Other Ihnatko reviews

Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999)
Now on video.
Full IMDb listing

I wasn't ready for it. Not by a longshot. I was there in a darkened theater to see a "Star Wars" film, as I have nearly 200 times before...literally. The words "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away" appeared in blue and then were replaced by the "Star Wars" logo and a burst of fanfare...as I'd seen and heard many, many times before.

And then, right on cue, came a title and a ribbon of text crawling away into infinity. I went for my soda but stopped in mid-reach:

The title was different. "Episode I: THE PHANTOM MENACE."

Well, duh.

But I've been watching the same three movies over and over again for -- again, literally — as far back as I can remember. There was a time when I could quote the entire script from the Middle Trilogy word for word.

And now, finally, the title was different. Before I recovered from the title, it gradually dawned on me that the opening crawl was different, too. I savored that opening sentence over and over again until it receded into illegibility and I had to read quickly to catch the rest of it.

I settled into my seat and welcomed the tingling at the back of my neck. I'd bought tickets to five showings and it was right around the fourth that I was even able to start judging it like a normal film.

But of course, "Menace" isn't a normal film, is it? It's unique. It's both buoyed and sunk by two decades' worth of buildup and expectations. On the one hand, it can expect to benefit from the tremendous love people have for the Middle Trilogy ("Star Wars," "The Empire Strikes Back," and "The Return Of The Jedi"). On the other, if "Menace" fails to engender the same feelings of excitement and delight -- feelings that are now at least partly tied up in nostalgic events of youth — the potential for backlash is incredible.

In light of all of this, the story seems almost incidental. The galaxy is at peace thanks to the dominance of the Galactic Republic, its interplanetary governing body. But there's a regional crisis in the form of the greedy Trade Federation, which blockades the lush planet of Naboo as part of its grievances about the Republic's taxation of outlying trade routes.

Two Jedi Knights are dispatched to Naboo to try to negotiate a diplomatic solution. Nothin' doing. The Trade Federation invades the planet and the Jedi barely escape, rescuing Naboo's Queen and much of her royal court in the process. But on their way back to Coruscant, seat of the Republic, they have to make a pit stop on this desert backwater planet called Tatooine, where they come across this cute little slave boy named Anakin Skywalker who might be more than he seems. And there's this guy calling himself "Darth Sidious," mumbling gravely to his devil-like apprentice that it's time for the Sith to rise again. And without anyone's knowledge, he's manipulating events in a way which, we're convinced, just can't be at all good for anybody.

Cracking-good stuff. I think back to the plots of the Middle Trilogy, which were actually tissue-thin. Everything was right out there on the table. As the movie unspooled you could bring out a single 3x5 index card with three columns labeled "Good Guys," "Bad Guys," and "Sources Of Conflict" and casually pencil in all of the particulars as you went along. At the end you'd be left with an exhaustive set of story notes and half the card still blank.

"Phantom Menace" features a far more ambitious story. At the core of it are the machinations of Darth Sidious and frankly, I don't think we've seen such a well-planned and executed cinematic power grab since the original "Godfather" film. In an age in which screenwriters aren't willing to think more creatively than "Man A wants it, Man B has it, A tries to kill B to get it," it really gives one pause to see a true Cunning Plan at last.

But though the stories in the Middle Trilogy were indeed simple, the focus was never on the plot anyway. It was all about the characters. The turning point of the entire Trilogy is emblematic. Luke Skywalker battles Darth Vader and winds up on a catwalk thousands of feet in the air. He is defeated yet still defiant, and this is the moment in which Vader pauses and then reveals, with conviction and not a small amount of hope, that he is Luke's father. Luke cries in anguish and lets himself slip from the platform. Perhaps it's a statement that he'd rather take his chances with gravity than with Vader. Perhaps he does it because he knows he's heard the truth and the impact of the revelation is such that he just doesn't care about consequences anymore.

Compared with the true sense of opera in the Middle Trilogy, the characters in "Menace" seem lukewarm. They have their convictions, but what fuels them? Duty, certainly, but the characters don't seem willing to elaborate. There are several scenes in which we think "This is an emotional moment" whereas in the Middle Trilogy we felt it.

Whatever "Menace" lacks in emotional scale it more than makes up for in visual scale and bravado. We've come a long, long way since "The Empire Strikes Back," in which the heroes travelled to a fantastic gaseous planet of breathtaking vistas...and then spent almost all of their time inside rooms with no windows. "Menace"'s visual effects are executed without compromise. All of the digital characters are perfectly rendered and animated. All of the vehicles and sets are so well-done that it's simply not possible to determine what's been done digitally and what's been done as a traditional model or matte.

Best of all, all of these effects are executed as though they're really no big deal. That's something that most films which digital effects can't really grasp. In lesser films, the effects cost the production so much money and were such cornerstones of the film that the filmmakers almost subconsciously force the story and the action to screech to a halt in order to give us all a long, steamy look at what the boys in the CGI department spent 14 months producing. It cheapens the film and the effects and makes the director look about as skilled and disciplined as a camcorder-wielding tourist getting his first gawk at New York City skyscrapers.

In "Menace," the effects are all offhand. In another film, that creature would have been reserved for the Big Central Battle Sequence. Here, it's out-of-focus and you get just a glimpse of it as it passes between two buildings in the background. The effects work as effects, but they're there to work as atmosphere. Indeed, Lucas seemed to feel a responsibility to cut no visual corners. For the first time, a bustling spaceport is populated like a bustling spacepart. A capital city is teeming with activity. It's all there and it's all shot as though the director sees such things every morning on the way to breakfast. And that's all to the good; it's all real. These planets and people and creatures really exist. We buy it. Oddly enough, it's the effects and not the characters that generate the emotional responses to this movie.

It's almost impossible to rate "Menace" as you would another film. Not only because of all of the aforementioned cultural baggage, but also because for probably the first time in film history, an "A"-list original movie has been created and released as the deliberate first chapter in a trilogy. Yes, yes, Lucas had many of the major plot-points of the Middle Trilogy all worked out before sitting down to write "Star Wars"...but who knew he'd have the chance to actually make those next two movies? Certainly not George Lucas.

In every movie series, it was the success of the first film that created the opportunities to make the sequels. But thanks to merchandising deals, Lucas' skill at protecting the bottom line, the incredible value of the "Star Wars" film franchise and even his own personal fortune, George Lucas was able to write and shoot "The Phantom Menace" with ironclad confidence that there would be Episodes Two and Three.

It's tempting (and perhaps fair) to gig this film on many counts, like character development. But it's also fair to ask if the goal of "Menace" was simply to establish the new universe and put all of the pieces on the playing field. There's something odd about That Boy Skywalker. Darth Sidious is one dangerous and clever sumbitch. There is a Pax Republic throughout the Galaxy. And the Jedi are not a some shabby group of mystics, but the Republic's supreme collection of ass-kicking enforcers, so feared that when the Republic introduces the Jedi into a dispute it's like calmly placing a loaded handgun in front of you at the negotiation table.

In the end, you have to yield your purest instincts as a filmgoer. By now, I've seen "Phantom Menace" three times on video and more than a dozen times in theaters. The novelty is gone and my eyes are open to its flaws...and it's still a thrilling film. Three stars, with another half-star in escrow, awaiting the release of the next two films.

© 2000 Andy Ihnatko. May not be redistributed without permission. Studio PR types wishing to send Andy tapes, promotional clothing, or high-end video gear in hopes of securing a positive review are advised that such efforts are futile, but they're free to try to determine how high Andy's price actually is. Mail any and all pelft to Box 279, Norwood, MA 02062. He could use a new subwoofer for his home-theater setup.

Other Ihnatko reviews

Search TV Barn

Join the TV Barn mailing list!