Re-watching this just brings it all back. The ridiculous amount of buzz it got all around the world. People cuing for days to see this and trying to kid themselves that it was as good as the previous three.
It is funny seeing everyone's initial reactions. But over-time, we eventually noticed that it was massively inferior to the rest.
I somehow never saw it at the cinema. I wanted to, but my parents never took me, despite them going to see it themselves.
For me before re-watching, I do agree that it is massively weaker than the original trilogy. But I wouldn't exactly say it is terrible. There are moments of greatness in this, and I think the main reason why the fans hate on this is that comparing this to episodes 4, 5 and 6 is like seeing a Premier League team play a League Two side in Football.
But if you actually put it up against mediocre films, The Phantom Menace actually doesn't look so bad after all.
The films biggest strengths and saving graces is the pod race sequence and the light-sabre fight towards the end.
When re-watching the pod-race, it may be have gone for a bit too long. But that is mainly due to the unnecessary additions Lucas made after the original cut. The noise of the racers by sound designer Ben Burtt is un-paralleled. His work for Star Wars and many other sci-fi films makes him the best in his trade.
As for the light-sabre battle, it gives us a memorable finale. At times, it may look over-choreographed, but it is still impressive viewing. Ray Park really chews-up the screen beautifully with his skills and Neeson and McGregor looked to have trained hard for this set-piece. And finally, how could I not forget the stellar work by composer John Williams for his piece of music used for this called 'Duel Of The Fates'. It is probably the biggest strength to the prequel trilogy.
One positive that could have been developed better was the relationship with the Emperor and Darth Maul. It was for only one scene and it was quite intriguing and well executed.
Not many of the performances are worth mentioning. Liam Neeson and Ewen McGregor gives us believable performances as Jedi knights Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi. They really help carry this film during even the most cringe-worthy parts of the film. Ian McDairmid as the Emperor of the Sith gets better every time I watch it. His tone is what we were expecting from everyone else. Another performance that was good to watch was Ray Park's physical part of Darth Maul. Despite having someone else do his one dialogue scene, Park gives us a masterful display in his light-sabre battle towards the end.
The type of negatives I'm afraid is what is becoming common with George Lucas' directing. The script is poor and that does help many of the inexperienced actors as Lucas is never known for helping his workers. Apparently the director for The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile Frank Darabont did send a script but George Lucas rejected it. I am not surprised as Lucas is not known for his story-telling and probably couldn't tell what a good story is even if it slapped him in the face.
Jake Lloydas Anakin Skywalker was mixed and pretty much all the child actors were poor for the most part and it did not help that Lucas never gave them much aid. It is also quite creepy seeing him and Natalie Portman's character together in scenes as we all know that they the love interest for the next two films and that the age difference in The Phantom Menace is quite disturbing. I think it would have been better if we first saw Anakin as a teenager or make Portman's character younger.
It is well known that the character of Jar Jar Binks is an annoying one. It was going to be as much of a risk as Yoda was in The Empire Strikes back. Sadly this one, does not work. The comedic tone to him just makes him a constant nuisance throughout, and the racial stereotype dialogue does not help either.
Another annoying part to the film were the battle droids for the Trade Federation. Like Jar Jar and and the Gungan's, they were given a comedic tone. It just did not work at all. The childish toilet humor down-graded anything else that was on screen with them. So that therefore meant the battle between the Gungan's and battle droids felt like a poor sketch from a sit-com.
From a technical standpoint, it is worthy of its 3 Oscar nominations. The design of the cities and most of the creatures and droids (especially the destroyer droids) are as good as any other Star Wars feature. The visual effects are ground-breaking for its time of its release in 1999, and some of it still holds up well.
In the end, I think George Lucas may have been thinking more about selling merchandise rather than telling a good story, which he does admit to. But it is still is solid watch that is mainly thanks to the two big action set-pieces that save this from being a disaster.
Rating: 7/10
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