Darth Maul: Hated Villain or Flashy Stunt Fodder?

The most screen time (89 minutes) was devoted not to the hero (in my opinion the main hero had to be Qui Gon Jinn), and not even to the main antagonist (the most immediate of which was Darth Maul). No, that honor went to sidekick, and comic relief character Jar-Jar Binks. For the uninitiated (do you live in a cave?), Jar-Jar is a computer-generated character who basically fulfills a jester-like role, which had been filled quite adequately by the droids R2-D2 and C-3PO in the original trilogy. Our man, and kick-ass bad guy, Darth Maul has a mere 3 lines in the entire film. Qui Gon fairs somewhat better, but is still upstaged by Binks on many occasions.

The choice of Qui Gon Jinn as the focal character of Episode One also departs form the tried and true Star Wars formula. Qui Gon Jinn does not survive to Episode Two, so he does not tie the story lines together as well as a protaganist that had lived to the second act. Luke is the protaganist of the first trilogy, and rightly so. Episode Four could very easily have been Obi-Wan Kenobi's tale, but then it would not have flowed as smoothly with the rest of the trilogy, changing protaganists in mid-stream.

So who would I have chosen as the protaganist of Episode One to keep it in the original Star Wars mold? Amidala, Anakin, and Obi-Wan seem like fair choices. Amidala, though is obviously being set up as the love interest of the trilogy. And Anakin...doesn't he grow up to be Darth Vader? That leaves us with my choice: Obi-Wan Kenobi. With only slight revisions in the script, Obi-Wan could have assumed his place as rightful protaganist of the Prequel-trilogy, trading screen time with the often annoying Jar-Jar Binks, and tying the three films together with a common protaganist.

And Darth Maul...all dressed up, but nothing to say. He did not evince the same ominous reaction that James Earl Jones's Darth Vader did. Gone was the taunting and mental jousting from the lightsaber duel, turning it basically into a cool stunt show. That's fine, but I want to hate Darth Maul, and I can't because I don't even know who the heck he is, except a killer-looking dude with a nasty tatoo, and a 2-sided lightsaber. That's fine for a TV show maybe, but not a Star Wars movie.

I'm sorry. It must seem like I hated The Phantom Menace, but I didn't. I just think it could have been done a little better. Next issue I will go into the dicussion of special-effects, and how the overshadowed the story elements of Episode One.