A cinematic spectacle, one of the finest films in terms of sights and sounds.

Rating: 8/10 (1 September 2001)

Where do I begin reviewing this film? It's difficult to balance my thoughts to stop it sounding like I love this film, but it's also difficult to stop it sounding like I hate it too. It's been 22 years since Star Wars was released, and much has changed in Hollywood since George Lucas unleashed Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, the Force and everything else upon an unsuspecting world. Visual effects and sound effects are bigger and generally better - mainly through Lucas's personal involvement in Industrial Light & Magic, Skywalker Sound and THX - while characterisation and dialogue are (by and large) kept to the necessary minimum. The Phantom Menace is probably the ultimate culmination of the effect of the blockbuster upon the movie business over the past two decades. It is a film which dazzles the senses with spectacular scenery, undeniably amazing special effects and creative technology. But, unfortunately, it's also rather dumb.

So what do I like about The Phantom Menace? Quite a lot, actually. Visually, the film is utterly stunning. The vast cityscapes are an undisputed triumph of opulent production design and architectural flair, from the Venetian-inspired canals, waterfalls and domed palaces of Theed, to the watery beauty of Otoh Gunga and the impressive, busy, imperial splendour of Coruscant itself. Even Mos Espa, the dusty trading town on Tatooine, never looked as impressive as it does here. The costumes, by British designer Trisha Biggar, are complex yet stylish, especially the Oriental fashions worn by Amidala. The visual effects - spaceships, aliens and so on and so forth - are so far at cutting edge that they are in danger of falling off it, although I have some slight reservations regarding the use of completely computer-generated characters such as Boss Nass, Watto, Sebulba and the controversial Jar Jar Binks, who I will return to later. There are also some truly remarkable set pieces, especially the Indianapolis 500 style Pod Race, the underwater journey underneath Naboo (which basically acts as a showcase for the ILM artists to show how cool their CGI sea creatures are), and the awe-inspiring climactic duel between Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan and the sinister Darth Maul, who scowls a lot, has a double-ended lightsaber and can do backflips.

I also like the fact that there is quite a lot of foreshadowing going on, with subtle little hints and phrases which relate back (or forwards?) to the original trilogy. My favourite quip comes from Senator Palpatine, who we all know goes on to become the Emperor, who lays a fatherly hand on the shoulder of little Anakin and smiles, "We shall be following your career closely, young Skywalker." There are also a couple of cute touches which fans of the original trilogy will get a kick out of - Tusken Raiders taking pot shots at the pod race; Wookiee delegates roaring their support to the vote of no confidence in Chancellor Valorum; Obi-Wan's first words being the immortal "I have a bad feeling about this.
What I DON'T like is George Lucas's surprising lack of respect for the whole Star Wars ethos - something he himself created. Firstly, Jar Jar Binks - while certainly not as annoying as many have claimed - is far too silly to be considered a true Star Wars character, and gives rise to great personal concerns about Lucas's sense of humour. C-3PO and R2-D2, while essentially the comic relief, were nevertheless perfect foils for each other, and brought a level of sophisticated humour to the proceedings - sort of an intergalactic Laurel and Hardy. In contrast, Jar-Jar steps in Bantha poo, knocks things over, sticks his elongated tongue out, makes peculiar slobbering noises, and basically acts like a slapstick clown. He may help save the day eventually, but Buster Keaton in space? Come on George! Many people have also commented on the not-too-thinly disguised racial stereotypes prevalent in the film - Jar Jar and the Gungans were obviously modelled on people from the Caribbean, and all speak in a babytalk patois, while the Neimodian federation heads bear all the stereotypical hallmarks of the Japanese culture and Watto, the junk shop dealer, is clearly supposed to be Jewish. Whether these distinctions were intentional, or whether they are purely coincidence, I have to agree with several of the on-line commentators and wonder about Lucas's thought processes.
There are a lot of little things I don't like too - like the fact that everyone kept calling the little boy Annie, and I kept expecting him to burst into a rendition of "Tomorrow". I didn't like the Pod Race commentators, who I believe will be getting jobs with ESPN shortly. I didn't like the fact that Darth Maul only had one line, and was only on-screen for about 10 minutes in total. The biggest mistake Lucas made, though, was to demystify of the Force itself. Previously, the Force had seemingly manifest itself as a wondrous thing which, though faith and belief, could be channelled and harnessed and used for good. Those who were strong in it were special beings with inner calm and peace, who had a preordained destiny to make a difference in the Universe. Now, it seems that all you have to do to become a Jedi is have an abnormally high count of midichlorians (tiny symbiotic bacteria) in your bloodstream, which in turn act as harnessing agents for the Force. Now I understand - the Jedi are nothing more than people with too many bacteria. Isn't it funny how many of them seem to come from Tatooine? Maybe if they washed the sand off more regularly they wouldn't have so much bacteria...
Performances have never been of paramount importance to any Star Wars film, and The Phantom Menace is no exception. Liam Neeson gives probably the best acting demonstration of the entire cast, lending physical presence and gravitas to his role as Qui-Gon, although Samuel L. Jackson is quite obviously struggling to contain his delight at being allowed to play Jedi Master Mace Windu, and act with Yoda. Ewan McGregor is grossly underused, and is limited mainly to frowning manfully and saying, "Yes master" every now and again. The kids are OK, although Natalie Portman's accent is bizarre and Jake Lloyd uses far too many 90's colloquialisms. Somehow I can't imagine Darth Vader ever to have used the word "Yippee!" even in childhood. Ian McDiarmid is both charming and creepy in his dual role as Senator Palpatine and Darth Sidious, Ray Park looks fabulous in the red and black Maul makeup, and Pernilla August is almost unnoticeable as Anakin's mom.

And what of the music. Well, it's one of the best scores of the year to date. The action set pieces are appropriately exciting, especially at the beginning of and during the pod race, while the climactic battle contains generous portions of 'Duel of the Fates', although its impact is lessened slightly by digital editing as the action swaps backwards and forwards between the ground war on Naboo, the space battle above it, and aforementioned duel. There is also a magnificent rendition of the familiar Force Theme - not heard on the CD - when Anakin is leaving Tatooine for the first time which made my spine tingle. As it often the case with John Williams, the end credits provide the finest musical renditions of the Star Wars fanfare, Duel of the Fates and Anakin's Theme, and make sure you stop to the VERY end so that you can hear the clever little sound effect placed over the top of the very final chords. Spooky stuff.
So did I enjoy The Phantom Menace? Yes I did, immensely. Is The Phantom Menace a good film? That depends completely on what you want to get out of it. As a cinematic spectacle, it's one of the finest films you are likely to watch all year in terms of sights and sounds. But it ain't Citizen Kane