Misunderstood Cinema: Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace

Part Three of the Classic '99 series, which critiques films released in the last great cinematic year of the 20th century. The film is George Lucas' 1999 film Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.



It had been 16 years since the last Star Wars film, Star wars Episode VI: Return Of The Jedi, was released and fans had been starving for more. Since it's May 19, 1999 premiere, Episode I has been listed as either the worst or second worst addition to the Star Wars saga. There are many reasons for this, most of which are simply out of the hands of the filmmakers. The story is set years before the events of the first (but really the fourth) Star Wars film. It centers around two Jedi, Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Nesson) and his padawan Obi-Wan Kneobi (Ewan McGregor). They must protect the Queen of Naboo, Queen Amidala (Natalie Portman) from the clutches of the evil Trade Federation Viceroy Nute Gunray who is in the pocket of the even more evil Sith Lord Darth Sidious. The two jedi come across a boy on Tatooine named Anakin Skywalker (Jake Llyod and yes I still cringe at the thought of his name) who will unbeknownst at the time, eventually become Darth Vader. The plot has been endlessly attacked for it's simply lack of...well story. This is a pretty shocking accusation considering it involves a complex story revolving around a trade dispute and intergalactic taxes and blockades (that's not a sarcastic remark that's the actual plot outline). A better way to describe the story is not to say there is a lack of one, just a lack of an interesting one. That being said, no one showed up to a Star Wars movie for it's deep story it's about a kid who gets trained by a ghost and a green Muppet. Fans just wanted more which leads into The Phantom Menace's next criticism: failure to awe.



George Lucas wanted to wait before he made his next Star Wars film citing the technology of the time (1983 at that point) wasn't up to the standards he envisioned his films should be created with. Fast forward to 1993 where close friend of his Steven Spielberg releases Jurassic Park which feature a CGI dinosaur without missing a beat of reality. Lucas now feels the time and technology are right for him to create his masterpiece part duex. He starts by recreating (or ruining in some die hard fan's eyes) his original trilogy, updating scenes with the new CGI technology. The format passes his test and Lucasfilm goes into production on the prequel trilogy. Lucas returns to the director chair and the hysteria ensues, which is just the issue. Lucas waited 16 years to make the next film. People lose their minds when they have to wait three months to see the next episode of their beloved TV show, let alone something as massive as Star Wars. Lucas inadvertently created such an insane amount of hype that he did himself in. A work firm, Challenger, Gray and Christmas estimated that nearly 2.2 million workers did not show up the day of the premiere resulting in over $295 million in lost profits. According to the Wall Street Journal so many workers made advanced plans to skip work that some companies simply closed for the day. Tickets bought in advance were sold for as high as $200. A teaser poster was released in early 1999 and there were wide reports of bus stop windows being broken so the poster inside could be taken. For the teaser trailer people would pay full price for a movie just to see the Star Wars trailer and leave. The Star Wars website gridlocked and crashed the day the trailer was made available because so many people were trying to view it. To basically no fault of his own Lucas created such a hunger for a product that it wouldn't have met expectations even if it had been a cinematic masterpiece. This is probably The Phantom Menace's most critical and fatal blow.



The next mark down is simple: Jar Jar Binks. Men have been shot for saying this name. Little children cry whenever this name is mentioned, buildings fall, bridges collapse. Well not quite but Jar Jar Binks has received the harshest criticism from fans and critics. Kids under six loved him, and this is why Lucas wrote the part, but a majority of his audience who was six when A New Hope was released in 1977, weren't six anymore and weren't pleased. I'd dive into it more but I don't have a spare keyboard to use after I smash the current one. Jar Jar Binks is simply something that cannot be defended.

Finally, to end on an up beat (much like the film did), The Phantom Menace does a lot of things right. It has what is widely regarded as the single most impressive lightsaber battle in any of the Star Wars movies between Darth Maul, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan (a rare moment where the film meets and succeeds expectations). Despite expectations not being met the film still grossed $924,317,552 which was good enough to make it the highest grossing film of 1999. Most importantly it served as an entrance to Star Wars for a brand new generation. This is the key reason I defend this film and hold it so dearly close to my heart. Original trilogy fans who grew up with those films regard them as a significant piece of their childhood. Just because the quality of the first films in the respective trilogies don't' match in quality does NOT mean that they aren't regarded as a significant piece of our childhood. A New Hope takes the baby boomers back to when they were six and The Phantom Menace does that to Generation Y. Is it an award winning film, no. But does it define some of our childhood and inspire one viewer to want to make movies, you're damn right. Plus if that's not enough you can always say "At least it's not as bad as Episode II".