Seeing is believing

Rating: 8/10 (18 May 1999)

Well, I was lucky enough to see a trade screening the morning of Saturday the 15th without having to worry about other people spoiling what happened for me so I'll extend the same courtesy of not spilling all of the beans here. The critics may have put "Phantom Menace" down but there is some merit to what they have to say. The movie certainly was eye candy but I'm glad it didn't turn out to be like the Special Edition where the new scenes blatantly popped out at you and treated the viewer as if they had ADHD and said, "Look at me! I'm a new effect and the reason for paying the price of admission." Lucas was more discrete when selecting what would be exposed in the trailers and previews. I don't believe the trailers spoil much in terms of plot and suspense. The movie could have used more character development with Darth Maul and a lot less screen time with Jar Jar who detracted from the overall experience. The voices used for some of the aliens sounded reminiscent of poorly executed voice-overs for Jackie Chan film and seemed completely out of place for an environment in a galaxy far, far way. This made me question why Lucas would do such a thing as use ridiculous voices for his creatures. I liked how Queen Amidala's voice was manipulated to sound lower in pitch which gave her more of an air of authority. And I liked how the movie had a deliberate end to it instead of cutting off in the middle of an action with the over-played "...to be continued" tagline. Episode One leaves you still hungry to see what will come in the latter two. I think the most challenging film will be Episode Three because it must act as a keystone between the series. Overall, I'd give the film 8/10.