Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace Movie Review

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)

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Written by: George Lucas
Directed by: George Lucas
Starring: Ewan McGregor, Liam Neeson, Natalie Portman, Jake Lloyd, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, Frank Oz, Terence Stamp
Rated: PG
Watch the trailer

Plot
Two Jedi escape a hostile blockade and find a young boy who may bring balance to the Force, but the long dormant Sith resurface to claim their old glory.

Verdict
This is a lot of spectacle. It's Star Wars: Episode IV amplified. There's a boy with great power, a cool looking villain (Darth Maul), Jedi, and a mission to... to... That's part of the problem. This movie doesn't have much in the way of story, instead focusing on spectacle. George Lucas can utilize CGI, and he uses it a lot. It doesn't always hold up well, but it's easy to see the extensive use. There are many neat ideas, but this can't match the iconic level of Episode IV.  This episode is a precursor to introduce the pieces for what will happen in future movies, and it should have it's own self contained story.
It depends.

Review

I haven't seen this movie since it originally released. Excitement levels were off the charts back then. Star Wars was coming  back. I didn't like it much then. It's difficult to displace Episode IV, a movie I had seen countless times. Jar Jar Binks instantly became a detractor.  This movie introduced midichlorians, a detail that no one other than George Lucas wanted. I saw the prequel trilogy and forgot about it. 

Liam Neeson plays Jedi Qui-Gon Jinn.

With twenty years having passed, I get to watch it with a near fresh perspective. The biggest problem is the lack of story. Two Jedi find a powerful child. They weren't searching for him, it just happens. No one else is after the child, so that generates no conflict.

Jake Lloyd plays Anakin Skywalker.

This movie is a sequel or even a remake of Episode IV, packed with more stuff due to a larger budget. More jedi, more CGI, more battles. This was a movie that couldn't lose based on the name alone. It was huge news and marketing was everywhere. People were going to see this movie day one no matter what.

The battles are bigger and the CGI is extensive. It uses a lot of CGI seemingly because it can. The CGI wasn't bad at the time, though it looks a little rough now. Yoda may be the biggest problem with CGI. He feels fake. I've rewatched the original trilogy recently, and that Yoda felt like a character.

Ray Park plays Darth Maul.

This is the story of a slave boy with great powers living in a desert. The original trilogy and concluding trilogy tell similar stories. A lot of this movie feels like fan fiction. The battles are bigger, the villains are wilder, and the story is lacking. Darth Maul looks really cool, like Darth Vader did, unfortunately Darth Maul is severely under used. He's a metaphor for the movie. Something that looks cool with no purpose. The movie pushes for cool more than story. Jar Jar Binks is a blight on the movie. He's silly, annoying, and comedic in all the ways he shouldn't be. He's a CGI demo reel showing a full motion character.

The goal of the movie at first is to establish trade routes, then it becomes blowing stuff up. Individually this has a lot of great moment. The pod race is fun and does a great job of establishing Anakin. That also happens to be his peak.

Why did this need to introduce midichlorians? Has that been mentioned in any of the other movies? I don't recall it from the original trilogy. Instead of feeling a disturbance in the force, Jedi should just carry a midichlorian counter.

Can you spot the CGI?

Star Wars created a space for sci-fi movies in the '70s. This movie can't set a new precedent like that, though I wonder if the hope was that the CGI might do something similar by creating a place for CGI movies.

I want each part of a movie series to have a self contained story. This movie is a stepping stone to the next movie. The easy comparison is Episode IV. That was the origin of Luke as this is the origin of Anakin/Darth Vader. IV managed to type into that extraordinary child trope. There's enough development that the audience gets to live  vicariously through Luke. That just doesn't happen in this movie.