What? Of course I'm reviewing Star Wars, what planet are you from?
So, after all the hype, all the negative backlash, and all the months of waiting, we are left with The Phantom Menace. Weather you like it or not, you must admit that it is a tribute to George Lucas' creative spirit. And his money grubbing capitalist spirit, as well.
Oh, come on! You know as well as I do that Lucas has more money then God right now. He could live out his days in a mansion made of solid gold from now until the end of time if he wanted to. The reality is, he doesn't need to make another movie. So, why did he make this one?
It's pretty
simple, really. This is a story that needs to be told. Despite what Newsweek critic David
Ansen says, it does need to be told. My biggest (and perhaps only) complaint
about the original Star Wars (which is now Episode 4 so, technically its the 4th
Star Wars, oh hell, this'll really screw up my filing system. Thanks, Lucas) was that
you could walk into the beginning of the movie, yet still be in the middle of the show. To
my young brain, this created a sort of, what the hell? felling that
impaired my enjoyment of Star Wars my first go around.
Now we know the story. Or at least part of it. I think I speak for all SW fans when I say, "Its about time."
Our story beings an even longer time ago in a galaxy that's. . .stayed just where it was. It's still far, far away, though. A greedy trade union in alliance with a mysterious figure (apparently the titular Phantom Menace) has blockaded the peaceful planet of Naboo. The Senate, trying to calm the situation, dispatches two Jedi, Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) and his master Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson), to the planet's aid.
Their peaceful mission soon turns into a rescue
mission as our heros meet with serious trouble (which seams to fallow Jedi around for some
reason) finally rescuing Queen Amidala (Natalie Portman) and gaining our odious comic
relief in the form of a quite eccentric alien named Jar Jar Binks (Ahmed Best). Our heros
escape. Unfortunatly, their ship is heavily damaged and they land on the planet
Tatooine to effect repairs. Maybe you've heard of the planet?
On the planet, they meet a young boy who is extremely strong in the force by the name of Anakin Skywalker (Jake Lloyd). Maybe you've heard of him, too.
And that's the strangest thing about this movie, and these characters. You've been here before, yet you haven't. Lucas has taken characters we know the futures of (Obi-Wan, Anakin, R2D2, C3PO) and sprinkled them with characters you don't have the faintest clue about. It's a very gutsy move by Lucas. He has now made Star Wars the ultimate none traditional narrative structure.
You know. One of those stories where you start near the end and flashback to show how you got there?
Down to business. So, how is it? Well, after careful consideration, I've come to the conclusion that. . .it kicks some, in a major way. Not only are we treated to some excellent lightsaber fights, some cool dog fighting action, and capacious amounts of cool special effects, but we're given a story to wrap it all around. A story that is almost (but not quite) complete in itself. And people say its boring. No, Bridges of Madison County is boring; The English Patient is boring. Episode 1 on the other hand is jam packed with so much stuff that you aren't allowed to get bored.
Sure, Jar Jar is odious comic relief, but he's
odious comic relief that is almost fully rendered CGI , and he looks cool too. That counts
for something. Ewan McGregor does a fine job as a young and somewhat brash Obi-Wan.
Portman's Amidala is played with just the right sprinkle of holier-the-thou royalty and
her strange accent (English?) adds the right touch of. . . I don't know; other worldness.
The accent doesn't really sound like it belongs on earth, and since we are dealing with a
galaxy far, far away I think that's the way it should be.
Lots of ink (so to speak) has been cranked out about Jake Lloyd's supposedly stinky performance. Well, I'm here to tell you that's bull. Lloyd brings childish innocents to Anakin, which, knowing what we know, makes his chracter all the more tragic.
Best
by far, however, is Liam Neeson. I don't know what it is, but I've loved every movie I've
seen him in. Maybe it's his odd almost-English accent. Maybe it's the way the
part fits him like a second skin. Maybe it's Qui-Gon Jinn's Han Solo like defiance of the
Jedi council. Maybe its because he can really kick some ass with a lightsaber. Who knows?
And
whoes ass would there be to kick without our villains. To that end, we have Darth Maul
(played by Ray Park and voiced by Peter Serafinowicz). It's somewhat hard to judge
Darth Maul's 
(man, that sounds evil) acting, since he has, perhaps, 3 lines in
the whole movie. Its kind of a waste, yet I'm also endeared to him for it as well. Many
cinematic villains waste time bantering about their innate superiority. Not Darth Maul,
this boy gets down to business. Yet, even when doing nothing but paseing back and forth,
he just plain looks evil, which is exactly what villains are suppose to do.
It's not boring, as some would have you believe. Nor is it the greatest movie ever made, and to expect that is ludicrous. It is, however, Star Wars, and thus has all the things that make Star Wars good, and all the things that weight the concept down. Basically, this movie is a two-hour prologue, just as the first (or fourth) one was. The seeds of the future have been planted. There's nothing left to do but wait and watch. We know of the Darkness in Anakin. We've been there before. Now its time to see how we got there.
RATING (OUT OF A POSSIBLE FIVE)
