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.
On a rewatch a few years back it was amazing how much of the rot that hit the prequels and sequels started in rotj. It’s not as bad for certain, but the turn towards what was familiar from the other movies, characters being flanderised, and the whole thing being a bit of a mess all show up in that movie. It even was the first to do the yet another death Star.
the writing is bad
I really disagree. As I said, it’s not a smart movie, but the world building was well done, characters acted in consistency with their knowledge and motivation and you had proper worlds building from the first movie onwards. Dialogues were cheesy, but certainly not as bad as it was in the prequels. It’s a fairytale with knights and princesses, so I wouldn’t expect or want deep, philosophical writing… It’s not blade runner. But it fits the setting.
the acting is bad
Sorry, but I just really disagree. It wasn’t stellar, but I really cannot remember a single scene where the acting put me off.
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
Totally sold on the Darth Jar Jar theory. So much supporting evidence, and it makes the shit that character does make so much more sense.
Re-watching Ep 1 through that lense made it a much better film imo.
The clone wars series did so much to redeem the prequel trilogy. I remember watching the phantom menace in theater. I loved it. But as i grew older, the flaws and the holes, the cgi,l and clunky dialog really came to the forefront and i fell out of love. But the clone wars gave the star wars universe depth that helps flesh out and maintain relevance of the prequels. I know the novels and old canon comics are the og heros of the star wars universe, but to see something in a television media format really brought it together for me. Ffs, they made maul relevant. And interesting and conflicted too!
I dont think that the prequels would be remembered as fondly without the clone wars series.
I think episode 1 is my favourite of all the prequels. I like both the others, but episode 2 is, well episode 2, and 3 was pretty great but the character transformation of Anakin was so bizarre to me that it takes me out of the movies completely. Like the relationship between Anakin and Padme feels so weird knowing what we know, it just throws me through a loop every time.
Episode 1, huge warts and all, felt like a complete experience, had a weird and interesting aesthetic, and characters acted like a consistent version of a character. I can’t help thinking all the pushback to this movie is what turned the others a bit offtrack, they felt a little less from the heart than 1 did.
God I wish someone else had directed those movies like George wanted, he knew his strengths and weaknesses.
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.
I think it’s a generational thing. Most/many older Star Wars fans (such as myself) who were already adults when the prequels came out hated them from the get-go.
I recall being the reaction being pretty much this:
I mean, I saw all the re-releases, and my dad saw all the originals when they came out, and he loved the PM. NH Luke was cringe af for the two-thirds of the movie.
Sure, the acting and dialogue in Start Wars were always dodgy, but at least in ANH you had a solid retelling of The Hero’s Journey and the charm of practical effects. tPM was just a big, bloated, incoherent, CGI-ridden mess with only a couple of good actions scenes thrown in.
Political intrigue just like Andore! I mean people love that one and it’s just a guy being a giant dickhole for 12 episodes. Pet the damn droid. Not everything needs to be the hero’s journey.
I get it but when PM came out it was some serious business. Although nobody hates Star Wars more than a Star Wars fan…as long as we can agree, the sequel trilogy is bullshit.
Political intrigue just like Andore! I mean people love that one and it’s just a guy being a giant dickhole for 12 episodes.
That right there is fighting talk.
the sequel trilogy is bullshit.
Oh, indeed.
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I saw the prequel trilogy as basically a middle schooler and thought wow, is this a movie series for babies?
Then I went back to playing SWG and Rogue Squadron as I had already beaten the old X Wing and Tie Fighter MSDOS/early Windows games. I had many more experiences that to me felt like actual Star Wars in those games.
I still think the prequels largely suck, and good dear god the new trilogy.
I wish they had just taken some of the better stuff from the EU and made a new trilogy out of that. You know like a new non prequel trilogy based around taking on Thrawn, in a very fragmented, very politically complex environment? With complex, multi faceted characters?
I guess we have Thrawn now kind of but bleck.
I would say make a mini series around Boba Fett or Dash Rendar or Mara Jade. But seeing as how similar series have actually turned out, at this point I am just going back to 1998 and saying that nothing Star Wars since then is actually canon, in my mind fortress or whatever.
They even managed to fuck up Mando.
Christ, at least its not as embarrassing as the Master Cheeks show.
People tell me Andor is good but I am as used to a new Star Wars movie or show being bad as I am to a new Assassins Creed game being hokey, boring, time wasting and overpriced.
As I’ve said before, seeing it in the cinema for the first time in 25 years was interesting because I didn’t go in with my original high hopes, that were comprehensively dashed. Instead, I’ve chewed over the films failings for decades which had the effect of inoculating me against the worst of it, so I could kick back and soak it all in and there is a lot to enjoy.
Yet its late-stage lightsaber battle is the stuff of legends
If that legend is Strictly Come Dancing.
I feel like I make a comment everytime this gets brought up I should just have a copy and paste.
I grew up on the prequels. Yes they’ve got weak spots but they built a world that I love and with enough depth to sustain other strong shows off of it. I think 1 and 3 are great and I’m not bored for a second watching them. 2 is always the rough one for me, with the largest amount of cringe. Star wars wouldn’t have held up for so long for newer generations if it wasn’t for the prequels IMHO.
It is objectively terrible and an ofront to true Star Wars fans.
I bet you enjoyed Space Balls.
What do you mean? Spaceballs is way better.
I bet you’re fun to be around.
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.
I liked space balls but not the phantom menace. The fandom menance though was quite good before they shut it down.
