Review of Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace

Why?!

"A communications disruption could mean only one thing: invasion."

Before beginning my scathing review of this movie I must say one thing: I am an avid fan of the original Star Wars trilogy. As a child of the 90s, I grew up watching the 'Special Edition' releases and they defined my childhood. I still have fond memories of watching them as a kid. Now as much as I liked this particular movie as a kid, I revisited and found it a complete disgrace to the franchise and to the Lucasfilm logo.

First of all, George Lucas cannot write scripts. The dialogue throughout was absolutely despicable; full of annoying characters (I'm sure we're all familiar with the irritating antics of Jar Jar), dumb sayings and no discernable plot line. Instead it's a thread of action sequences that are killed by overuse of CGI that looks bleak and unexciting. There is no tension or heart in the action; throughout the light sabre duels there's little to no dialogue save for the occasionally screaming of "No!" or other embarrassing things. In the originals there was dialogue and tension, and it defined the original movies.

All the actors make the cardboard script sound even worse. Jake Lloyd made a woeful Anakin Skywalker. Every line sounded forced and contrived, not to mention the disconcerting fact that the future Darth Vader is referred to as "Annie".

Both Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor aren't any better. I like them both as actors, but they failed. I guess it's all they could do with a tedious screenplay.

I think the main problem with the screenplay was because it seemed far too blatant. And the voice cast for the creatures...just no!

The film begins to tell the story of the boy who will grow up to become Darth Vader. Little Anakin Skywalker (Lloyd) is whisked off his home planet of Tatooine by Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn (Neeson) who believes that Anakin is the "chosen one" who will destroy the Sith.

From that little plot line it's expanded over its running time, and at the end of the day it became painfully long and monotonous.

George Lucas killed the action with his overuse of CGI that make the atmosphere incredibly artificial and fake, detracting from its entertainment value. Maybe 10 year olds will find something of worth in this. Shame on you George Lucas!

4/10

Comments

AgentLexi

Posted : 6 months, 2 weeks ago at Jun 22 20:03

Yeah agree with most of it... but still quite an experience at the cinema with the vibe and amount of people.

But afterwards I felt disappointed. The last battle is worth a watch but the rest is abit of a drag.

moviemaniac126

Posted : 6 months, 2 weeks ago at Jun 22 21:46

i disagree with you for two reasons the idea behind anikin being called annie was becasue it was before his jedi training. and life before qi-gon-jin and obi-wan was simple all anikin had was high hopes for becoming a pod racer. also doesn't your mom have a nickname for you? if not now but as a child? the idea behind obi-wan and qui-gon is simple they got stranded on tatooine and inadvertantlery found anakin. and by mere coincidence he fit the prophecy of the chosen one. the films value is to show that one can do as much evil as one can do good

PvtCaboose91

Posted : 6 months, 2 weeks ago at Jun 22 21:49

*sigh* You miss the point of the joke.

AgentLexi

Posted : 6 months, 2 weeks ago at Jun 24 12:50

The Phantom Tomato, Revenge of the crisp and attack of the mozzies.

Added by PvtCaboose91 1 year ago on 27 April 2008 01:41