Plot: Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) is a young apprentice Jedi knight under the tutelage of Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) ; Anakin Skywalker (Jake Lloyd), who will later father Luke Skywalker and become known as Darth Vader, is just a 9-year-old boy. When the Trade Federation cuts off all routes to the planet Naboo, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan are assigned to settle the matter.
I had a day off today and went to see a screening of Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes; the embargo is Wednesday so stay tuned for my review then. After the movie it was 12:25 in the afternoon and I had no plans for the rest of the day; there was a 12:30 showing of Star Wars: Episode 1: The Phantom Menace for its 25th anniversary. So, I ran to buy some fresh popcorn and a new drink and settled in ready for my escape that that familiar Galaxy…
To this day I will never forget the crushing disappointment I felt the first time I saw this film. We were all in stunned shock and I remember various people saying, “what the f*ck was that?” (I was one of them). I have made peace with it over the years and shows like The Clone Wars have helped me enjoy the prequels more than I did when they were first released.
One thing I take from this movie even now is that it was unlike anything we had seen before; sure, it didn’t quite look or feel like the original trilogy, but it had some imaginative ideas and visuals that were unique for the time. Most of the effects still hold up, but the final battle with the Gungans looks like it takes place in that old Windows screensaver. It’s really Attack of the Clones which has dated the worst of the Prequels.
Poor Jake Lloyd got a lot of abuse for his performance as young Anakin Skywalker, but I never had a problem with him; he was 9 years old for crying out loud and behaved like a kid that age would.
We all know that Jar Jar Binks is arguably the worst character in cinema history (no offense to Ahmed Best who was only doing what he was told); no, the fault is 100% with Georger Lucas who wrote and directed the film. Jar Jar is every bit as irritating now as he was 25 years ago, and the frustrating thing is if he had had some character development in the second half then we could forgive him being such a colossal dickhead for the first part of the film.
When Jar Jar becomes General what should have happened is he dusts himself off and thinks “Ok Meesa need to stop messing around and be a leader”. He then stops being a goofball and actually becomes a warrior in the final battle where he gains the respect of everyone, showing that he has grown and learned something along the way. Instead, all we get is him falling off everything imaginable and being a useless coward during the battle. Even at the very end when the heroes all go up in the final ceremony, he falls off that creature and I want him to break his stupid neck every time.
Despite this movie’s many flaws there are things I enjoy like the final lightsaber battle, the pod race, and the scenes on Coruscant which is one of my favourite planets in the Star Wars universe.
I also love everything to do with Palpatine with his quiet machinations as he manipulates everyone into making him Supreme Chancellor which should eventually work out well for the entire galaxy…
Seeing the Jedi in their prime is also a highlight as this was something we only ever dreamed about when we first saw the original trilogy.
We know there is a lot of clunky dialogue, but there are also several lines that we quote often in my household like “we shall watch your career with great interest”, “wipe them out, all of them” as well as practically everything Yoda says.
I enjoy Liam Neeson as Qui-Gon Jinn and Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan; their dynamic as master and Padawan is flawed, but fascinating as Obi-Wan questions Qui-Gon’s decisions regularly.
Samuel L. Jackson is basically playing himself as Mace Windu and every scene I keep waiting for him to say “mother*cker.” He always looks exasperated, and Windu was never a specifically likeable character even from the start.
The best aspect about the entire movie is of course John Williams’s majestic score and Duel of the Fates is one of the all-time great pieces of movie music. It is used to perfection as Darth Maul is revealed to the Jedi and their epic battle begins.
I do still wish that Maul was one of the main villains right up until Revenge of the Sith and he was basically in Dooku’s role with Anakin killing him; I think George must have agreed as he brought him back for The Clone Wars and he was also going to be the villain of the Sequel trilogy.
After 25 years The Phantom Menace is still not a great movie with Jar Jar being the weakest aspect, but there are still some spectacular moments like the pod race and climactic lightsaber duel.
At 46 years old when the lights go down in the cinema and I see “A Long Time Ago in a Galaxy Far, Far Away” I am instantly a kid again, and despite the film’s flaws it’s still Star Wars and I am in my happy place.