Heavens! It wasn't THAT bad.

Rating: 6/10 (5 October 2006)

Because everyone had passively made fun of Episode I: The Phantom Menace over the years, I was programmed to dislike it  even though I had enjoyed it back in 1999. In this way, I was also regrettably fooled into liking the two following installments (episode II & III) on the basis of "anything's better than Phantom Menace". Cultists and agnostics alike had felt so insulted by this film that they accepted any substitute that followed. I think there is great wrong in that, and that Episode I is an underrated film on its own.
That said, it is not as easily accessible as Attack of the Clones or Revenge of the Sith  two heavyweight adrenaline-pumping rides. Granted, Phantom Menace often attempts the whole action-adventure approach by featuring a hugely entertaining Pod-Race and a submarine journey through the core of a planet  but make no mistake because this film is primarily propelled by politics. It centres on the strained relations between the Trade Federation (indirectly headed by a Sith) and the planet of Naboo, pinning the Republic and the Jedi somewhere in between to negotiate. In transporting the queen of Naboo to safety in their ship, the two Jedi Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) and his padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) are forced to land on an outer-rim planet called Tatooine. Here they meet young Anakin Skywalker  a slave with hope... and a "clouded" and uncertain future, as Master Yoda remarks upon seeing him for the first time.
It needs to be said that in spite of its Star Wars-like promises of Jedi fights, spaceship chases and strange creatures, this episode barely has a trace  not even a hint  of the fibre of the original saga. It is an endless tirade of trade disputes, lofty politics and talkative constitutions. By interweaving some well-placed action in between the negotiations, however, the film nearly always manages entertaining. It is solid, decent, funnish and cleverly set. For more comparisons to the original saga, Phantom Menace is exhibitionist, visual, stunning  it features a thick façade of sci-fi images and special effects. But scratch the surface and it feels much poorer in substance. Clearly back in 1977, technical limitations and a modest budget required a creative mind. Now, twenty-two years later, technical possibilities were endless and the budget was massive  it was the creativity that was limited.
Not limiting its failure to creativity of course since it is mostly the performances that fall flat in the film. Natalie Portman looks so clunkingly uncomfortable in all her makeup and costume as Queen Amidala that she gives a terribly wooden performance, even when she is out-of-costume. Ewan McGregor chokes on his (bad) lines as Obi-Wan, and as far as I'm concerned, only Liam Neeson feels strong here. Jake Lloyd can just go back to pre-school. Little Anakin and Jar Jar Binks drag Phantom Menace down  perhaps not in quality level but target audience level  the fans who enjoyed Star Wars in the 1970s and 1980s aren't going to enjoy a film peppered with Disney cheese and wrist-slashingly corny one-liners from cutesy fairytale creatures. Star Wars was much darker than that. Blatant comedic sidekicks are NEVER OK.
Yet I do not want to solely blame George Lucas because it is clear that he once did something very cool and he has done something quite cool here too. As an adventure film with heavy political undertones, this is still pretty enjoyable, and the gorgeous setting provides visual stimuli at all times. Between the saturation of success and too many "yes" producers, Lucas did still have a vision  of glorious sci-fi CGI  and here it is realised.
6 out of 10