Nice hype, shame about the film

Rating: 2/10 (19 August 1999)

The Phantom Menace came amidst a huge cacophany of hype, yet I kept my expectations low - I didn't expect the best film of the year, let alone of all time. Even going in with this attitude, however, I found myself sitting in the cinema after the film thinking how much better it could really have been. I must say that at a shallow level the film is enjoyable, but if you take a moment to remember that you are not seven anymore, the sinking feeling of disappointment is palpable.
The Special Edition of the Star Wars trilogy should have set the alarm bells ringing. In a marketing masterstroke, George Lucas used the originals as a dry run for Episode One. In came Jawas falling off faux-dinosaurs and out went Han shooting first to kill Greedo - they added in a shot from Greedo, so Han wouldn't look so bad. We liked Han *because* he was a rogue. The kiddie elements, almost unnoticed, were increased. And the CG - it looked too clean, you could tell that the characters were not real, which shouldn't really be the case post-Jurassic Park. One of the attractions of Star Wars was it's rough and ready feel. The Phantom Menace is totally devoid of this. It feels bland, it lacks almost any tension or convincing action. Star Wars was full of snappy one liners ("Would it help if I got out and pushed?", "You're a bit short for a stormtrooper, aren't you?"), and also gritty realism - Luke's family murdered, the rebel's retreating in a smoke-filled corridor in the face of the Imperial might. None of this appears in the Phantom Menace. The space battle has none of the drama of the Trench Run, nor the rebel attack on the Death Star in Return of the Jedi. And the way it is resolved by the young Anakin is laughable! Star Wars was never about farce - the droids and the Ewoks may have been mildly annoying at times, but they pale in comparison to Jar Jar Binks, a CG bumbling fool, who appears in virtually every scene as a kid-pleaser. And the much-touted bad guy, Darth Maul, hardly makes an appearance and says almost nothing. He is not scary, he is not exciting. The light sabre battles appear dull, there is no exchange of banter, only slickly-choreographed swordsmanship. The Jedi do very little, aside from occasionally knocking some battle droids (stormtroopers were sooo much better) over with a force blast.
The only saving grace of the film is the central plot, of the rise to power of a certain Naboo senator. The Machiavellian machinations are wonderfully done, but then you don't even get to see their conclusion - as is Lucas' wont, the events are not seen but reported, in an almost Shakespearean fashion. Shakespeare did this because he only had a stage to use - Lucas' excuse is not so clear.
Hopefully, enough of the fan's criticisms will get through to make the second installment astronomically better. We shall see.