dark fate of his best friend, just because he needs the money for his business, and then realizes that he must correct his mistake. In Star Wars, even the all-knowing Obi-Wan makes a painful mistake by lying to his student to cover the past. But these new characters never lose sight of what they must do, which makes them quite boring.
When I first saw the movie, I tried to blame it on the actors. Jake Lloyd sucked, he was terrible. The Jar-Jar Binks character ruined the movie. Even C-3PO and R-2D2 managed to stink the place up. But as much as I wanted to blame them, in the end I couldn't. As much as I wanted to deny it, the fault laid with George Lucas. The script is simply bad. Lloyd dilvered his lines fine, but his lines were terrible. He played his character as well as could be, but the character was annoying, as was Jar-Jar. Lucas created and wrote the characters, whom we cared nothing about. My favorite character was Darth Maul, simply beacuse the last lightsaber duel was so brilliant. I liked Obi-Wan only because I liked Ewan McGregor in other movies. The script is bad, the direction is bad. George Lucas is the one who made this movie bad.
*Spoiler*
For example, in the last part, Lucas balances the aforementioned saber duel, Anakin's assault against the Trade Federation mothership (why is he leading the force? BECAUSE HE IS A POD RACER), Amidala's infiltration of her palace (which consits of moving up levels through windows and ducking and shooting) and the Gungans's (Jar-Jar's pathetic race) fight against Trade Federation droids (my heroes). Why would these scenes be intercut if we only care about one? Why do they exist if they have no meaning? WHY DON"T WE CARE ABOUT THESE SCENES?
*End Spoiler*
Jar-Jar is a weak character because every clumsy thing he does ends up doing good. Anakin sucks because he is incredibly annoying. The movie is sometimes painful to watch. It's hard to see one of your favorite franchises get sucked down to sequel (or prequel) hell.
But again, it all comes down to the hype. Half of this movie was ruined with the hype. The other half was by Lucas.