Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace 1999

The Phantom Menace, released sixteen years after Return of the Jedi, was a highly anticipated film for Star Wars fans. Set 32 years before A New Hope, it serves as the first chapter in the saga and sets the stage for the fall of the Republic, the rise of the Empire, and the transformation of Anakin Skywalker to Darth Vader. However, the film falls short of expectations, with a disappointing script and wooden performances from the actors. Despite this, there are some positive aspects to the film. McGregor does a good job as the young Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Neeson brings intensity and brooding to his role as Qui-Gon Jinn. The visual effects and new planets and environments are also a plus, and the political machinations add depth to the story. The final lightsaber battle is also a highlight, set to John Williams' incredible score. However, the battle droids are underwhelming as adversaries and the midichlorians concept is a sacrilege to the previous films. Jake Lloyd's portrayal of Anakin Skywalker is also criticized for his overuse of "woos" and "yee-haas". Overall, while The Phantom Menace has its moments, it fails to live up to the high expectations set by the previous films in the series

The Phantom Menace, estrenada dieciséis años después de Return of the Jedi, fue una película muy esperada por los fanáticos de Star Wars. Ambientada 32 años antes de A New Hope, sirve como el primer capítulo de la saga y prepara el escenario para la caída de la República, el ascenso del Imperio y la transformación de Anakin Skywalker en Darth Vader. Sin embargo, la película no cumple con las expectativas, con un guión decepcionante y actuaciones de madera de los actores. A pesar de esto, hay algunos aspectos positivos en la película. McGregor hace un buen trabajo como el joven Obi-Wan Kenobi, y Neeson aporta intensidad y melancolía a su papel de Qui-Gon Jinn. Los efectos visuales y los nuevos planetas y entornos también son una ventaja, y las maquinaciones políticas añaden profundidad a la historia. La batalla final con sables de luz también es un punto culminante, con la increíble partitura de John Williams. Sin embargo, los droides de batalla son decepcionantes como adversarios y el concepto de midiclorianos es un sacrilegio para las películas anteriores. La interpretación de Jake Lloyd de Anakin Skywalker también es criticada por su uso excesivo de "woos" y "yee-haas". En general, aunque The Phantom Menace tiene sus momentos, no está a la altura de las altas expectativas establecidas por las películas anteriores de la serie.

Recently, the prequels have been receiving some form of reappraisal, mostly because some people argue that they feel like one cohesive vision compared to the sequel trilogy.
I guess you have to come up with some excuse to not admit your nostalgia, because there are literally so many franchises that have had different creative teams over the years, and don’t plan out their stories in advance, and they still work.
The first few Harry Potter films feel different from the latter ones, but all of them are still good.
The Nolan Batman movies were famously not planned in advance, and it’s still a great trilogy.
The Bourne Identity has a different filmmaking style from the two sequels, but it still works.
A franchise really doesn’t need a planned out roadmap or a cohesive vision in order to be good, that’s nonsense.

This thing sucks because it makes all the wrong artistic choices: boring story, uninteresting characters, poor and wooden acting, it looks ugly and overly digitized, horrendous dialogue which is overly reliant on exposition, etc.
It’s actually not too dissimilar to The Rise of Skywalker, which also makes the wrong story and character choices.
But I guess I’m supposed to like this more simply because its bolder and doesn’t play it as safe?
I’ll take the safe film in this case, simply because it at least gets the technicalities right.

2.5/10 (mostly for that one good scene).

A huge drop off the original trilogy. I still like it, mind.

I do have split feelings about 'Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace' though. One positive is the casting, which is well done.

Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor are strong choices to enter the franchise, I enjoyed both of them. Jake Lloyd does a fine job in his role, while the likes of Terence Stamp, Samuel L. Jackson and Keira Knightley also feature. Natalie Portman appears too, but I honestly never really cared for her lot's side of the story. Ahmed Best, meanwhile, is very hit-and-miss as Jar Jar Binks.

Speaking of Binks, the CGI is rather iffy in this fourth installment of 'Star Wars'. Of course it did come out in 1999, but other films from that era and beyond have aged better in these terms. The score is, at least, more than up to scratch.

Overall, I'm OK with this but it most definitely should've been far greater. Some scenes do go on for too long, while I did find a lack of a serious threat for the first chunk of the film. Darth Maul looks the part, but ends up being rather forgettable.

I can see how diehard fans of the series could be disappointed by this.

So I decided to start the Saga once more, this time in chronological order. For sure it isn't the best of them all but at the same time it's not completely awful and/or unwatchable. When I saw it initially at the movies I wasn't negativ about it at all. I was more thrilled about getting a new trilogy going. Yes, Jar Jar is annoying and little Anni is a smartass brat. I remember back in 1999 I had trouble believing that from this would come Darth Vader. To which I also attribute the fact that Jake Lloyd just couldn't pull it off. Most of the acting was rather pale and only Liam Neeson did stand out a bit. Would have liked to see more Qui-Gon.
Back to the movie. The story as a whole is not bad but the story telling is. There are important parts here that will impact the story moving forward but you don't feel they are important. In fact if you don't know what to look for you might miss it. There seems to be no urgency in all of this. In hindsight I'd say you could start with Ep.II and still get the meaning of it all. It get's a little better once they reach Coruscant and later go back to Naboo. And of course we get the epic battle between Maul, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan which is the reason it still get's a "7" from me.
A few words about the production side. In 1999 this was state of the art. It was actually ahead of it's time which is why some scenes still look great. When it comes to the Gungans f.e. you see the steps that have been made since then. And some of the green-screen work looks just like that. And it becomes more apparent in 4k. Overall the movie looks great in UHD, I saw many details I had missed before, and I am sure they smoothed some things out. And you would be surprised how many things aren't CG but actually model building.
It's not the best introduction to Star Wars if you've never have seen it. That would still be A New Hope. And it will always be. But as I said earlier, it's not unwatchable.

Let me start this off by saying, I haven't seen Episode 1 since I was a kid and I remember I didn't like it very much then. But I have now rewatched it and I have to say that it is The Good, The Bad and the darn right Confusing with this film.

The good being that both Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor were perfect in the film and also the film has an awesome villain who deserved to be in a better film for sure, also the pod race looks amazing and is a very intense watch even as an adult.

The bad being that some of the acting in the film comes off very stilted and I don't think this is down to the actors and even Jake Lloyd, I don't think anyone was playing their parts badly. I think that this film has some of the worst dialogue I have ever seen in a film and the actors are trying their best with the material they have been given, watching the film it almost feels as if the script was either rushed or never had more than one draft.

Now for the confusing, I will take into consideration that this film was made in 1999, but it felt like some of the CGI was miles better than others in the film. Also, why is Jar Jar Binks a thing, literally might be the most annoying character I have ever seen and one more point which is why have some of the actors been unnecessarily dubbed, as actor Hugh Quarshie and a few others who have British accents matching the other characters have been dubbed with American voices and its just weird.

Overall the film is OK, not bad and not good but I can see how it is a stepping stone for them with the franchise. If you are a Star Wars fan you will find something to like about this film and it is a must-watch for anyone into this franchise, but as a stand-alone film, it has a few too many issues for me to recommend it.

I remember taking my youngest, then around 10 and Star Wars obsessed, to watch this when it came out. It was something of a disappointment then and remains so. George Lucas should never have been allowed the creative control he was, although I understand why it happened. After the success of the first 3 films, no-one was going to gainsay him. Still, he can't direct for toffee.

And that's just one problem. The script; the dialogue is clunky at best and that's to put it mildly. The plot-line starts off weakly (a trade dispute, really?) and doesn't improve. The introduction of Jar-Jar Binks, too obviously intended as slapstick / comic relief, is just, well, jarring. Sorry. Next, we have the child prodigy; expected to carry large chunks of the movie. Some of the scene settings are far too terribly conceived and executed; take for example, Anakin's mum's house. They are slaves, but it looks just like Luke's home on Tatooine with a fruit bowl on the table. The queen of Naboo is one-dimensional, despite her alter-ego, not helped by the flat delivery of most of her dialogue. Then there's their relationship............

The pod-race features some great effects; I bet George would have loved that level of CGI to have been available in 1977.

There are just too many issues to recommend this film, even if you are a completist.

6/10
Fair

So with Daisy Ridley
(Rey) confirmed to be
getting another
Star Wars (Trilogy)
set of movies (2025-2027)
thought I'd do yet
another rewatch of them
all to get me back up
and ready in this universe.
Jesus you can sure tell
episode 1 is 24 nearly
25 years old the cgi is
rank and I mean really bad
and there's way way to
much of it.
I will always prefer
practical effects
In any genre of film.
Jar Jar was annoying af,
and through the movie
especially in the 3rd act
it all just became rather
silly, to much silly,
out of place silly.
Daftness aside
Darth-Maul is definitely
my favourite character
He's frickin awesome
and his parts are amazing
and he still has the most
Epic entrance in the hole
Franchise. Maul is definitely
under used and could have
been such a massive part
of the franchise going
forward.
His duel is definitely
the highlight of the movie
for me and my favourite
part.
they do a good enough
job matching everything up
to tie in but one thing that
always bugs the Hella out
of me is The Queen
and Anakin's casting
and age difference they
look so mismatched
especially when you
throw the blooms of
Romance in there.
(Ewe).
Verdict:
this particular part
of the Saga has not
aged well at all
and it's only going
to get worse over more
time passed.
But 4,5,6 are timeless
classics.
Nuff Said:

I decided to rewatch all the Star Wars films, and give my thoughts on each. I've seen them all so many times, and wanted to write my reflections <:darthjarjar:1101996937592451072> Star Wars means so much to me, and is one of my passions. Hope this is enjoyable! Of course: Spoiler Warning!

While this was the 4th Star Wars film made, The Phantom Menace is the beginning of the Skywalker story, and the beginning of the Prequel Trilogy.

This was a film almost destined to fail. The hype was way too big. Return of the Jedi was released back in 1983, while Phantom Menace hit the big screen in 1999. That's 16 years with nothing new theatrically! (not counting spin offs comics, books, TV shows). Now we get mainstream Star Wars content every few months.

Fans sold out theaters just to see the trailer of the movie, and not stay for the actual movie they paid for. No Internet trailers back then. Hype was indeed real. Many felt this was going to be the best Star Wars movie they ever saw. Did fans leave feeling the same way?

It depends. Are you an Original Trilogy purist? Then you probably denied this film's existence. Jar Jar Binks is the worst thing to ever happen to you, and ruined your life. Anakin Skywalker as a child is cringe, and you asked when does he turn to Darth Vader? What's with the poop jokes? No Way Anakin blew up a Trade Federation ship!! Trade Disputes? Politics?! THIS ISN'T STAR WARS!

What if you were a child? I bet you walked out loving what you saw. Battles, Light Saber Duels, an Epic Pod Race, and Jar Jar Binks is just the perfect comedic relief!

This film just wasn't going to please everyone. If you're looking for something similar to the Original Trilogy, this film just isn't it. This is a different part of the story, and this was made in a much different time of filmmaking.

George Lucas had many intentions while making The Phantom Menace. Firstly, breaking the technology barrier. Having CGI characters like Jar Jar, the Battle Droids, Watto, and Boss Nass. The pod racing scene. Designing beautiful cities/landscapes. Secondly, appealing to the younger audience. They are the next generation of Star Wars fans. George Lucas even said it himself, "Star Wars is for 12 year olds." While it attempts to appeal to all, no question the main target is the younglings. Thirdly, Toy/Merchandise Sales. I was 8 years old when this film came out, and I remember it all. Pepsi Products, action figures, school supplies, video games, fast food kids meal toys. Phantom Menace merch was everywhere, and ready to reincarnate into Georges's Wallet.

Phantom Menace was hated by so many, careers/lives were severely damaged. Jake Lloyd (Anakin Skywalker) was bullied out of school. Ahmed Best (Jar Jar Binks) suffered severely mental health wise, but has recently made a comeback!
Ray Park (Darth Maul) was by far the most unscathed as he's been attending cons for years. If you liked the Phantom Menace, you weren't considered a real Star Wars fan.

Almost 25 years later, is this film hated? Truthfully, no. Politics are even most welcomed. Whether you like it or not, Star Wars is political...in every film. What do I think?

Over the years, The Phantom Menace has grown on me to be one of my favorites of the series. I enjoyed this one as a kid, I didn't like it throughout my teen years, but purely now as a Star Wars fan, it's one of the films I flat out quote the most.
"There's always a bigger fish"
"A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one."
"Wipe them out...all of them."
"What are you, some kind of Jedi waving your hand around like that?!"

What makes this film for me, like many, is the Duel of the Fates. I feel that's what the film should have been called. It's one of the best Star Wars scores, and fights. The battle of Qui Gon Jin & Obi Wan Kenobi vs. Darth Maul is the Duel of Anakin Skywalker's fate. The battle ends with two casualties, but the victor earns the responsibility of training, "The Chosen One". The one that is to bring Balance to the Force. Is that truly a victory?

Much like the hype of this movie, the aftermath fell onto creator George Lucas. He got to make this film, but faced the trials of appealing to multiple audiences. Obi Wan Kenobi faces a similar road. Obi Wan must keep his promise to his former Master, and appeal to a boy who has been told from Day 1, "You are the one", while following the Strict Jedi code. Obi Wan defeated Darth Maul, but inherited what would soon become the universe's biggest problem.

While the film's title is referring to Senator Palpatine, perhaps the case can be made that it's truly Anakin Skywalker.

If you liked this review, leave a react :heart:, and stay tuned for my thoughts on Attack of the Clones!

The Phantom Menace is far from a great movie. Absolutely none of the characters have any depth except Palpatine and Padame. Palpatine's machinations are fun to watch, and the Princess twist is surprisingly decent. But Obi-Wan stands around for most of the movie until it decides he's important, we're told Qui-Gon is a maverick while he still acts like every other Jedi besides believing in a prophecy, Maul is just a cool design, and Anakin... well, Anakin's fine. I have a tolerance for child actors, I find them hard to hate. And Anakin's a nice kid, and Jake Llyod's having fun. He's just not great set up for Vader.

Then there's the stereotypes, from Watto to Jar Jar to the Viceroy. Or the horrible CGI which has aged terribly. Where the practical effects in the OT made the world feel grounded and lied in, the CGI makes things feel artificial and unreal, Qui-Gon and Jar Jar for example operating on clearly different planes where Yoda blended in seamlessly with Luke. The story is nothing, and no performances really stand out. It's slavish to the original trilogy, relying on cameos to get pops and too afraid to step on the toes of the ideal people have built up of the Jedi to do anything new.

But the podracing sequence is fun, the final Maul fight is fun, and if you put a kid in front of this movie, they'd probably have fun. So I can't hate it too much. It's not fun for me. But it's not the worst this franchise'll get. Plus it has Duel of the Fates, so.

Since I am not a fan of science fiction or comic book movies I try not to look at them with too much scrutiny. I know that George Lucas has taken some lumps over the years for certain decisions that he has made as a filmmaker but at the end of the day he is still responsible for a franchise that has brought so many people so much joy.

That said... to call this movie a pile of steaming dung would be an offense to dung. I don't know what is worse - the dialog, the characters designed to sell toys or the acting (ok, I do know - it's the dialog). At some point if you watch closely you can see Liam Neeson give up. How did Natalie Portman's career survive this? She was comicly bad. And let me get this straight - this film is clearly aimed at kids but the central conflict is... a taxing dispute? And finally, yet another movie about taking out the shields. Ugh. And if you didn't know better there is a music bed playing throughout the movie - this is always a sure indicator that the director does not have confidence in the material.

to avoid bad movies (like this one) follow me at https://IHATEBadMovies.com or facebook IHATEBadMovies

It's tempting to look at The Phantom Menace as a result of hubris: after the extraordinary success of the original trilogy and the growth of the Star Wars fandom in the years since their release, George Lucas' stock was at an all-time high. He was, and to some extent still is (insofar as every director since has felt the need to bring him on-board for a set visit to signal some sort of implicit approval even as they keep him at arms' length), considered the master of everything in the franchise.

The indulgence that he was afforded as a result of this is clear to see from the beginning of this bloated film. In contrast to many, I actually like the angle that the film takes regarding a galactic crisis arising from something as banal as a tax dispute—it seems, to me, to ground the scenario in something a little more reality-based, but I will concede that it can seem out-of-place in a franchise that focuses far more on spectacle than on the nitty gritty details. One of the good things about the film is how beautiful it frequently is to look at, even more than twenty years after its release—great care went into everything we see on screen and particularly Tatooine has a gritty, lived-in feel that's satisfying to look at.

Unfortunately, the negatives far outweigh the positives. The tonal dissonance between more adult aspects such as characters debating taxation blockades and the concessions that Lucas felt necessary to make to the film's younger audiences—primarily in the shape of the rightly-loathed Jar Jar Binks, but extending to many other areas of the film too—sit uncomfortably together. Darth Maul is a fantastic villain, one of the best the series has had, and it's disappointing that the film's best scenes have to sit alongside so much dross. (It's encouraging, although I haven't yet seen how it's handled, that the writers of future instalments chose to bring him back.)

The film's various caricatures border and sometimes stray into the outright racist; this makes the film an often difficult and uncomfortable watch. This goes far beyond what could be argued as coincidence; Watto's status as an anti-Semitic trope machine seems written into the plot as well as his characterisation and mannerisms. This is hard to overlook upon viewing and is easily the most regrettable aspect of the film now.

Other much-maligned aspects such as the midichlorians didn't upset me as much; elements like this are clearly de-emphasised and so it's far easier to dismiss them here. Ultimately, I don't have the kind of investment in the lore that would warrant getting irritated about the exact origins of any given character's force sensitivity.

There is great inconsistency, too, between the fight choreography on show here and that shown in the original films; this doesn't bother me as these are often the most exciting parts. Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan's encounters with Maul are, along with the podracing sequence, what Lucas got very right and credit is due for that.

Looking back at this now, it's clear that this is a flawed film, perhaps not worthy of the hysterical reactions it provoked at release, but certainly not a strong example of a film in this particular franchise or generally. What it does have, thankfully, are the seeds of elements that will be taken up and developed further along—Maul, Obi-Wan, more exciting fight choreography, interesting and varied set design and so on.

Me and this movie have an interesting history. When it came out in theaters, I had friends who were chomping at the bit to see it, but I didn't want to because I thought it was graphically violent due to some Star Wars video games having a "T" rating. (Ironically, when I became a big fan of the franchise, those guys didn't care for it anymore; they said they "grew out" of it.) I did actually see it around Easter of 2000 at a family members house, and I had fun with it. My mom bought me a shirt that had to do with the movie, but didn't want me to have one with Darth Maul on it, because she felt he looked too much like the devil. (Looking back, I can see how such an image would have been perceived by some of my friends and family, especially those who were elderly.) This film was my introduction to the Star Wars franchise; though I had played games and read books about it prior to seeing this, I didn't really understand them.

So, maybe I'm biased, but I enjoyed this movie. Even though the acting wasn't the best, the scope is appropriately epic, and it sets the stage for later events that are even more tumultuous, such as Anakin's turn to the Dark Side. Like a lot of media, I can see why some people don't care for this or the prequels in general...but I still liked it, even this time around. It may not be perfect, but it's light years ahead of the shark jump that was The Last Jedi.

I am glad that as a child I was introduced to these set of films from the original trilogy. Becuase this attempt to bring audiences back and introduce newcomers to a beloved saga that was sadly ruined by bad storytelling, horrific CGI, and a bad cast.

For most of this movie, it is incredibly boring and not motivating at all to keep watching. The only thing really good about this movie is the pod racing scenes which even then aren't directed well. Young Anakin is not interesting and even with the hype over the set of prequels of the unfolding of the dark lord. It really doesn't need to be made, especially this early in the timeline.

Liam Neeson's performance is really the only good one fo them all besides Anakin's mother (Pernilla August) who I think also did a good job. But Ewan McGregor and even Natalie Portman are underused and just plain bland. Showing no colour or emotion in almost any scene. However, this isn't the fault of the cast as George Lucas' decisions made this hopeful film become one of the worst in the series (second worse for me). Even as Lucas watched the final cut for the first time he disliked how he had made certain CGI elements a critical part of the plot. Such as Jar Jar Binks which as everyone knows, was not the Chewbacca of the prequels as George hoped for.

Overall this movie isn't terrible, it just needed a lot to be removed and refined in the script. Adding more emotion to the characters and some more practical effects as it is littered with early 2000s CG that just doesn't hold up at all. Watchable if you decide to binge the series. But I highly recommend you start at the original 'Star Wars' movie first or as Lucas would like you to call it 'Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope'.