Star Wars: Episódio I - A Ameaça Fantasma

What everyone remembers fondly from this movie is Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor as Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi Wan Kenobi, Darth Maul and their climatic duel. Sadly, there isn't more than a few minutes of Maul and instead we are given Jar Jar Binks and Jake Lloyd as a needlessly young Anakin. Along with these characters the movie is burdened by a general tone that's directed at children and an over reliance on still developing CGI technology.

It looks bad, it sounds bad(kudos to the actors who make this dialouge sound good) and the best aspects are too brief. The Phantom Menace has been lapidated by audiences and its kind of understandable: passionate Star Wars fans can look past the flaws but to the average viewer it can be very offputting.

But hey, look at what you got now.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, is a beautiful opening to perhaps one of the most beautiful space sagas of all-time!! This was George Lucas' attempt to set the stage, and place the characters that would eventually lead to the characters that we grew to know and love in the late 1970's and early 1980's. Now expectations for this film were EXTREMELY high when it was coming out in early 1999, and not everyone liked this film but this reviewer was not one of those people. I was one of the the people that loved it. For the most part, Lucas was given a blank check by Twentieth Century Fox to make this film and if you are to watch it again and just take in the landscapers, settings, costumes, technology, you will see the grand vision that Lucas had behind The Phantom Menace. He did not have these funds and technology at his disposal for his first three Star Wars films. This time he simply did not spare any expense in the prequel films. Israeli-American actress, and Academy Award Winner Natalie Portman changes through numerous costumes in the film, one better than the the other as does her entourage in costumes that are not that far off in terms of looks or expenses from Portman's. I can understand how some fans might be upset at how there are some slow scenes in the film, but it was important for Lucas to set up future action scenes - not to mention future movies - such as the scene where Qui-Gon Jinn (played admirably by Liam Neeson) takes a blood sample from young Anakin Skywalker (Jake Lloyd) to get a midi-chlorian count (a Jedi blood count - something that lets Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan - played very well by Ewan McGregor - know he has Jedi potential). Lucas makes up for this though with outstanding action scenes later in the movie like the desert fight scene between the black clad ninja-like Sith warrior Darth Maul (Ray Park) and Qui-Gon in which the two clash sabers for a couple minutes before Qui-Gon wisely jumps to his ship and the safety of space!! The fact that Star Wars was back, and it was done in a satisfying way that set up future movies was good enough for me!! It had memorable characters, and while not all of these characters survived, they made an imprint on the Star Wars universe that Star Wars fans still cherish today!! Great action, fair acting, good costuming, good sound editing, great soundtrack by legend and genius John Williams, good direction and writing by God and legend George Lucas made this the most artistically beautiful and fun movie of the Star Wars saga!! 8 out of 10 stars!!

Star Wars: Episode 1- The Phantom Menace is definitely worth a watch, but I do think it is one of the weaker movies of the Star Wars saga. I will admit I wasn't expecting much after reading some very negative reviews on IMDb, but I do think this particular instalment did in some ways exceed my expectations and disappointed as well. On a visual and technical level, it looks absolutely fantastic, with splendid special effects, stunning cinematography and fine scenery and costumes. The script is fairly decent, perhaps lacking the sophistication of Empire Strikes Back or New Hope, but does have some memorable lines. The action is constantly exhilarating, and Darth Maul, well played by Ray Park is a very good villain. Of course though, Darth Vader is better. Most of the performances are very good, especially Natalie Portman as Queen Padma who looked stunning and Jake Lloyd as Anakin Skywalker who shone with his confident charm. And Jar Jar Binks is okay on the most part, and you have to love Yoda. And the music score by John Williams was outstanding, definitely one of his best works. The quality of sound and direction are also impressive. However, there were things about this film that did disappoint. One is despite the awesome visuals, strong music score and good characters, the story never quite distinguished itself. It did take a while to get going, and when it did try to get going and you could tell it wanted to, it was further disadvantaged by the uneven pacing. Liam Neeson is a fine actor, his performances in Kinsey and Schindler's List are proof of that, and I do like Ewan McGregor. But as Qui-Gon Jin and Obi Wan Kenobi, both stars give unusually wooden performances, and at times looked even embarrassed. And as I said, the pacing is very uneven, there are some slow moments, and one or two scenes felt rushed. All in all, maybe disappointing for fans of the saga, but it cannot be denied that visually it is an accomplishment. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Lucas may have problems as a director and writer, but I've always thought that those flaws are balanced by his great storytelling ability. The problem with "The Phantom Menace" is that he simply has no story to tell. The film merely adds an introductory chapter to a story that has already been told, and stretches it out into a two-hour movie. It is no accident that prequels of this kind are rare. They are very difficult to make properly. And apparently he's just not a sophisticated enough filmmaker to pull it off.

For one thing, this project is limited by the fact that anyone familiar with the first trilogy knows the story's outcome, and it therefore lacks some of the suspense associated with a gradually unfolding saga. More importantly, however, this situation leaves Lucas with very little freedom as a storyteller. It also encourages him to gloss over key events; because their outcome is a foregone conclusion, he forgets to bring them to life.

For example, we know there will eventually be a romance between Anakin and Padme. So Lucas has the two characters meet here and--surprise, surprise--they seem to like each other. Their developing friendship isn't portrayed that clearly, and their motivations for becoming close aren't explained. Because Lucas fails to make scenes like these believable, we can't help being conscious of how he's manipulating the plot in his effort to connect the two trilogies. Another good example of this problem is Anakin's portrayal as a potential Jedi. There doesn't appear to be anything about this kid remotely out of the ordinary, even though the other characters keep talking like there is. Our only reason for thinking he's special is that the plot requires it.

If the story fails to be engaging, it is because we never see the important events. Lucas makes a fatal error in not showing what's happening on Naboo, the small planet whose capture is the focus of the plot. Numerous atrocities are supposedly being committed against the planet's inhabitants, but we only know about this because the characters on screen refer to the events, usually rather woodenly.

The deadpan performances are a problem in themselves, but they only highlight our lack of involvement in the story. Think of Han Solo sweating in fear, then think of the emotional vacuums passing for characters in this film. Whenever any of the characters do express emotion, as in the scene where Anakin and his mom part, it still seems awfully restrained. Somehow, Lucas manages to keep the emotional reactions of his characters to a minimum, which gives the film an almost mechanical feel.

It's true that "A New Hope" never showed Alderaan's inhabitants, but we still could feel the tragedy of the planet's destruction through the horrified reactions of Princess Leia and Obi Wan. Moreover, there were many other involving events which we witnessed directly, such as the slaying of rebels at the beginning; the capture and torture of the princess; and the murder of Luke's foster parents. Furthermore, the major plot elements were intriguing in and of themselves. They weren't there merely to show us how they were to be linked to later events, which seems to be the case with the new film.

I suspect that Lucas was not as concerned in the first trilogy with what had to happen later in the story and was therefore able to focus his attention on the events at hand. The weakest segment was "Return of the Jedi," which had the task of bringing the story to an end. Only then did Lucas start to show signs of forcing plot points. In "The Phantom Menace," he gets so bogged down in the task of bringing his story from point A to point B that he ends up with only the bare bones of a plot, and none of it comes alive.

This is especially true of the characterization. In the old trilogy, characters like Yoda and Han reveal distinct personalities in their first few minutes on screen. This film goes for more than two hours and the characters, including the familiar ones, come off vague and nondescript. We aren't given much of a chance to experience their personalities in the way they interact. We must take Qui Gon's word for it when he describes Obi Wan as "headstrong." What's most odd is that the cartoons seem better developed than the humans. The scenes where Qui Gon negotiates with the birdlike slave-owner Watto are amusing and well-done--probably the movie's best scenes aside from the stunning action sequences--but they can't hold a candle to the constant interactions throughout the first trilogy.

One thing I cannot do is accuse the film of lacking creativity. The design of the creatures, the technologies, and the planets is impressive. Watching the film is sort of like reading a children's book that isn't very good but abounds with beautiful illustrations. There is certainly a "wow" factor in the movie's visuals, but the effect of it is short-lived.

I get irked when I hear fans talk as though the "Star Wars" movies were never about anything beyond special effects. While the inventive visuals are part of what made the originals so revolutionary, they're not what made the films so fun to watch. And in no way can they explain the trilogy's continuing popularity today. After all, many of the original effects look primitive by today's standards, and their novelty has certainly worn off. Only an enduring and compelling storyline could have allowed the first three films to become the classics they're almost universally acknowledged to be.

Well, after waiting 16 years for his next installment, George has given us "The Phantom Menace". As a Star Wars fan I got what I expected - another chance to immerse myself in the Star Wars universe - a film whose sole purpose is essentially escapism. But as a movie fan, and judging it as I would any other movie, I frankly feel mildly disappointed. Any movie that's made can always be improved upon but I feel that this SHOULD have been better. Firstly the good points :

1) The visuals are stunning - a lot of love and hard work has quite obviously gone into the effects and the people involved can quite rightly be proud of their work

2) All the performances by the main cast were good. Particularly Natalie Portman and Pernilla August.

3) The Pod Race was exciting and amusing.

4) The final sabre duel was quite fantastic : Darth Maul prowling up and down like a caged tiger was a particularly excellent touch - it added real tension and anticipation to the scene.

5) The music as always was magnificent. The Star Wars saga would lose much of its charm and intensity without Williams' scores.

And now the negatives :

1) The pacing was too fast in parts! The first half hour of the film just left me cold - you weren't led into the story. You were dumped straight into the action. On paper I'm sure the first half hour looked fantastic but I found myself sitting in the theatre going - 'hey, great special effect shot there!' I wasn't involved in the story and the scenes lacked tension and danger.

2) The film only truly started for me on reaching Tatooine. I finally got a chance to get to know the characters. However there still was not enough character development in the film as a whole. For example, Obi Wan had nothing to do or say throughout the movie except flash his light sabre around from time-to-time. Who is Obi Wan??? After seeing the film I'm none the wiser. And the final sabre duel (good as it was) would have been infinitely better had the relationship between Qui-Gon and Obi Wan been explored past the mere mentor-apprentice motif. The final sabre duel lacked emotional involvement as a consequence.

3) Why did they make Jar-Jar so incomprehensible?? I found myself becoming annoyed at having to strain to understand his nonsensical utterings! (Having said that, he wasn't as annoying as I'd been led to expect) Why George used easily identifiable racial accents for his alien characters completely puzzled me. It just shows a lack of imagination!

4) Not enough Darth Maul.

5) What's with the biological exposition on the Force! Was that necessary? The first three films pointed to links between the Force and genetics but I don't need tiresome cold scientific explanations as to the Force's origin, thank you very much! It just ruins the mystique.

6) Can we have less of the mindless gaffes that occur in the final battle scenes (You know the ones that save the day!) Its an insult to the audience's intelligence (In a full theatre I swear I didn't see a single soul who looked under sixteen! - has George forgotten about the original fans). In the original trilogy there was none of this cringeful embarrassing material (Ewoks excepted!!)

Well I think I'll stop there. To summarise : a good movie that could have been a whole lot better. Perhaps there was too much story to cover in two hours? In which case the plot should have been shortened on the adage that "less is more". I've always thought that episode one was always going to be the lamest of the new films so I await the next installment with anticipation and hope .....