An enjoyable pile of wasted thought.

Rating: 7/10 (27 January 2019)

An enjoyable pile of wasted thought.
In the annals of moviemaking, no film series has had as much of an impact on me as George Lucas' epic sci-fi saga, Star Wars. Much like many other kids of my generation, I grew up thinking, dreaming, watching and playing Star Wars. I watched the original trilogy on repeat and owned so much Star Wars merchandise at one point in my life that it became an obsession. In 1998, my parents took me and my brother to see A Bug's Life and one of the trailers showing before the movie was a preview for a new Star Wars movie called Episode 1: The Phantom Menace and being the high fan of the series that I am, I was over the moon. I could not wait to see it and with every trailer, I saw of the movie, my excitement grew. So when we finally went to see it in the summer of 1999, I remember sitting back in my seat as the opening credits rolled and John Williams' score blasted in my face. Over the next two hours, I just gapped in wonderment or possibly boredom and by the time the movie ended, I was awestruck. I loved The Phantom Menace and I seem to remember that I saw it several more times over the course of the year but as I grew older, I began to hear Star Wars fans call the movie bad or unwatchable or that it didn't even feel like Star Wars and I was shocked at first and even a bit upset as I had never seen anything particularly wrong with it apart from its long-running time so I still held on to the film until I too began to adopt the same mindset as many of the other fans, However, in preparation for Star Wars: Episode 9 coming out later this year, I decided to rewatch the movie and see if I could at the very least find something to enjoy about it. After watching the film over the course of a few days, I came to the conclusion that The Phantom Menace is an enjoyable movie in terms of its visual effects, action, musical score and some of the acting but was seriously flawed in its attempts at humor, its bloated running time, its dialog and its unfocused story.
The film begins with The Trade Federation ordering a blockade of the planet of Naboo. In response to this crisis, The Supreme Chancellor of the Senate sends two Jedi named Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi to negotiate with the viceroy but upon learning who they are, the Federation tries to kill the Jedi. Both Jinn and Kenobi escape to the surface of the planet just as the Trade Federation begins their invasion. While on the planet, Qui-Gon rescues a Gungan named Jar Jar Brinks who leads the Jedi to the underwater city of Otoh Gunga where they are able to obtain transportation and a guide. Upon reaching the capital city of Naboo, the trio is able to rescue the queen named Padme Amidala from the Trade Federation and make their way to the royal starship and flee Naboo intending to head for the planet Coruscant. However, while trying to escape, their ship is damaged and the group is forced to land on the desert plant of Tatooine. While roaming the streets of Mos Espa looking for spare parts, they visit a shop run by Watto and his young slave, Anakin Skywalker. Qui-Gon feels a powerful presence of the Force within the boy and strongly believes that Anakin is the supposed Chosen One. Now, the group must find a way to get the parts they need for the ship as well as win Anakin's freedom while a dark figure looms in the shadows waiting to pounce.
Given the amount of hype and high hopes the movie generated in the build-up to its release and how the original trilogy is still venerated to almost godly status, nothing less than the second coming was going to fail with both moviegoers and film critics. Now some people may think it's acceptable to say that The Phantom Menace failed to reach its goal of bringing Star Wars back on the big screen which I'm inclined to agree with. With that being said, some may feel a certain amount of affinity is towards the film is due, not enough to say that The Phantom Menace is somehow a great movie but just enough to contend that the reasonably basic and central failings of the film are hiding a few notable benefits. Now, by no means do these features make The Phantom Menace any better in my eyes, but they do make the end product a whole lot more interesting than what I saw on the screen in 1999. Now, given how much I adored The Phantom Menace as a kid, it is quite shocking how problematic the film is when I rewatched it but it's also interesting that the level of debate about the features that fans usually talk about are normally seen as crucial or critical issues. Often, it appears that these problems are simply skin-deep indicators of much more important and often bypassed issues. Much like any other film, there's always several easy targets for criticism that tend to eclipse level-headed discussions of the film.
While The Phantom Menace does have a fair share of redeeming qualities, they just aren't enough to totally save the film even if some Star Wars fans tend to fixate their disdain on plot points or characters who may not deserve it. The most famous example of this is the character of Jar Jar Binks, the notorious comic relief character. Fans of Star Wars are always quick to judge Jar Jar as one of the film's major problems as he is pretty much a pointless character along for the ride as well as unwanted comic relief and while there's nothing wrong with having comical characters in a Star Wars movie so long as they serve the story, R2-D2 and C-3PO are the perfect example of this, Jar Jar's problem is that his moronic comical moments have nothing to balance them out. The way R2 and 3PO play off each other in the original trilogy feels natural because it plays out in the background of the larger story as well as enthralling the viewer on their own terms but with Jar Jar, his comedy is often so out in the open with his attempts to make the viewer laugh that it feels forced rather than engaging or funny. It feels like George is forcing Jar Jar into the movie at every possible opportunity by just having him tag along with the lead characters for no other purpose apart from using him as a comic punching bag and never once is it funny. There are many more problems that the character of Jar Jar Binks. Much like Skids and Mudflap from Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen, Jar Jar is a terribly racist character, using any number of overdone jester troupes. He's labeled as a primeval life form and seems unable to speak English properly and instead speaks in an offensively bad Jamaican accent which would make Bob Marley roll in his grave but he's not the only insulting stereotypical character on display in The Phantom Menace as The Trade Federation Viceroy and his associates are obviously Asian stereotypes with the way they speak and their clothing while Watto with his love for money is an outdated and insulting portrayal of Jewish people.
Another issue with The Phantom Menace is the poorly written characters and the non-existent arcs the characters have and what's even more upsetting is that Jar Jar is the most developed character in the film. Sure, Qui-Gon is an interesting character at certain points in The Phantom Menace but he has his own issues. There's simply no arcs for any of the lead heroes or villains in the film. Unlike the character development in the original trilogy with Luke or even Han Solo's growth from a space cowboy to a hero fighting for the common good, there's no growth for any of the characters in The Phantom Menace. Yeah, Padme tries to be the next version of Leia by chastising the good-for-nothing cad as Qui-Gon plays that role in the film, but she just isn't compelling and feels as charming as a tree stump not to mention there's no attraction between the two leads and the dialog that Lucas has written doesn't help them. Of course, The Phantom Menace also falters due to not having the roles of characters like Luke and Han to help drive the story along. I'm not discussing characters who are alike but rather story objectives that are alike. The character of Luke Skywalker gave us a window into an alien world of spiritualism in the original trilogy but in The Phantom Menace, we simply don't get that. As a matter of fact, all the wonder of the original Star Wars films now feels boring as if the characters just go with the flow in this movie There's also no formable supporting character like Han Solo although Qui-Gon does come close to being one. It's nigh impossible to discover an appealing rascal if one is a member of an elite class.
Another issue here is that these compelling bits of hidden agendas are only able to casually hide the clear gap in the prequel trilogy's portrayal of Anakin Skywalker. A New Hope is still looked at as a prime example of the story point known as The Hero's Journey and has been lauded for its clarity when used in the film's storytelling which in turn makes it all the more infuriating that Lucas fails so badly here with telling the story. It's not just the main characters who don't any arcs but even the movie itself doesn't have one ether. The Phantom Menace ends with the blockade of Naboo ending and Anakin starting his Jedi training but there's no real finale. Attack of The Clones and Revenge of the Sith do fill in the gaps a little bit but what is the fallout of the blockade? Are the Republic and The Trade Federation still at war even though we clearly saw the viceroy get sent away in chains?! The viewer understands that there's some menacing person working within the Republic but we learn nothing else about it than what we were able to figure out in the original trilogy. In other words, if the first three Star Wars films were never made and we didn't know about Anakin Skywalker or that Palpatine was going to become Emperor, what would The Phantom Menace have accomplished in the end?
It's quite curious that The Phantom Menace has such difficulties with its characters that referencing the first three Star Wars movies would seem almost blasphemous on the level