Star Wars, Episode I, The Phantom Menace
Written and directed by George Lucas, with Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Jake Lloyd, and Fozzie The Bear as Yoda. MPAA Rating PG for sci-fi violence. Run time 131 minutes.
The Phantom Menace is a little like those vacation pictures you took with Aunt Edna standing next to the big bronze statue of Buffalo Bill Cody - they mean a lot to you because well, they mean a lot to you - it's your Aunt Edna after all, and she bought most of the gas for the trip, you've always been her favorite, and you stand to clean up big time when she moves on to the next level. But on their own, they're meaningless - they're just somebody's crappy snapshots from a vacation in Wyoming. Lucas has left us with a few pictures from his computer generated vacation on Tatooine, but has given us little to appreciate in terms of the characters' identities, their strengths and weaknesses, in general, their personalities. It's all an inch deep and a mile wide.
Liam Neeson is bigger than the part he plays and consequently, just seems bored. Jedi, Schmedi. Just not enough humanity. Neeson has recently announced his retirement from moovies. I would have hoped his swan song would have had more of a melody to it. Natalie Portman comes close to making her part as Queen Amidala work, but lacks something, and ends up as most of the cast does, as supporting actors for special effects and second fiddles to the likes of Gungan outcast Jar Jar Binks, an oafish if innocent computer generated Rastafari - Amphibian - Kangaroo / Man -Thing. That said, he's not nearly as irritating as the latest iteration of Jedi Muppet Yoda, Master of Cynical Split-Infinitives as voiced by Frank Oz. Yoda has lost his previously confident quirky demeanor - maybe that comes with age - and might just as well be played by Grover from Sesame Street.
In my mind, one of the few actors that comes close to breaking through the dark veil of moovies yet to come is Pernilla August, who plays Shmi Skywalker, Anakin's mother. Her honest looks and quiet dignity stand out nearly as much as her casual confession that she conceived little Anakin without benefit of a father. Hmmm.
The story line and what character development there is are designed solely to set up the next picture and to show off Industrial Light and Magic's mastery of hyper-reality made to order. Marin County must have been in a constant state of brown-out for a long time as ILM's bazillion workstations rendered and animated all this stuff.
Too much comic relief, in the person (?) of said Jar Jar Binks made my teeth hurt, but seemed to appeal to the preteens and newly pubescent in the audience. This may actually be clever audience seeding by Lucas, so that the kids in the audience today are pre-sold for the next two episodes over the next five years - or I may just be getting way too cynical. Lucas also ventures into the now popular theme of "The Chosen One" as he sets up young Anakin Skywalker's future as Jedi Master and Wheezing Poobah of The Dark Side, Darth Vader. In fact, Lucas leaves so many "to be continued" loose threads hanging in this moovie, it looks like a three piece suit from WalMart. With two pair of pants. You'll need a scorecard for the next installment, for sure. Of course, it's Lucas' own fault. If he started the Star Wars saga with episode VI instead of IV, he'd have a lot more breathing room for the development of the legend preceding the 1977 classic.
The good news: Star Wars is actually a lot of fun and a spectacular ride provided you keep your expectations under control. The ability to create entire worlds out of wireframe and texture maps has made reality a somewhat variable commodity. The sky is no longer the limit. For a moovie that consists of 95% computer animation and 5% live footage, it's worth a couple of good looks. It definitely doesn't live up to it's advance billing as a piece of cinematic history, and will never take it's place in the short list of the best moovies you've ever seen, (I hope) but as a way to leave your own reality for a fantastic two hour trip to places never seen by man, it's great. Anakin's pod race alone is worth two Ben Hurs. There's a showdown scene where armies of battle droids are descending on the Gungan troops. It reminds me a bit of Braveheart minus the blue paint and the mooning. Lots of stuff to look at in this moovie, and it's all incredibly well executed.
The Phantom Menace may eventually take it's proper place in the ever expanding mythology of Long Ago and Far Away, but for now, relax and accept it for what it is. It's only a moovie. At least there aren't any freaking Ewoks.
May the force be with ya'll - two cows.
The Phantom Menace is a little like those vacation pictures you took with Aunt Edna standing next to the big bronze statue of Buffalo Bill Cody - they mean a lot to you because well, they mean a lot to you - it's your Aunt Edna after all, and she bought most of the gas for the trip, you've always been her favorite, and you stand to clean up big time when she moves on to the next level. But on their own, they're meaningless - they're just somebody's crappy snapshots from a vacation in Wyoming. Lucas has left us with a few pictures from his computer generated vacation on Tatooine, but has given us little to appreciate in terms of the characters' identities, their strengths and weaknesses, in general, their personalities. It's all an inch deep and a mile wide.
Liam Neeson is bigger than the part he plays and consequently, just seems bored. Jedi, Schmedi. Just not enough humanity. Neeson has recently announced his retirement from moovies. I would have hoped his swan song would have had more of a melody to it. Natalie Portman comes close to making her part as Queen Amidala work, but lacks something, and ends up as most of the cast does, as supporting actors for special effects and second fiddles to the likes of Gungan outcast Jar Jar Binks, an oafish if innocent computer generated Rastafari - Amphibian - Kangaroo / Man -Thing. That said, he's not nearly as irritating as the latest iteration of Jedi Muppet Yoda, Master of Cynical Split-Infinitives as voiced by Frank Oz. Yoda has lost his previously confident quirky demeanor - maybe that comes with age - and might just as well be played by Grover from Sesame Street.
In my mind, one of the few actors that comes close to breaking through the dark veil of moovies yet to come is Pernilla August, who plays Shmi Skywalker, Anakin's mother. Her honest looks and quiet dignity stand out nearly as much as her casual confession that she conceived little Anakin without benefit of a father. Hmmm.
The story line and what character development there is are designed solely to set up the next picture and to show off Industrial Light and Magic's mastery of hyper-reality made to order. Marin County must have been in a constant state of brown-out for a long time as ILM's bazillion workstations rendered and animated all this stuff.
Too much comic relief, in the person (?) of said Jar Jar Binks made my teeth hurt, but seemed to appeal to the preteens and newly pubescent in the audience. This may actually be clever audience seeding by Lucas, so that the kids in the audience today are pre-sold for the next two episodes over the next five years - or I may just be getting way too cynical. Lucas also ventures into the now popular theme of "The Chosen One" as he sets up young Anakin Skywalker's future as Jedi Master and Wheezing Poobah of The Dark Side, Darth Vader. In fact, Lucas leaves so many "to be continued" loose threads hanging in this moovie, it looks like a three piece suit from WalMart. With two pair of pants. You'll need a scorecard for the next installment, for sure. Of course, it's Lucas' own fault. If he started the Star Wars saga with episode VI instead of IV, he'd have a lot more breathing room for the development of the legend preceding the 1977 classic.
The good news: Star Wars is actually a lot of fun and a spectacular ride provided you keep your expectations under control. The ability to create entire worlds out of wireframe and texture maps has made reality a somewhat variable commodity. The sky is no longer the limit. For a moovie that consists of 95% computer animation and 5% live footage, it's worth a couple of good looks. It definitely doesn't live up to it's advance billing as a piece of cinematic history, and will never take it's place in the short list of the best moovies you've ever seen, (I hope) but as a way to leave your own reality for a fantastic two hour trip to places never seen by man, it's great. Anakin's pod race alone is worth two Ben Hurs. There's a showdown scene where armies of battle droids are descending on the Gungan troops. It reminds me a bit of Braveheart minus the blue paint and the mooning. Lots of stuff to look at in this moovie, and it's all incredibly well executed.
The Phantom Menace may eventually take it's proper place in the ever expanding mythology of Long Ago and Far Away, but for now, relax and accept it for what it is. It's only a moovie. At least there aren't any freaking Ewoks.
May the force be with ya'll - two cows.
