Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (2000, VHS)

Well, by George, Lucasfilm finally released The Phantom Menace on DVD in November of 2001. Now I get to see Jar Jar Binks all over again. Whoopee!

Wonder if George will ever turn loose of all the other STAR WARS movies on DVD so that those of us who are switching over to the new generation of home movies can watch it in the best way. Hope so.

Actually, like a lot of other Star Wars fans, I really found several things not to become particularly enthralled about in regards to STAR WARS EPISODE 1: The Phantom Menace. Maybe a (jaded?) generation of us just really got our hopes up too high when they announced the continuation of this series which has become so deeply involved with our modern culture.

In another age and in another time, STAR WARS EPISODE 1: The Phantom Menace might have blown us away. But the main crime of this picture is that it is passionless, and after the passion and enthusiasm of "The Trilogy" this seemed like just a jar-jarring ride on the old Let's-Make-The-Rest-Of-This-Series-And-Go-Make-Some-Other-Kind-Of Movie night-train. Maybe George had his mind on his taxes or the electric bill at Skywalker Ranch or something, but if the thrill is not gone it is definitely waiting at the station to take the next train out of Tatooine. There may be crimes of passion, but in this flick the crime is a crime of NO passion.

I was one of the Chosen Ones who serendipitously lucked into STAR WARS at its creation as an Authentic Myth. I went to a theater in Albuquerque, New Mexico on a night in 1977 for the very first screening to the public there of what would come to be called "STAR WARS" and only later would be renamed "Episode 4: A New Hope." The movie theater was PACKED OUT with people who were drawn to this movie like they had had an alien message ringing in their brains (A la CLOSE ENCOUNTERS) saying "GO! .." Lots of strange people were there. Sikhs in their traditional clothing. Hippies in their non-traditional clothing. A zillion people like me in their jeans and tee-shirts just glad to have gotten a ticket. And there, in the darkness of the movie, Lucas' dream became OUR dream, and magic and myth came alive as it had not for many years. Maybe since never before since something like THE WIZARD OF OZ or something. But the main thing this movie had was PASSION!!! Luke was passionate. Han Solo was passionate. Princess Leia, Obo-Wan-Kenobe, Darth Vader, and I think even R2-D2 were all PASSIONATE. By comparison, NONE of the actors in "The Phantom Menace" were anywhere near passionate. It's like they were afraid to compete with SW-4,5, & 6. Maybe there was just too much tradition and power there, but it looks like somebody choked and went limp instead of passionate, and it's a shame. The STAR WARS myth deserves better.

What's really weird is that George Lucas is a genius at not only making up myths and wonderful movies that churn out gazillions of dollars, but George has been able to do what only a handful of Hollywood moviemakers have ever even come close to doing: perfecting the art of sequel-making. 99 out of 100 sequels are pitiful in comparison to the original. But George has demonstrated time after time that he can top the movie the sequel is following. This is what makes the oddity we call "The Phantom Menace" so compellingly weird: it is far below SW-4,5,and 6 in quality. It's like watching Sir Laurence Olivier act in "Dumb and Dumber 4" or something: something here just doesn't compute. I've got a bad feeling about this.

Even so, beyond the annoyance of Jar-Jar Binks, beyond the passionlessness of the actors (oddly, most strikingly in a very fine actor, Liam Neeson) , beyond the hopelessly convoluted plot about interstellar economic disputes mixed in with human politics mixed with the Sith/Jedi anomaly, beyond the overuse of all the CGI/FX gimmicks, beyond the unempathizable coldness of Natalie Portman, and beyond the too-cool swordsmanship of Darth Maul, this movie isn't all a waste. While lacking much in the way of soul, it still packs a lot of muscle.

In particular I liked the pod-race sequence. Young Anakin Skywalker, well-played by Jake Lloyd, actually does almost steal the show, which is probably what George wanted him to do. It is tough though because those Jedi and Sith lightsaber duels really light up a space station. Because of that, Darth Maul really steals the show and so Anakin's entrance into the story line is more-or-less eclipsed. And the name of the Jedi played by Neeson is so foreign as to be forgettable. Who could forget a name like Luke Skywalker or Han Solo? But who could NOT forget a name like "Qui-Gon Jinn?" Everybody forgets it. Name recognition may not always be important, but for a leading Jedi in a Star Wars movie it sure is. You might as well have named him Feeedddlliiee Deassledee Foolum. Or Yada-Yada-Yoda. Names count.

So the whole movie is a bit Jar-Jarring, even if it is a part of a classic myth of the late 20th century. See it for its connection to the greater links in the chain, but don't expect anything up on their level. Maybe when Lucas gets his taxes sorted out or gets the electric bill back at the ranch paid we will see greater things in SW-2 and SW-3. Let's hope the force is with him. Or the farce certainly will be. Four stars, mainly carried by all the hard work on the CGI animation, which even I have to admit, was ground-breaking stuff. Wish the human side of the movie had been up to the original standards though. So instead of the hit I wish it had been, it remains merely a myth.

****
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LIGHTSPEED JUMP: If you click on STAR WARS: Episode IV., you will find my review of the actual "first" STAR WARS movie.