I love the Star Wars Franchise... but even 3D couldn’t help me to love "The Phantom Menace." I know that many consider this to be the best of "the second trilogy," but outside of the Pod Race and double-bladed lightsaber, nothing really draws me to this film. Maybe it's the lack of familiar characters but I have trouble getting into the Star Wars universe with this edition, even though it's interesting to see the planets that will later become the key settings of the series. One of the main drawbacks is the poor acting. Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor offer strong performances, Natalie Portman is average, but Pernilla August (Anakin's mom) is terrible, Jake Lloyd is even worse (I guess that Anakin Skywalker was destined to be a bad actor from the start), and whoever thought that Jar Jar Binks was a good idea should be shot. It is no surprise that they conveniently wrote this incredibly annoying character out of Episodes II and III. It is no surprise that they conveniently wrote him out of Episodes II and III. Granted, Episode I is worth watching for its innovative special effects and foreshadowing of events to come, but it could have been much more effective with better actors. When you have billion-dollar franchise, you'd think that they would invest in the best actors. Now that the bad is out of the way, I can say that it is magic to see the opening credits roll in 3D, and to hear John Williams' famous theme in surround sound while watching the big screen. Darth Maul's theme is awesome and proves that, even after all of these years, John Williams is still the king of film scores. The creativity of the alien races overshadows those in the original trilogy by utilizing computer animation technology. And the design of the new droids is incredibly cool. The lightsaber fight between Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon, and Darth Maul is one of the highlight moment of the Star Wars trilogy and is reason enough to watch this film. It may be my least favorite of the franchise but it's still Star Wars and always worth a watch.
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace - 6 stars out of 10
I love the Star Wars Franchise... but even 3D couldn’t help me to love "The Phantom Menace." I know that many consider this to be the best of "the second trilogy," but outside of the Pod Race and double-bladed lightsaber, nothing really draws me to this film. Maybe it's the lack of familiar characters but I have trouble getting into the Star Wars universe with this edition, even though it's interesting to see the planets that will later become the key settings of the series. One of the main drawbacks is the poor acting. Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor offer strong performances, Natalie Portman is average, but Pernilla August (Anakin's mom) is terrible, Jake Lloyd is even worse (I guess that Anakin Skywalker was destined to be a bad actor from the start), and whoever thought that Jar Jar Binks was a good idea should be shot. It is no surprise that they conveniently wrote this incredibly annoying character out of Episodes II and III. It is no surprise that they conveniently wrote him out of Episodes II and III. Granted, Episode I is worth watching for its innovative special effects and foreshadowing of events to come, but it could have been much more effective with better actors. When you have billion-dollar franchise, you'd think that they would invest in the best actors. Now that the bad is out of the way, I can say that it is magic to see the opening credits roll in 3D, and to hear John Williams' famous theme in surround sound while watching the big screen. Darth Maul's theme is awesome and proves that, even after all of these years, John Williams is still the king of film scores. The creativity of the alien races overshadows those in the original trilogy by utilizing computer animation technology. And the design of the new droids is incredibly cool. The lightsaber fight between Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon, and Darth Maul is one of the highlight moment of the Star Wars trilogy and is reason enough to watch this film. It may be my least favorite of the franchise but it's still Star Wars and always worth a watch.
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