# Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)

### reviewed by
James Sanford

There's a famous story director Alfred Hitchcock once told about working with Ingrid Bergman in the 1940s. Bergman, Hitchcock said, wanted only to appear in masterpieces and feared starring in a film that wouldn't live up to her lofty standards. Hitchcock couldn't understand why she spent so much time fretting over every single aspect of her work.

"Ingrid," he told her, "it's only a movie."

Those words could also apply to the fanatics who have camped out in theater parking lots, traded bits of trivia on the Internet and counted down the days until the opening of "Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace," the first of writer-director George Lucas' "Star Wars" prequels.

It turns out it is, after all, only a movie, and nothing ever committed to celluloid could possibly live up to the astonishing amount of hype surrounding this one. "Episode I" doesn't even come close. It's merely a two-hour parade of mesmerizing images, set to a stirring John Williams score and featuring an assortment of faces old and new.

Is it fun? For the most part, yes. Is it a life-changing experience? Only if you reach puberty, give birth or die while watching it. Set alongside the previous installments, "Episode I" has considerably fewer cliffhangers than "Star Wars" and none of the complexity or terror of "The Empire Strikes Back," and shares with "Return of the Jedi" a fondness for the kinds of cuddly creatures only a toy vendor could love.

What makes the movie a worthy addition to the series is its visual sense. Practically every frame of the film is drenched in bold colors and even the backdrops - such as an underwater city made of shining golden bubbles, or a planet entirely consumed by urban sprawl - are fascinating to study. Those who see "Episode I" more than once will want to take a closer look at the extraordinary details packed intoevery scene.

Several of those scenes are exceptionally fine. "Episode I" kicks off with an exciting escape, follows that up with a dazzling invasion sequence then moves on to a nail-biting episode involving fish monsters and gigantic mutant eels. A "pod race" on the desert planet Tattooine is also smashingly well-crafted and a climactic, multi-level battle between Jedi Knights and a bloodthirsty Sith Lord provides a much-needed kick to the story's third act.

"Episode I" introduces some memorable characters, a few of whom will figure prominently in the next two chapters: Amidala (Natalie Portman), the youthful queen who dresses like a supergeisha and fights like Princess Leia; Qui-Gon (a suitably heroic Liam Neeson), the stalwart Jedi mentor of Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor, who does a perfect vocal imitation of the young Alec Guinness); and Darth Maul (Ray Park), a merciless assassin in Kabuki makeup who brandishes a lethal double light saber and whose head is crowned by a ring of horns.

Unfortunately for those over the age of 10, "Episode I" also brings in an asinine amphibian named Jar Jar Binks who speaks in mock Rastafarian tones and appears to have been inserted in the story by the merchandising arm of Lucasfilms. He's irritating from the moment he first appears and goes a long way toward bogging down the action.

The movie further caters to the kiddie audience by casting the button-nosed Jake Lloyd as Anakin Skywalker, the fledgling warrior whowill someday grow up to be Darth Vader. Cute he may be, but an actor he is not.

Then again, many of the performances here seem underdirected, even that of the generally on-target Portman, who has some initial difficulty bringing Amidala to life. A similar problem keeps Pernilla August from making Anakin's mom into anything but a smiling cipher. The movie's dramatic sequences are frequently tepid and overlong, perfectly designed for trips to the concession stand.

They're also indicative of the film's greatest failing, its inability to exert any sort of emotional power whatsoever. This might be partially due to the nature of the material itself; after all, this is basically a lengthy backstory for the intrigue and romance yet to come.

But as a director, Lucas seems more caught up in dishing out digital magic than in working with flesh and blood. "Episode I" routinely dazzles the eye without ever engaging the other senses.

Those expecting to stand up and cheer at regular intervals might be taken aback by the movie's almost weird restraint. Imagine taking a roller coaster ride after swallowing a handful of Valium and you get some idea of the tone.

Awash in state-of-the-art sound and fury and devoid of feeling, "Episode I" is a technical triumph that seems untouched by human hands. In manufacturing, that's a plus. In filmmaking, however, that's not a good thing. James Sanford

The review above was posted to the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due to ASCII to HTML conversion.

Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews