The Phantom Turkey

Rating: Null/10 (6 May 2000)

Ok. For a start, let's get this Jar Jar issue out of the way. Kids may have loved him. Some adults may have loved him. However, the way he was employed in the movie was somewhat contradictory. One minute we are expected to be feeling how overwhelmingly hopeless the big battle is. The next we are forced to witness Jar Jar's clown-like prancing among the throes of battle. How can Lucas justify such a contradictory. scene. I am not totally anti-Jar Jar. In some calmer moments i could see his comedic appeal. However, the battle scene felt like the gory first ten minutes of Saving Private Ryan, but with Jim Carrey flopping around doing misplaced Jerry Lewis routines.
Darth Maul. Sorry, simply not terrifying. Darth Vader, now you could imagine that he would kill women, children and babies. Darth Maul. No. I would have been more scared had he been played by Arnold from Diffrent Strokes. Darth Arnold. Ewan Macgregor- one of the most lifeless performances from an otherwise accomplished actor. The script- probably the worst thing about The Phantom Menace. Contained about as much passion as a list of ingredients on the side of a can of beans. Awkward, and quite bewildering. Pod race. Cracking cinema, however. Though that scene seemed more the domain of Spielberg than Lucas for my money. George Lucas. Once a most promising director, but clearly not up to the task. It was obvious that he hadn't directed for far too long (which is a shame, considering he was capable of such a masterpiece as American Grafitti- a wonderful film). Finally, The Phantom Menace is a good enough kids film. But because if its primarily juvenile appeal it will never attain the epic quality of the three original Star Wars films. See it, though. It's worth the ticket price at least.