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A review 17 years in the making:
Star Wars:
Episode 1--The Phantom Menace
(rating:8 out 10)
Jake Lloyd as Anakin Skywalker
(1999,directed by George Lucas)
A Long Time Ago...In a galaxy far, far away.
Episode 1:
Return of the Blockbuster
Months ago, thousands payed full ticket price for movies like The
Waterboy just to see the trailer for the movie many thought will never
happen. Internet sites offering the trailer were cloughed for days with the high demand
for it. A second trailer released later on boosted the sales of mediocre celluloid junk
like Wing Commander. It was obvious The Phantom Menace
would land with the impact of a mile-wide meteor come May 19.
Die-Hard fans would line up weeks in advance. Many would even
quit their jobs to do so. The first showtime was announced: 12:01 AM on Wednesday, May 19,
1999. Some theaters will show the fourth coming of the Star Wars chronicles 24 hours a day
for several days. Regardless of the movie's quality, the force was with George Lucas,
whose patience and timing couldn't be any better to unleash the ultimate comeback: The
Return of the Blockbuster.
Natalie Portman as Queen Amidala
Ok--enough with the prophetic, grandiose bulls**t. I'm a fan of
Star Wars, but not to the fanatic extent seen in many corners of the earth. That bit about
people quitting their jobs to wait in line is very true though...and it makes me wonder.
But is the movie any good? And how good?
My roomate waited in line for 5 hours over a week ago to get
tickets for the first day at the Senator theater here in Baltimore, probably one of the
best venues in the nation. And we ended up sitting on the fourth row with the best view.
We couldn't ask for more--well, I could, since over the week I developed a craving to get
an R2-D2 figure which I couldn't find at the last minute. (Hey, go ahead and try to find
any of the hot figures at this time--good luck) When the movie started and the Star Wars
logo came up the crowd when nuts. The blockbuster ride was on the way.
Generally, the film is good: a well-crafted, ultra-visual, kid-fantastic creation. It
starts with a bang continues thruought its middle to develop and ends in a series of
multi-climactic events.
!!DON'T READ PAST THIS POINT IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW THE
DETAILS OF THE MOVIE!!
Ewan Mcgregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi
The tale is that of Queen Amidala (Natalie Portman) as she finds
herself and her people of planet Naboo in a stranglehold by the Trade Federation, an alien
race of baddies which would otherwise be innefectual if they weren't in fact be
sub-contracted by the mysterious Darth Sidious. Enter Qui-Gon Jinn, played with
long-haired coolness by Liam Neeson, a regal Jedi knight, and his apprentice, Obi-Wan
Kenobi, played with pony-tailed coolness by Ewan Mcgregor. They've been dispatched to end
the blockade swiftly. The Federation figureheads order the death of the Jedi Knights and
begin their illegal invasion of Naboo.
Liam Nesson as Qui-Gon Jinn
But despite the Federation's multi-ton tanks and Droid Army,
Amidala manages to slip out with the help of the Jedi. They manage to escape the
Federation Fleet by the heroic act of that all-being droid-god R2-D2 (I'm telling
you--It's all about R2-D2!!) but find themselves forced to land on planet Tattooine for
repairs. In here, Qui deals with slave-owner Watto to get their ship repaired and finds
himself championing a 9 year-old boy named Anakin Skywalker (Jake Lloyd), who Qui finds as
radiating with the Force. After a gamble involving a rocket-fueled PodRace, Anakin is
given to Qui's care and they leave the planet, but not before being confronted by an
anonymous Dark Lord of the Sith. He's the satanic-looking Darth Maul, and you know that
light saber fight has got to come by the looks Qui and Maul give each other.
Someguy as Darth Maul
The Queen's mission makes it to Planet Coruscant, the capital of
the Galactic Republic, a place best described as New York City on a planet-wide scale. In
here, the Queen makes her appeal to the Senate for help with the Federation and The
Knights consult the Jedi Council about Anakin's potential. Naboo's Senator Palpatine seems
to help the queen with no results and Yoda, head of the council, along with Mace Windu
(Samuel L. Jackson) express to Qui not to train Anakin since they feel there's something
very wrong with him. The Queen decides to go back to Naboo and face the Federation,
regardless of the cost.
The movie then climaxes with four climactic sequences inter-cut
with each other: The Gungan's battle against the Federation's Droid army, the Naboo
Fleet's attack on the Federation Destroyer, the Queen's attempt to capture the
Federation's Viceroy and the light saber deathmatch between Qui and Obi against Darth
Maul.
George
Lucas as George Lucas
George Lucas, who hasn't directed a film since the original Star
Wars, does very good on his return to the directorial chair. He paces the film well, and
succesfully achieves a universal atmosphere by populating the different worlds with
unique, eye-googling creatures. You will be jolted when you see the creatures which
inhabit Naboo's oceans--they put the shark from JAWS to ultimate
shame. The participants of Tattooine's PodRace are so alien they amaze you with their
wonder and diversity. And let me not forget the Gungans(though I kinda want to forget
them), who look like a combination between frogs and kangarooes.
Lucas finally has technology on his side, one of the reasons why
there is a new Star Wars film in the first place. The landscapes of Naboo, Tattooine, and
Coruscant are awe-inspiring. CGI effects are fundamentally required to bring these places
to life. In fact, only one shot in the film, according to TIME magazine, has no CGI
effects on it, and that's Obi hanging at the edge of a bottomless shaft. There would be no
Gungans without CGI,no underwater city, no PodRace, no Federation Destroyer, no Droid
Army, no underwater leviathans--pretty much, no movie.
Episode 1 is a slick, very streamlined piece of filmmaking, and
satisfactory to its very end. There some weaknesses though. The film is basically
one major build-up to a series of final confrontations and its middle consists of scene
after scene of backstories and secondary plots. It's understandable that we need
background on Anakin, Amidala, Obi and the rest, but it could have been done in such a way
that doesn't slow the film down for about half hour. The PodRace though is a very
exhilarating sequence which surprised me. What could have become a 5-minute highlight is
actually a rousing sequence with Anakin challenging the alien Sebulba and securing other
plot developments. Many compared Phantom Menace to Return
of the Jedi, and both films have similar plot structures. Also, the film's
mood is very light (you know--for the kids), despite Darth Maul, and I was dissapointed to
see that Darth Maul only had about a page-and-a-half of dialogue, which betrays the
expectations many had of his character. One character that we could have seen less of is
the Gungan Jar Jar Binks, which Lucas intended as the film's comic relief. Jar Jar is
frankly highly annoying, his dialogue is mostly inexcrutable and should have been
subtitled--I hope to not see much of him in the next films.
The Phantom Menace doesn't foreshadow
much the events of Episodes 4 to 6, gives no clue as to the events of Episode 2, and
portrays Anakin in full innocence. How does this boy become the evil that is Darth Vader?
Lucas has a hard challenge ahead of him: To make two succesful, crowd-pleasing films about
a boy's journey to manhood and subsequently to evil. We'll have to wait three years to see
how Lucas handles this challenge.
And will I see it again? You bet I will.
Armando Valle.
May 23,99
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