The Force Awakens is a couple of months away, so like any dutiful nerd, I have pulled out my Star Wars Blurays and decided to revisit the two Star Wars Trilogies, starting with Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Never before had a movie been so eagerly and desperately anticipated. The trailer for Episode I was literally the first thing to ever break the Internet. Not only did fans use the Internet see the trailer and get news about the movie but they later turned to this new medium to engage in a bit of heated group think about the film and its merits. It is important to note that while the movie got great reviews upon release and was a huge hit, "fans" turned on the movie in the weeks and months after its release and it has garnered somewhat of a bad reputation in the years since.
While, The Phantom Menace is clearly flawed in several important ways, it is far from the worst Star Wars movie (hello Return of the Jedi and Attack of the Clones). In a measured, and realistic assessment,it is clear that the movie has some serious problems, the most glaring one being that it is about twenty minutes too long. Secondly, Jar Jar is an annoying and problematic character. Thirdly, Jake Lloyd is poorly directed. Finally, there are some alien character choices that are questionable. None of these performance problems are the fault of the actors but of George Lucas who has always been less than interested in directing actors. For me, none of these flaws really sink the movie. The Phantom Menace is still a fun, imaginative, visionary, adventure that greatly expands the Star Wars universe.
Perhaps one of the movie's greatest strengths is what doomed it with fans: it dares to be very different from the Original Trilogy. It is a very plot heavy movie; there's no smart alec Han Solo character; it depicts a galaxy that is shiny and new as opposed to the grungy aesthetic of classic Star Wars; much of it takes place in the halls of power and there is a lot of talking, etc. Lucas was never interested in making another Star Wars just to make it and repeat what he had already done. He was interested in telling his story and it was by necessity different than the movies that had come before.
Because the movie is so much maligned, let's take a look at ten reasons The Phantom Menace is a great addition to the Star Wars Saga.
10. The Special Effects
I was rewatching this movie and it occurred to me during the big Gungans/Droid ground battle how good the effects looked even after sixteen years. While it was obviously all CGI and impossible and the blocking was a bit cartoony, the droids and Gungans all had a real weight and reality to them which is more than you can say for certain shots in recent movies like Avengers: Age of Ultron. Also, as annoying as Jar Jar was, that character and Ahmed Best's work on him helped to create the art of performance capture for CGI characters and without him there would not have been any Gollum or Ceasar.
9. Ewan McGregor
Another great casting choice and one that paid dividends in later movies. McGregor did a great job of inhabiting a much younger version of one of the most beloved Star Wars characters. The movie does a good job of showing Obi-Wan as both a product of the stuffy Jedi culture and his more freewheeling Jedi Master, Qui-Gon Jinn. The movie is also not afraid to make him a little callow and unlikeable with his snarky comments about picking up "pathetic lifeforms." Here we see him starting the journey to becoming the wise and compassionate Jedi of Star Wars. For a whole generation of Star Wars fans, Ewan MacGregor is their Obi-Wan and lets hope we get to see him in some more movies now that Disney is making spinoffs.
8. The Story
While Lucas lacks skills in directing actors and writing human dialogue, he is a genius at the broad strokes of storytelling. In Episode I, begins his tale of both the corruption and decay of Galactic society and of the Jedi Order. It's pretty dark stuff for a kids adventure movie. In Palpatine, he has created a wonderful scheming villain who orchestrates a crisis in order to get himself into a position to be able to create a war that will tear the Galaxy apart so that he can rebuild it the way he likes. People criticized the movie for not telling the Clone Wars story that they had been waiting for but The Phantom Menace sets up the Clone Wars in a very elegant way.
7. Natalie Portman
Natalie Portman is a very talented actress as her larger body of work and Academy Award winning performance in Black Swan proves but her work in the latter two Star Wars prequels is saddled with some of the worst dialogue and scenes in the whole saga. In The Phantom Menace however she turns in a fun performance as both the very stylized and formal Queen Amidala and her alter ego, the plucky handmaiden Padme. This is dual identity is a fun subplot of the movie that not even the Jedi pick up on. Which brings us to...
6. Costumes
While there are a handful of simple iconic costumes that the movies are known for, Episode I is really the one Star Wars movie where the filmmakers got really adventurous with their costume, hair, and make-up. While there are some interesting costumes throughout, Queen Amidala wears some truly weird, wonderful, and beautiful outfits throughout the The Phantom Menace. Like much of Star Wars, they are wonderful for being a interesting hodgepodge of various world styles and influences.
5. Design
Design is an area that people seem to have issues with this movie. Whereas the OT mostly featured Imperial ships and bases, grungy Rebel outposts, and a few industrial and frontier areas, The Phantom Menace really showed you a much more expansive look at the Star Wars world and one that was set in a more elegant time. That being the case, Episode I features a lot of designs that were sleeker and hearkened back to classic sci-fi such as the chromed Art-Deco looking ships, the Baroque Naboo architecture and design, the glimmering underwater Gungan city, or the dizzying futuropolis that Coruscant. The Phantom Menace not only showed us a lot things that we had never seen in a Star Wars movie but a lot of visuals we had not seen before, period.
4. Liam Neeson
It is a testament to the actors in this movie that some of them were able to turn in good performances despite being directed by George Lucas. Neeson's wise and earthy Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn helps ground the movie in the same way that Alec Guiness did in Star Wars. In the world of the movie, he is an interesting character, one who stands apart from the other Jedi for his worldliness and compassion. The great tragedy of Anakin's story, is that Qui-Gon might have been the mentor who would have been able to guide him through his later difficulties and help him avoid his dark fate.
3. Light Saber Battles
This movie was out first chance to see fully trained Jedi Knights in their prime and Lucas really upped the ante in making the light saber battles dynamic and active. The climatic three-on-one battle between Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan and Maul is possibly the finest fight in the series (with the Luke/Vader Empire fight edging it out for dramatic impact). I challenge even the most ardent Prequel hater not to get goosebumps at the start of this sequence.
While largely lacking the "banter" that characterized the OT saber battles, this fight is beautifully choreographed and full of revealing character moments, such as when Qui-Gon meditating and Maul prowling during the quick moment they are separated by the ray shield in the Naboo reactor core. All of this featuring a terrific piece of music...
2. The Duel of the Fates
This section of John Williams score plays during the film's climax, accompanying the dramatic light saber/space/ground battle and stands among the greatest pieces of Star Wars music, period. While it is showcased most prominently in The Phantom Menace is is present throughout the Prequels. Even the title is perfect as it poetically sums up Anakin's complicated path.
1. Darth Maul
The star villain role in the new Star Wars movie was always going to be a challenge to George Lucas. After all, how do you follow up what is the most iconic villain in movie history? Instead of rehashing a Vader-like design (ahem, The Force Awakens), the filmmakers decided to do something completely different with an unforgettable and very organic design that seems to have sprung out of the fevered imagination of some far Eastern demonologist. While Maul could have used a bit more character development in the The Phantom Menace, he lives on in The Clone Wars series (literally) and has taken his place in the Pantheon of Star Wars Badasses along side Darth Vader and Boba Fett.
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