Dec 22, 2011
Directed By: George Lucas
Written By: George Lucas
Primary Cast: Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Jake Lloyd, Ian McDiarmid, Pernilla August, Oliver Ford Davies, Hugh Quarshie, Ahmed Best, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Bake, Frank Oz, Terence Stamp, Brian Blessed, Andrew Secombe
George Lucas has jumped back in time, a generation before the start of the first Star Wars movie, Episode IV: A New Hope. He tells the story of Luke Skywalker’s father, Anakin (Darth Vader) and his discovery by Qui Gon Ginn (Liam Neson) and Obi Wan Kanobi (Ewan McGregor). Lucas sets the stage for the rise of the evil Empire and the Sith Lords by showing us the Trade Federation attacks on the home planet of Luke Skywalker’s mother, Queen Amadala.
Countless arguments have surrounded many of the decisions Lucas made for The Phantom Menace. The heavy use of computer generated creatures and the now infamous character Jar Jar Binks. Jar Jar, a Gungan and native creature of Naboo (Queen Amadala’s home planet), bares a striking resemblance to a frog crossed with a badly stereo-typed Jamaican Islander. His “comic-relief” for the intense action-laden film makes an attempt to resemble once great comedians Jerry Lewis, Abbott and Costello, and The Three Stooges. Some may find this a wonderful addition to the space saga, but I do not. I found Jar Jar to be annoying, overly childish, and completely unbelievable and out of place in the Star Wars world. Arguments have been made that Star Wars is for children, and Jar Jar’s comedy is for the younger fans. This may be the case, but other films’ characters for younger viewers manage to bring smiles to my face, Jar Jar does not.
Though Jar Jar Binks was a constant annoyance to me, there was much to be happy about in this first prequel. We get to meet C3PO, R2D2, and Obi Wan Kanobi. Some of the coolest light saber dueling ever seen between the Jedi duo of Obi Wan and Qui Gon Ginn and an extremely evil and powerful Sith Lord, Darth Maul. The famous elite special effects company Industrial Light and Magic returns to provide one of the coolest computer generated action sequences ever made with the Pod Race scene. Here, Anakin races through the canyons of Tatooine against super-reflex capable aliens. We also get new space ships as eye candy during a space dog fight resembling the incredible Death Star sequences of A New Hope and Return of the Jedi.
All these great digital effects come at a cost though. The movie feels very sterile. Though the effects are visually stunning, they have no soul. They have the feel of a cartoon, very much like Toy Story or Schrek. While these movies are wonderful, they were meant to be cartoons. Star Wars, most certainly, is not a cartoon. Perhaps the most notable element that gave the first three movies soul and realism was the existence of dirt and grit on everything: people, creatures, spaceships, and planets. The whole universe leaned a bit towards chaos. Ok, it is supposed to be a better time and the ships and planets have not been ravaged by war and age. But, it’s not just the feel of wear and tear that is missing in The Phantom Menace’s look, but the feel of realism and chaos. For example, the all digital battle between the Trade Federation robot troops and the Gungan tribal army contains nothing that feels real. Nothing in the background feels organic, nothing seems to have soul. If you watch the hills and grassy fields where the battle takes place, it’s all flat and artificial. There are no random rocks and shrubs, no dead trees, just nothing. While this may not be the focus of the viewer’s attention, it does affect the overall feel of the scene. This trait of the digital effects created for this film is the one most disappointing thing about this film. While ILM did do a superb job of pulling off all the magic, I feel something was lost along the way.
Ok, so some of the feel of the original trilogy is missing, but what of the story you ask? Well, unfortunately much of this was lost as well. The most vital aspect of any story, not just movies, is the development and story arch of the main character. What does the character experience and learn? How does he/she change and grow?
As I watched TPM, I had a very uncomfortable feeling of not finding a base character to follow and feel empathy for. The first trilogy had a strong set of characters fighting for screen time, but the main plot followed the story of Luke Skywalker as he joined the rebellion, learned of his parentage, and eventually had to face his fears. Sure the other characters provided some strong story lines, but it was still Luke’s show in the end.
The Phantom Menace seems to be centered on Anakin, but only because we know the overall story of the Star Wars saga. If I didn’t have the special knowledge of the future, I would think the story revolved more around Qui Gon Ginn and Obi Wan Kanobi, or even Queen Amadala. The problem is two fold: first the story doesn’t allow for Anakin to grow in any way; secondly the acting of Jake Lloyd (Anakin), to be brutally honest, is terrible. Anakin’s story arch places him as a slave child who has super-human reflexes and an unnatural tendency of openness to strangers. By the end of the film, he is a freed slave to be trained by the Jedi. But, what has he learned, how has his character changed? Where is the internal struggle of good and evil? Where is his conflict or antagonist? Where is the depth of character that we expect and need in order to care what happens to him? If that exists in the script written by Lucas, it certainly didn’t make it on to celluloid. Is this Lucas’ failing in his directing job? Perhaps; the rest of the acting wasn’t exactly Oscar quality. Was it the actor’s fault? Maybe; Jake Lloyd is an unproven child actor with little experience. In the end, it really doesn’t matter, the final result is severely lacking in depth, feeling, and quality.
Unfortunately, The Phantom Menace has many failings, and to this Star Wars fan, it turned out to be a disappointment. Hopefully, George Lucas has learned from his experience making the first prequel and the remaining films will benefit from this. I for one hope the trend Lucas started with the butchering of the original trilogy by attempting to remake them in the Special Edition releases by adding a bunch of slap stick digital “funnies” makes a serious ninety degree turn. I hope that the next two films will improve, but I certainly won’t hold my breath.