The weakest of all the Star Wars films

Rating: 6/10 (29 April 2010)

The original Star Wars trilogy are properly 3 of the best loved films ever made and it is definitely one of the few film series as a whole where all 3 films are good. When George Lucas decided to revisit his creation with a prequel trilogy about how Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader. There was even a cool poster of a young boy walking with his show being Darth Vader. The Phantom Menace was one of the most eagerly awaited of 1999.
Set 32 years before the events Stars Wars Episode IV: A New Hope the Trade Federation are trying to put pressure on the Galactic Empire by blockading the planet of Naboo, because of the issue of taxation of trade. The Superme Chancellor sent two Jedi Knights, Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) and Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) to resolve the issue. But they are unable to stop the Trade Federation invading the planet and the Jedi were forced to save Queen Amidala (Keira Knightley) and her court. This group are forced to go to the planet Tatooine where there are stuck. On that desert world they meet the young Anakin Skywalker (Jake Lloyd), a boy who is a slave with his mother. He is quickly befriended by the Amidala handmaiden Padme (Natalie Portman). Qui-Gon also sees that the child had extraordinary gifts with the force and sets out to free him from his serfdom.
With nearly 16 years since the last Star Wars film and the film George Lucas directed for 22 years there was a lot of expectation on the Phantom Menace. But this prequel was never able to live up to it and this is the weakest out of all the live action Star Wars films. There are several reasons why this happened: a plot where there are weak reasons for why the bad guys don't fully expand their actions, too much inter-galactic politics which was not needed in a film for families, some very un-Star Wars like scenes like the two head commenter, weak acting, too-long running time and the biggest of them all Jar-Jar Binks. Lucas tries to defend Jar-Jar Binks because the films are aimed for children and he was meant to be a character for them: but he was just very annoying throughout the film and only the very youngest of children would have laughed at his antics. Some people are even suggested that Binks was a racial stereotype of Jamaican people, but at the very least he a misguided step by Lucas. It was also suggested that The Phantom Menace was a chance for Lucas to vent against his tax bill (he's rich he needs to accept that he is going to have a slightly higher level of taxation against him). Whether it's true or not the plot was fairly weak (and Star Wars isn't known for complex plots (yes I know Star Wars has complex themes)). They needed to be someone more visible, like the Trade Federation wanting power or control of a resource on Naboo. The politics was too much and something people couldn't really relate to. It could be suggested that it was influenced by the Roman Empire, but also very much like Republican views about Washington D.C. (not really the way to go). But then I'm just looking to much into it. Jack Lloyd was also a terrible casting choice, his acting was very weak and wooden and just not very good. He wasn't convincing as the young Anakin and some of the things he said like Yippee was annoying. Keira Knightley was also wooden in her role, but this was one of her first roles. But at least Liam Neeson was in the film and he was decent in his role.
It isn't all doom and gloom with this film. The action scenes and special effects were excellent throughout the film and there was a lot of ambition when it came to design of alien species. Whilst the pod-racing did like look like it was computer game, the battle of Naboo was well done and the fight scene with Darth Maul was excellent. Darth Maul was a great creation as a villain and it's a shame that he wasn't given a lot more screen time.
Whilst The Phantom Menace is far from being called a good movie, there are still moments to enjoy from it, particularly the final third. The second two films of the prequel trilogy were a lot better.