a review with some spoilers

Rating: 6/10 (17 May 2005)

This was the worst good movie I've ever seen. On one hand the story was fantastic, the political maneuvering of Palpatine was inspired, and the action sequences were amazing. The characters were well done, and you could see the beginnings of a much larger story begin to unfold, just as it was supposed too. Unfortunately it fell short of expectations. George Lucas's lackluster directing skills, looking at the movie through rose colored glasses instead of letting somebody else direct it to make sure they got the most out of their actors and pacing hurt its believability. A lot more emotion and more realistic portrayal of said emotions would have gone a long way in making it be a better film. Anakin's innocence needed to be shown, to not only show how far he falls, but to establish the good person Luke sees in him later; but Jake Lloyd, whether because lack of talent of or bad Direction came off more annoying and corny than a likable warm young boy. The Pod Race scene showed his ability to pilot something very hard to fly, even from a young age. That's fine and good but unfortunately again it's diluted with silly looking aliens that were too cartoonish to really work in the context of a photo-realistic CGI universe, and the two-headed announcer completely soiled the whole mood of the "Epic Space Opera". It's seemed so out of place it was jarring in the extreme. Lastly there is Jar-Jar Binks and Boss Nass. Meant to appeal to small children and show how much more innocent and carefree the time period was; these characters did a wonderful job. Still, constant slapstick, fart and poop jokes and Boss Nass spitting all over the place by shaking his head with his mouth open and going "BRBRRBRRRBRBRRB!" really seemed to take you out of the drama and in a lot of cases seemed really stupid and moronic. They didn't feel like they gelled with the rest of the Star Wars Universe that I had grown up with, too immature. To go back to the good though, Darth Maul was a fantastic opponent for the Jedi. He had a strong presence about him, and Ray Park's stunt work with the lightsaber battles had my jaw on the ground. I was upset to see that cool of a character die, but even so I found him to be one of the highlights. Obi-Wan Kenobi, played by the nephew of Denis Lawson (who played Wedge Antilles in Episodes IV, V, and VI); Ewan McGregor also was very convincing as an extremely skilled sword fighter. His portrayal of the character was a wonderful homage to the original actor Sir Alec Guinness. Qui-Gon Jinn, played by veteran actor Liam Neeson embodied everything I thought a Jedi should be. He was very much like the Samurai the Jedi were modeled after. Quiet, thoughtful and wise, but able to spring to deadly action as soon as it was needed, whereas most of the Jedi Council were more like monks and seemed too stale in their attitudes (Though this is on purpose, and is an integral part of the overall story). The scene where he is facing off against Darth Maul separated by the force field was one of the best examples of the Jedi vs. Sith attitudes put to screen. The two combatants are separated and can't fight for the moment. Qui-Gon sits down and meditates, finding his center, communing with the Force. Maul paces back and forth like a caged animal, anticipating the conflict, and tapping the field with his saber in impatience and hubris. A very meaningful moment illustrating the two different philosophies that I think is greatly overlooked. All in all I think the Phantom Menace was a good movie, which fell short of its true potential. 3 out of 5 stars. (or 6 out of 10 here)