Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)'s comments

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Jordan95

Rewatching this film in preparation for the upcoming The Force Awakens was as tedious an experience as I predicted. It was the first time I rewatched this in many years and even though I've been long aware of its countless flaws, I noticed even more than I expected. Lucas' obsession with computer-generated effects overwhelm the film within its opening minutes, and it's noticeable that it was his main interest, as the screenplay displays an amazing amount of mediocrity even by his standards, the acting is equally lifeless (likely not helped by the fact that the entire cast is simply standing around in CGI landscapes throughout and Lucas' uninspired directing) and the story is downright convoluted and incomprehensible.

Jar-Jar Binks is so horrible and stupid I won't even waste more words on him, one of the most iconic villains of all time is reduced to a stupid and unconvicing kid that yells YUPI every ten minutes, Obi-Wan is just there, Liam Neeson lends some gravitas to his stubborn character only because he's Liam Neeson and he lends presence to everything, Portman looks lost, and the Jedi are demystified, instead turned into tedious bureaucrats. The countless political discussions give further proof, in case there was any doubt, that Lucas is terrible at building any sort of intrigue whatsoever.

The few highlights include the pod race sequence, despite the stupid cutaways to the commentators, the climatic lightsaber duel, despite the fact that it looks elaborately coreographed, and John Williams' soundtrack, as usual. The Phantom Menace is an incredibly tedious and dissapointing experience, given the unlimited potencial in further exploring the galaxy far far away.

8 years 10 months ago

ubersum1

Watching it for the first time since I was a kid, and it just has so many elements of a B movie. Wooden/nonexistent acting. Extras seem to be lost and confused. Immature comedy. Terrible greenscreen and cgi. And I thought I remembered Darth Maul being cool, but he looks awful in HD - you can see the solid lumps of glue at the base of his horns.

There are lots of moments of bad storytelling. Where did the battledroids that captured the queen disappear to once she was escorted to the Viceroy? Why did Qui Gon and Obi Wan seem to teleport away from battledroids near the beginning of the film, never to use the technique again for the rest of the saga? Why didn't Qui Gon wait for Obi Wan in the fight against Darth Maul?

There are also elements of the film that are a complete waste of time, such as the pod races and Anakin flying into space. And smaller scenes, like, "ascension guns!".

The film seems to have been an exercise in wasting money. It could easily have lasted an hour instead of two and a half, and it could have been much better, both for visuals and for acting quality, if less money had been spent on 1999 cgi.

8 years 3 months ago

ResiOfGondor

Two things that made this movie so bad because Jar-jar binks and all stupid politic story!

7 years 11 months ago

essaywhu

I remember seeing this in theaters and being so excited to be there. I think I was 15. I loved it.

Then, I went to see it again and then I started to be worried. I went for a third time and fell asleep.

I just saw it for the first time since I was in high school and time has not been good to this film. The CG looks pretty terrible. The acting is wooden and all the comedy relief falls flat. The script is terrible and often the plot is nonsensical. It seems like they just wanted to get you from one set-piece to another, logic be damned.

This movie wasn't made for me at the age I am now. I think I would appreciate it if I was a very young child though.

10 years 4 months ago

DisneyStitch

I watched it a ton of times in '99 but I was just 9 years old at the time. After well over a decade of never viewing it I decided to dust it off.

"Wooden" is probably the best way to describe the film. Every scene has the same tone and feel to it, from the action sequences to the scenes with heavy dialogue. Interestingly the pace of the film is lightning fast, the first time it actually stops to focus on something for more than a minute or two is the Podrace. It lends a strange detachment from the film as none of the plot points are focused on in much detail. It seems like too much is crammed into it.

The character development is also lackluster. Obi and Qui-Gon have been together for some time at the opening of the film and their chemistry is as if they got stuck together for this one assignment and don't really care for each other at all. Natalie Portman and Jake Lloyd have no chemistry (which ironically mirrors their character's futures) and can't act too well here.

Not much to say about Jar-Jar that hasn't already been said, Captain Tarpals is how I prefer to think about Gungans in general. If you go back and view a lot of scenes with Jar-Jar in them you can see how Lucas literally shoehorned him into so many scenes where he just didn't belong, it's infuriating. The Pod race and the duel with Maul are really the only two highlights here. The Anakin space battle is pathetic, I've hated Naboo starfighters ever since.

Darth Vader is one of the most recognizable villains in movie history, if not the most recognizable. It was 22 years after we saw him for the first time that this film was made. I've always been under the impression that the task of telling the origin story of arguably the biggest villain ever turned out to be too monumental a task for Lucas. Either that or he just didn't even try. Think about it, the origin of Darth Vader and this is how he did it? Casting Hayden Christensen and giving him such a lousy script pretty much doomed the story. It really is a tragedy, folks.

6 years 7 months ago

Jok3r

[2/10] With negligible character development and a feeble plot, The Phantom Menace is possibly the worst movie in the Star Wars saga. [2/10]

*And Jar Jar Blinks is one of the most horrible character of all time! Seriously, it's so stupid that he becomes a general of an army during the climax of the movie.*

11 years 4 months ago

Biki

Not enough Jar Jar Binks!

Just kidding.

1 year 11 months ago

Siskoid

George Lucas is the king of overdone, special effects events with wall-to-wall noise and music and connect-the-dots plots. At least according to all 3 new episodes. This just doesn't work for adults and is either childish or much to repetitive to be satisfying.

6 years 6 months ago

Realenur

I just watch this for the first time since it was released. Never before have I had more desire to stick my hands into the screen and choke a character! I do not even need to mention which one, you just know, because everyone feels the same way.

7 years 3 months ago

Jashezilla

Jar-Jar Binks.

7 years 3 months ago

Deanita

I hated all Star Wars movies. The same plot over, over and over again. 3 times about Death Star, 3 Times about Rescue, 2 times about non-sense politic story, 3 Times about cheesy romantic story without chemistry and 1 time about jar-jar......
I don't know what will happen in the next Star Wars sequels. Perhaps we will see the 4th death star in episode IX!

7 years 11 months ago

Earring72

Hasn't aged well. Tone and feel of the movie is like the first one but with lesser results. No sense of wonder and lack of fun. It's just ok, thanks too some good stuff like the podrace and the climatic fight. But story is boring and Jar Jar...........YAK.......

Update:
Saw it today with my son of 8....who loved it. Darth Maul en Jar Jar are cool dad :-)

9 years 9 months ago