- Title: Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace
- IMDB: link
Where did Vader come from? The answers start with The Phantom Menace, but the truth doesn’t come out till Episode IV: A New Hope, right along with the poor acting and bad editing. Lucky for us, and Lucas, there is enough interest in seeing more of what was once so wonderful and plenty of eye candy to keep the audience occupied and blind to character flaws and short comings in the plot.
Menace begins with Jedi knights Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) and Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) going into peace talks for trade. It was a set up and the Trade Federation attacks the planet of Naboo, which is governed by a “young” Queen Amidala (Natalie Portman). The Jedi knights rescue Queen Amidala and picks up a blabbering and clumsy creature (better known as the character most hated) Jar Jar Binks (Ahmed Best). Jar Jar owes the Jedis his life and takes them to the hidden underwater world, Gungan City, to help them escape and get to the Queen.
Being forced to land on Tatooine where they take on a young apprentice, Anakin Skywalker (Jake Lloyd), and an awesome speed race to win Anakin’s freedom and the parts to repair their ship. In the mist of repairing their ship Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan are forced to face off with Darth Maul (Ray Park), the psycho Sith lord’s apprentice. Heading back to safety with one less Jedi, Obi-Wan takes the queen, Jar Jar and Anakin back to the Republic, on the planetary city of Coruscant.
Queen Amidala and Annikan start getting close, more like a brother sister thing, but later turns into a love affair. Queen Amidala tries to reason with the Republic’s council for help against the evil Trade Federation attacks on her planet. She returns and has to make allies with the Gungan’s to help battle the forces that threaten to destroy her home and all she knows.
Like I said before, lucky for Lucas that so many people wanted this film and there was so much eye candy that everybody was able to overlook the complete lack of plot and acting abilities. However, Lucas did keep with his talent for brilliant characters, costuming and cinematography, he was able to give us the lush greens of Naboo, the brown and dry deserts of Tatooine, cold void of space with Coruscant and the watery underworld of the Gungans. The Phantom Menace isn’t the worse of films, but it certainly makes me miss the days of plastic spaceships and foam models without the blue screen.
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