Ready for Re-Appraisal

Rating: Null/10 (2 June 2005)

It should be noted the 10 I've voted encompasses the entire Star Wars saga, episodes I-VI. But I think time will be kind to The Phantom Menace. If you're already a fan of the movies, and know the original trilogy backwards and forwards, and can't put what you know aside while you're watching THE PHANTOM MENACE, this half will sidetrack you. It's a given. You'll get strung up on the point Anakin constructed (or more properly, REconstucted) Threepio, you'll get hung up on the kid because you know his destiny is to become Darth Vader. The midichlorians will get on your nerves because you'll begin to think the Force is a biological thing and not mystical anymore. It's both. The biggest complaint of THE PHANTOM MENACE I've ever heard is, "I waited 16 years for an intergalactic trade boycott?" We really didn't. We've waited 22 years for REVENGE OF THE SITH. Of course the biggest problem is everyone's seen the ending first. To be able to watch this movie fresh, you'd have to unlearn what you have learned. Get the Rebellion and the Empire out of your system. There is no Rebellion. No Empire. This is the most difficult thing to do. I've only just begun to truly look at it objectively for what it is. Upon my initial viewing, I couldn't help trying to notice "firsts." There aren't very many. Like the other installments, THE PHANTOM MENACE is very tight and fast-paced. If you're with what's proceeding. If you're not, by the time you get to Tatooine with the Jedi, you have no investment with what they're there for. To get their ship fixed so they can get the hell outta Dodge. There isn't much room in the plot for anything else. And why should there be? There are five more episodes to go.
This is very important. I've NEVER looked at THE PHANTOM MENACE, ATTACK OF THE CLONES and REVENGE OF THE SITH as the PREQUEL TRILOGY. I DON'T look at A NEW HOPE, THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, and RETURN OF THE JEDI as the ORIGINAL TRILOGY. I look at it as STAR WARS, one movie in six parts.
The basic (simple and quick) outline of this entire story was written in the 70s, so I look at it as a really retro product of the 1970s. If this had come out in 1977, do you know how this would be received? Eyes would be bugging out of their sockets. Jaws would be on the floor. It would have cost more than TITANIC did in our modern studio system, and it would have crippled any productive studio.
If you've never seen a STAR WARS movie until THE PHANTOM MENACE, all you're reacting to is the Jedi's mission -- get the spare parts by any means necessary, get to Coruscant and get help from Chancellor Valorum and the senate, that this young boy they meet on Tatooine is special, and helps the Jedi in a big way, and that there is this evil manipulator behind the scenes biding his time. Also, the most difficult thing NOT to do (especially when this movie first came out) is watch any of the other films immediately after watching this one! It'll screw you all up! Reason being things don't start to become completely totally cohesive until REVENGE OF THE SITH and then we casually ease into the storyline of A NEW HOPE. If you bash this movie because it's so unlike the other ones, without that final missing piece snapped into place, you will have issues with the story. It's assured. What Lucas did was basically take one story arc and stretched it like a rubberband into three films. And those are the 'prequels.' True, there are moments in the film specifically tailored for children. Mostly those scenes involve Anakin's character, so where's the surprise in that? This movie can stand alone, but it also links up to Episode II a lot.
This movie does not rely solely on CGI. It's a melange of CGI, puppetry, models, and costumes. The opening crawl is not the plot. It's setting up the plot. At no time at all has the opening crawl in one of these movies been the plot of the film. The story ends up unfolding beyond the opening crawl. And if you see this after Revenge of the Sith, you'll notice more than you did before.
Every scene in this film is like a mini event, isn't it? I can sit here and gush all night about this movie, but I have five more movies in the saga to comment on. I hope my two cents convince someone to revisit this film and see it for the fun flick it is.