Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace is historically significant for many reasons: it was the first Star Wars movie in nearly 16 years, the last Star Wars movie shot on film, and a polarizing, pulpy entry in the storied space fantasy franchise. It debuted on May 19, 1999, 25 years ago almost to the day, and earned over $1 billion at the box office, despite mostly mediocre reviews.
Its legacy is an interesting one: One of its characters, Jar-Jar Binks, was so detested that the actor who portrayed him, Ahmed Best, faced what he told The Hollywood Reporter was “the first textbook case of cyberbullying.” Several racially insensitive aliens featured in the film remain a mark on the series to this day. The dialogue is weak and often incredibly grating.
Yet its late-stage lightsaber battle is the stuff of legends, its production and costume design is intricate and beautiful, and the infamous podrace scene is exhilarating. It is a Star Wars movie full of contradictions, so when my partner asked if I wanted to go see The Phantom Menace at our local Alamo Drafthouse, I jumped at the chance.
…
But despite all that is cringe and problematic in The Phantom Menace, watching it in theaters instilled in me a newfound sense of respect for the film.
It’s weird, when the prequels came out, we all knew they were bad, with great bits, but we knew they’re bad movies. Then we started making jokes about how good those bad movies were, and somewhere along the years the joke was lost, and people now legit think the PT is good. It isn’t, it’s got great bones but it’s a badly executed trilogy
All of the star wars trilogies are really.
Great bones, good aesthetic and the right energy. Terrible plot, basic characters and contractions galore with bad dialogue everywhere
Nah. The first one is actually good. It’s not a bunch of smart movies, absolutely not… It’s a monomyth, but it’s well executed all around.
The prequels then removed decent dialogue from the formula but kept a proper story and the terrific world building.
The Disney trilogy lacked all of those as well and was reduced to terrible dialogue, terrible story and no world building at all, so all that was left were great visuals (which had lost much of their magic by then) and a decent soundtrack (which, however, had to bank on only nostalgia as the movies just didn’t know where they were heading).
So, no, I really don’t think the movies are all the same. Far from it.
I respect the original trilogy for what it was/did. However the writing is bad, the acting is bad, and the set was mind blowing for the time but you do get this high school theater vibe from it. Best of the trilogies but really not that stand out. Empire Strikes Back does a lot of the work that keeps the OT decent. By the time you get to Return of the Jedi though it really starts to be all over the road and gets pretty jarringly goofy with all the stuff they try to play on. Sometimes watching Return of the Jedi just feels like Spaceballs.
The Prequels have the best writing, surprisingly. The story is easiest to follow of the three and the aesthetic is beyond compare. Introduces the most information but also becomes heavy and muddy especially with all the CGI.
The disney trilogy is pretty bad. Cleanest production but that’s really it.
None of them are actually that good, we just like them and know they could’ve been better.
Yet its late-stage lightsaber battle is the stuff of legends
If that legend is Strictly Come Dancing.
I didn’t quite like the Prequels when they came out, it seemed obvious that Lucas had been given way too much freedom and not enough people were there to rein him in on his stupider ideas. He got a bit lazy and too overly reliant on CGI, but the core idea of the Prequels still seems solid. It’s a story about the fall of the Republic, of the Jedi, of Anakin Skywalker, and of the rise of a dictatorship, of the Empire, all based on a few scraps of dialogue from ANH. It definitely created a distinct era from the OT, which was a hard act to follow for anyone, and it did a far better job than Disney’s drunken reign at the helm.
Lucas just really floundered on the execution of the whole thing, too many people thought he was a genius, and there wasn’t enough people around like Harrison Ford to push back with, “You can type this shit, but you sure can’t say it!” I liked one idea somebody had had to replace Naboo with Alderaan, to actually give the audience some sort of background as to what was lost, instead of the silly fish world that drove Sheev Palpatine to become an evil Sith Lord. Anakin’s turn to the Dark Side felt tacked on (much like in Game of Thrones with Daenerys), it’s apparently hard to write good characters turning evil in a believable way.
with, “You can type this shit, but you sure can’t say it!” I liked one idea somebody had had to replace Naboo with Alderaan, to actually give the audience some sort of background as to what was lost,
That would have been nice
It is objectively terrible and an ofront to true Star Wars fans.
I bet you enjoyed Space Balls.
Space Balls, the Movie?
I am your father’s brother’s nephew’s cousin’s former roommate.
Can I make an attempt to change your mind?
A Very Brief Analysis: The Phantom Menace
If you’re a Star Wars nerd, it’s completely worth the time. He digs pretty deep on the lore and the film production background.
“A Very Brief Analysis”? Great, I can get that boxed off before… Oh.
Me sa so disappointed in you sa
Worst acting ever…it was so fucking bad
I think it was acted well, but directed poorly. I wouldn’t be surprised if that performance was exactly what Lucas wanted.
Dude, when this came out it was the biggest deal. I was in higschool and saw it 4 times in a week and the line to the theater was around the block each time. I have no idea when the transition to hate happened.
