"Star Wars: Episode I- The Phantom Menace"- A highly troubled prequel with a few minor hints of brilliance. Frequently entertaining but all too often sloppy and misjudged.

Rating: 5/10 (1 December 2016)

There are few franchises that have attained the following that George Lucas' brilliant space-opera "Star Wars" has earned over it's near forty year history. In many ways, it's gone far beyond what anyone could have imagined and has become a permanent fixture in pop- culture entertainment, practically having transcended the term "film" and now become more a devout religion to many. It's a certified and undeniable phenomena with fans the world over. So 1999's release "Star Wars: Episode I- The Phantom Menace" was not just a movie... it was an event. A chance to revisit that galaxy far, far away and to explore the seeds that would be sewn to create that original masterpiece of a trilogy that began back in 1977.
Unfortunately, we all know how it turned out. While by no means an atrocious film, "The Phantom Menace" is a tragically divisive and objectively middling and mediocre continuation of the beloved saga. For every one thing it does right, it does another thing dreadfully wrong. For every major step forward in terms of scope and action, it takes another step back in terms of character and narrative. It's very much a troubled film, peppered with hints of brilliance in between the head-scratching moments of misjudgments and pandering.
Set some time before the events of "A New Hope", Jedi Knights Qui- Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) and Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) are sent on a mission to negotiate with the dreaded Trade Federation in an attempt to stop a blockade around the small and peaceful planet of Naboo. However, the negotiations are ended before they begin, and the Jedi Knights are forced to try and protect Naboo's Queen Amidala and her handmaidens including Padme (Natalie Portman) when the Federation invades under order from the evil Darth Sidious. On the way to the Galactic Capital, the Jedi and Queen are forced to land on Tattooine, where they meet young slave Anakin Skywalker (Jake Lloyd) and take him in after a harrowing series of events. Soon enough, the stage is set for the ultimate battle between Naboo's remaining forces and the Federation's army of robotic minions.
The biggest failing of the film is really not what many make it out to be. It's not the contrived and shoehorned comedic spoutings of supporting character Jar Jar Binks (Ahmed Best), nor the questionable acting of the cast or the over-reliance on computer- generated digital effects. Honestly, the biggest problem is the pacing and the subject matter at large. It's a very specific combination of both jarring and boring, with no real sense of internal structure to keep it grounded or moving along at a consistent pace. Early scenes go by in mere moments while later developments stretch on and on with seemingly no end. It's as though George Lucas couldn't find a way to reconcile his desire to create a more heady variation of the franchise while still delivering the thrills and action that fans craved. The result is a mish mash effort that's sometimes frustrating to watch because it feels inorganically built and edited. The subject matter just also clashes so badly with the universe as established in the earlier films. Droning conversations about trade negotiations and shaky politics feel so out of place ad it really bogs the film down. It's far too unfamiliar. Yes, a certain degree of shake-ups are nice to keep a franchise fresh... but it still has to have some consistency.
Although I definitely would be lying if I didn't address the other issues that fans commonly complain about as very valid. The dialog is often robotic and forced, leading to characters feeling flat and artificial. The humor is ratcheted up to such a degree that the film borders on the juvenile more than once in an unsettling way. There are many misjudgments in the development taken that seem contrary to what made "Star Wars" the series it was. And all too often character development is thrown out the window for non-stop action and bizarrely long dialog exchanges about vague topics like treachery in the Galactic Senate or the villains musing ominously about finally attaining "revenge."
Still, there is a bit of fun to be had here, and as I said above, there are hints of a much better movie from time to time. The film presents the biggest scope thus far in the "Star Wars" universe, and the visuals and world-building were top-notch for the time. The action was massively thrilling to audiences back in the day and it was great fun finally seeing real Jedi in their prime waging battle against deadly enemies. Even with performances stilted by the wonky dialog, everyone was very well cast and there were a few stand-out roles... particularly McGregor's Obi-Wan, who was cast perfectly. And though it wavered, there was just such a magic to finally returning to this incredible world that Lucas had established so long ago. It might not have been the "Star Wars" we wanted... but it was still "Star Wars."
As it stands, "The Phantom Menace" is still very much the weakest installment of the "Star Wars" legacy, though it has just enough of an entertainment factor to make it worth seeing at least once for series fans. It's uneven and shoddily assembled with ill-developed characters and an over-reliance on effects and kid-friendly comedy. But it's action-packed and often thrilling to behold, and it definitely has its moments despite its numerous issues.
And so I'm giving "Star Wars: Episode I- The Phantom Menace" a very middle-of-the-road 5 out of 10. It's neither particularly good nor particularly bad.