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'The Phantom Menace' is personally my favorite of the three Star Wars prequels; its release in 1999 generated enormous hype, and legions of fans were bound to be disappointed, but undoubtedly countless more were thrilled to death. I never saw this in a theater. I was in high school at the time, and had read about the long lines, the ticket scalpers, the people who camped out for days, the people who showed up in fully decorated costumes. It was a nearly unparalleled cinematic phenomenon. It arrived almost two decades after Return of the Jedi, which introduced Ewoks, and had Darth Vader protecting Luke by killing the Emperor before enduring his own dramatic demise, removing his helmet and showing us the man underneath. Now, we backtrack to what is chronologically the first film in the series. Here is Anakin Skywalker as a cute little kid, played by Jake Lloyd, a very young Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor), still an apprentice studying under his master, Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson). Anakin, of course, will eventually turn into Darth Vader, but that fate seems almost impossible to comprehend, when Qui-Gon encounters him on the desert planet of Tattoine. He lives with his mother, and both are slaves. Anakin works for a slimy merchant that looks like a large insect. Qui-Gon senses that Anakin is destined for great things, and secures the boy's freedom after he wins a dangerous Podrace, in order to get parts for Qui-Gon's ship. This Podrace is an exhilarating display of the movie's spectacular special effects, but far from the only one. Anakin deftly guides his vehicle through narrow cliff passages and around obstacles, while his competitors all use dirty tactics to knock each other out. He certainly has a natural gift for piloting and navigation. Qui-Gon wants to train Anakin, but the Jedi Council does not like the idea; their concerns voiced primarily by Yoda (Frank Oz), a wise old green creature with pointy ears who likes to speak with inverted sentence structure. Other Jedi Masters include the gruff Mace Windu (Samuel L Jackson). The primary villain is the fearsome Darth Maul (Ray Park), a servant of a mysterious Sith Lord manipulating everything from behind the scenes. We know that this Sith Lord is actually Senator Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid), soon to be promoted to Chancellor, after the current officeholder, Valorum (Terrence Stamp) is ousted from power. Palpatine has the ear of Queen Padme Amidala (Natalie Portman) of Naboo; Naboo is being attacked by a droid army, sent by the Trade Federation. The motives of the Federation are unclear, the leader of the Federation is Viceroy Gunray (Silas Carson), who looks like a fish. These droids do not make very good soldiers, they are easily destroyed, and can all be shut down simultaneously if one blows up the command center that controls them. But perhaps there is strength in numbers; thousands (or maybe even millions) of droids can be deployed at once, and one scene consists of an epic battle between the droids and a race of aliens known as the Gungans, one of whom is Jar Jar Binks, a remarkable CGI creation with a supremely annoying voice, provided by Ahmed Best. Jar Jar is representative of the trend Lucas uses here of seamlessly integrating human actors with digitalized effects and imaginary environments. There are many wondrous sights here, from a breathtaking underwater city, to the massive senatorial chamber with levitating platforms. Then there are all of the rich background details, which are overwhelming and startling in terms of their design and originality, and the amount of time it must have taken Lucas and his staff to create them. How many unnamed alien species are paraded before us? It is difficult to say. As expected, there is political intrigue, and loads of action, including a sensational lightsaber duel between Darth Maul, Obi-Wan, and Qui-Gon, and lots of laser blasters. The title of Chancellor is obviously intended to remind you of Hitler; that is the position he was appointed to in 1933, before doing away with democracy and making himself a dictator. It is also obvious that Lucas drew inspiration from ancient Rome; the galaxy starts off being governed as a republic, then switches to an empire, following Palpatine's usurpation that was finalized in Revenge of the Sith. Lovable droid R2-D2 is here, along with C3P0, but there is no Chewbacca or Han Solo. We know exactly how this story, and the entire saga, will unfold and ultimately end, but this does little to diminish the joy and excitement of the overall experience. The plot is surprisingly compelling for a movie that has invested so much in the visual presentation; and while the dialogue is not of Shakespearean quality, it is far from awful, though one could describe it as dull and straightforward, but thankfully not loaded down with the cheesy romantic platitudes and hefty political overtones present in Episode II. The central performances are solid, especially Neeson as the strong and honorable Qui-Jon, McDiarmid as the scheming Palpatine, and Park as the menacing Darth Maul. Jake Lloyd, unfortunately, is terrible, and Portman's role would be expanded in subsequent installments. I think McGregor is better as the older, bearded Obi-Wan in Episodes II and III. email this review to a friend
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