Throwback Thursday: Star Wars: Episode 1: The Phantom Menace

In Space No One Can Hear You Cry

♦For this week’s Throwback Thursday, we thought it would be appropriate, with the fact it was 4 May yesterday, to share our review of Star Wars: Episode One from Tripwire Vol 3#2 Jul-August 1999…

Star Wars Episode One: The Phantom Menace
Director George Lucas; Producer Rick McCallum
Starring Ewan McGregor, Liam Neeson
Lucasfilm/ Twentieth Century Fox

“You’ve bought the toys, now see the film!” It’s a real shame that we’ve had to wait sixteen years. It’s also a real shame that Lucas has dispensed with the things that some people argue are essential for a film: things like plot, direction, characterization, pacing and dramatic tension. Episode One The Phantom Menace is nothing more than a two and a half hour toy catalogue, showcasing the new line of Darth Maul and Qui Gon Jinn figures and playsets.
The opening of the film gives you false hope: the entrance of Jedis Qui Gon Jinn and Obi Wan Kenobi is nicely handled and the light sabre battle is exciting. Unfortunately, it’s all downhill from the first ten minutes, when we meet the horror that is Jar Jar Binks, a CGI created monstrosity that makes you miss the Ewoks, cursed with a voice that is a mutant hybrid of Dale Winton and Bob Marley. For the British readers who have avoided any of the tie-ins, I shall skim over the rest of the plot in vague outline. The Phantom Menace tells the story of Anakin Skywalker as a child and how Obi Wan Kenobi got together with him, interspersed with some intrigue involving Senator (later Emperor) Palpatine. The intrigue is interesting but plays such a small part in the proceedings that it’s hardly there. Tension is nonexistent in this film because you know the outcome: Ewan McGregor goes on to become Alec Guinness and the annoying child becomes Darth Vader. In fact, McGregor does his most annoying Guinness impression here to tip you off that he’s the younger version of the old bloke who gets killed in Star Wars Episode Four A New Hope. So if you’re still conscious later on in the film, this will grate.
I’ve dwelt on the negative aspects of The Phantom Menace but, I hear you cry, there must be something that succeeds in this film? Well, yes there are moments that make you smile: The light sabre battles between Darth Maul, Obi Wan Kenobi and Qui Gon Jinn are pure spectacle, the double dealing of Palpatine is cannily handled and the Pod Race is visually exciting. But set pieces which should be dynamic are dull and artificial: the battle on Naboo between the Trade Federation’s battle droids and the Gungan, Jar Jar Binks’ people, smacks of a scene grab from Tomb Raider and Darth Maul is in it so briefly that it makes you question the press’s emphasis on his presence. Having said that, when you consider that he is the most visually striking of any of the characters,it’s not particularly surprising.
So overall The Phantom Menace is a very flawed, messy piece of filmmaking that fails to satisfy. Just because you know what’s going to happen doesn’t mean that tension has to be lacking: Just look at The Godfather Part Two to see how you can weave in new elements in a gripping and ingenious way. The film carries so much narrative baggage with it that it cannot be enjoyed on its own and surely that’s the most damning criticism of any creative work?

JOEL MEADOWS