"The Phantom Menace" 25 Years Later
My son and I saw The Phantom Menace on the big screen yesterday. It was his first time seeing it in a theater; I saw Phantom at the Colfax Theatre when the movie was new. We had a good time, although I kept wishing we had popcorn (Neither one of us were hungry, and it was only ten AM anyway).
Those of us who were around in 1999 remember how much was riding on The Phantom Menace in terms of expectations. Star Wars was a fond part of the cultural zeitgeist from the get-go, and to be told we were were finally getting a new Star Wars movie fifteen years after Return of the Jedi was a big deal. It’s hard to explain how big a deal it was. When posters of Jake Lloyd casting the Darth Vader shadow started circulating, the excitement got even higher.
When it came time to see the film, though, what did we get? Jar Jar Binks. Political intrigue. Trade disputes. Funny accents. Rote dialogue. A kid who sometimes pursed up his mouth like Shirley Temple when she was trying to be cute. A creepy guy with horns and a freaky face, although he had mad athletic skills. It was a huge let-down for a lot of fans. The Phantom Menace became the Star Wars film we loved to hate or at least make fun of. A lot of people still watched it, but only because it was an installment in the series and we wanted to get to the other parts of the story.
The thing I could never understand at the time, though, is why Lucas had to write the screenplay all by himself. Terry Brooks did the novelization which was better and more filled-out than the movie, so why couldn’t he have written the screenplay? There was definitely a boat or five missed during pre-production.
I wish I could say I loved the film more the second time I saw it on the big screen, but I can’t. The dialogue and delivery are still as wooden as a Lowe’s cabinet department. There’s still not much of a story. There are a LOT of scenes of characters walking around and talking. Or merely walking around. Jake Lloyd is still just OK. Jar Jar Binks is still annoying (On a side note, his ruler, Boss Nass reminds me of Ted Kennedy for some reason. I don’t know why.). The weird, quasi-Japanese accents of the Trade Federation and Watto’s weird, quasi-Italian accent are still head-scratching. John Williams’s score, however, has worn very well, and “Duel of the Fates” now seems ahead of its time.
The only difference is that time has passed and more movies have come out. Phantom Menace is not nearly as good as Revenge of the Sith or the original trilogy, but it creams The Last Jedi. And after Disney’s mostly disastrous handling of the Star Wars franchise, it was sort of thrilling to see “Lucasfilm” pop up on the screen and know that what would follow had George Lucas’s personal stamp on it. The Force wasn’t female. It was just the Force. It’s a refreshing, hopeful feeling.
No, The Phantom Menace isn’t a great film, but it’s a relic from a time when Star Wars was something to get lost in. No agenda. No politics. Disney could learn a thing or two from that galaxy far, far away.
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace is currently in theaters. Rated PG.
My grade: C
Principal Cast: Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Jake Lloyd, Ian MacDiarmid, Pernilla August, Oliver Ford Davies, Hugh Quarshie, Ahmed Best, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, Frank Oz, Terence Stamp, Brian Blessed, Andy Secombe, Ray Park, Lewis McLeod, Warwick Davis
Written and directed by George Lucas.