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Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace [1999] (REGION 1) (NTSC)

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Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review

"I have a bad feeling about this," says the young Obi-Wan Kenobi (played by Ewan McGregor) in Star Wars: Episode I, The Phantom Menace as he steps off a spaceship and into the most anticipated cinematic event ... well, ever. He might as well be speaking for the legions of fans of the original episodes in the Star Wars saga who can't help but secretly ask themselves: sure, this is Star Wars, but it is my Star Wars? The original elevated moviegoers' expectations so high that it would have been impossible for any subsequent film to meet them. And as with all the Star Wars movies, The Phantom Menace features inexplicable plot twists, a fistful of loose threads and some cheek-chewing dialogue. Han Solo's swagger is sorely missed, as is the pervading menace of heavy-breathing Darth Vader. There is still way too much quasi-mystical mumbo jumbo and some of what was fresh about Star Wars 22 years earlier feels formulaic. Yet there's much to admire. The special effects are stupendous; three worlds are populated with a mélange of creatures, flora and horizons rendered in absolute detail. The action and battle scenes are breathtaking in their complexity. And one particular sequence of the film-the adrenaline-infused pod race through the Tatooine desert--makes the chariot race in Ben-Hur look like a Sunday stroll through the park. Among the host of new characters, there are a few familiar walk-ons. We witness the first meeting between R2-D2 and C-3PO, Jabba the Hutt looks younger and slimmer (but not young and slim) and Yoda is as crabby as ever. Natalie Portman's stately Queen Amidala sports hairdos that make Princess Leia look dowdy and wields a mean laser. We never bond with Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan's day is yet to come. Jar Jar Binks, a cross between a Muppet, a frog and a hippie, provides many of the movie's lighter moments, while Sith Lord Darth Maul is a formidable force. Baby-faced Anakin Skywalker looks too young and innocent to command the powers of the Force or wield a lightsaber (much less transmute into the future Darth Vader), but his boyish exuberance wins over sceptics. Near the end of the movie, Palpatine, the new leader of the Republic, may be speaking for fans eagerly awaiting Episode II when he pats young Anakin on the head and says, "We will watch your career with great interest." Indeed! --Tod Nelson

Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review

George Lucas transports audiences back to the future with Star Wars: Episode I, The Phantom Menace, the first instalment of a prequel trilogy in which the director imagines the foundation for the entire six-part saga. Reflecting the symbolic and mythological bases of at least five story arcs, The Phantom Menace wields a newly emerged, youthful vibrancy courtesy of Lucas' invigorating return to the director's chair and his healthy respect for the emotional sources of fantasy. Despite receiving a storm of adverse criticism (notably for Jar Jar Binks) Lucas continually fascinates with his ability to place his characters--some new, some old, some CGI--in the same dramatic situations posed in the original trilogy: whether it be the juxtaposition of primitives with technologically advanced societies or the timeless battle between good and evil, the very familiarity of these recurring scenarios and rhythms galvanises the viewer. Of course, the state-of-the-art visual effects contribute mightily to the final impact. Much has been written about the kinetic Pod Race sequence (compared favourably with the chariot race in Ben Hur) and the War and Peace-style military battles, but even these events are upstaged by the new planetary vistas: consider the Romanesque grandeur of Naboo, the underwater city of Otoh Gunga illuminated by Art Nouveau lamps, the decadent brio of Tatooine, or the dizzying skyscrapers of the city planet Coruscant (imagine Blade Runner in daylight). Despite the beauty of his iridescent images, Lucas exercises discipline, cutting fast within frames filled with rich detail and activity. As a result, The Phantom Menace lends itself to repeated viewings.

On the DVD: This spectacular two-disc DVD set was certainly worth the wait. Simply put, this is the most comprehensive packaging of supplementary materials so far assembled for DVD. Most importantly, Lucas film offers an anamorphic, 2.35:1 film transfer and a highly active Dolby 5.1 audio mix. Disc 1 includes an insightful commentary with Lucas--his first for DVD--and other key personnel, making for a great tour. The bulk of extra treasures can be found on Disc 2, including seven deleted scenes completed just for this set that possess the same quality as the film; in fact, some moments (the "Air Bus Taxi" and "Pod Race Grid" sequences) are so good that Lucas reincorporated them into the film proper. Viewers can also enjoy no less than 12 Web documentaries, five informative featurettes, the popular John Williams music video "Duel of the Fates" and numerous galleries of stills, trailers and television spots. Better yet, Lucas premieres "The Beginning," a 66-minute documentary edited from hundreds of hours of behind-the-scenes footage. This is not your standard-issue studio documentary, instead "The Beginning" is an Oscar-worthy, cinema verityé-style exploration of the creative process behind every aspect of the film's production. One of the most memorable moments involves a late-day visit to the set by Steven Spielberg: watching Lucas and Spielberg behave like kids in a candy store is one more reminder why the Star Wars saga remains enduringly popular. --Kevin Mulhall

An honest reappraisal
Review date: 2008-07-07 Rating: 2 out of 10

This absolute mare of a film with be 10 years old next year. And guess what? Time hasn't been kind to this boring, insulting film, and complete and total disappointment.

George Lucas should have been brave enough to hand the reigns over to the likes of Frank Darabont and David Fincher to direct what should have been a dark, depressing journey all the way to the dark side of the Force. It should have been thrilling, amazing, and awe-inspiring. Instead it was trill, mediocre, and bloody awful.
He's directed one good film - back in 1977 - what idiot thought he could deliver a trilogy of real quality in this day and age? Well, with the chief yes-man Rick Mcallum on board to ensure this dated, patronising, twee vision actually made it to the screen, I guess we were in deepest. darkest committee hell. Remember - a room of professional, mature, articulate, creative adults, would have met on numerous occasions and discussed the introduction of Jar Jar Binks as being a good idea for the film. They would have discussed design sketches, discussed accents, and then, weirdly, amazingly, decided on something that they ALL agreed would benefit the film.

The story (if you could call it that) was devoid of any kind of excitement and plot development, and the casting of Anakin Skywalker brought to light two of world's worst wooden actors. Again, what were they thinking? And why make him the focus - the original three films had a real characters with many different threads to the story. Little brat turns to teenage brat then goes bad - what should have been an epic, sad, terrible journey to the dark side of the human psyche was handled with all the panache of a 6th form film student.

Then there's all the obvious insulting plot holes that make you think that the film was directed by someone who was brought in at the last minute having only watched the original trilogy the day before.

I'd have more respect for George Lucas if, in some weird, almighty precedent, he held his hands up and disowned the films - he could blame Mcallum, retrieve the films and give them to some directors with talent.

And the argument that the new films were aimed at a new generation of young people as the original trilogy was doesn't quite wash. I can watch any of the original trilogy as a thirty-something, whereas the new ones were insulting to even teenagers.

Reviews

It's NOT as bad as some would have you believe
Review date: 2008-06-01 Rating: 8 out of 10

Is it really 9 years since The Phantom Menace brought Star Wars back to the Cinema after a 16 year hiatus? Back in the summer of 1999, the world was a very differant place to today. Bill Clinton was still American President. Tony Blair was enjoying his long honeymoon with the British electorate. The Twin Towers were still standing and few people had heard of Al Qeada. As we counted down to a new Millennium the world appeared to be on the cusp of a new golden age of econmic prosperity and relative peace. Admist this background came Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. The hype and expectation for this movie was probably greater than anything before or since in movie history. What film could ever hope to live up to this hype and expectation? No film ever could. The initial response from fanboys and critics across the world was cries of anguish and pain. Claims of childhoods being raped drowned out the more sensible reflections that actually this movie whilst not particularly great, was as bad as many claimed it was. Now, almost a decade on from the initial release, perhaps the time is right for a more considered view of this film?

The Phantom Menace is the very definition of a "mixed" film. It has both good and bad points, and whether you end up liking this film will depend on;

1. Do the bad points outweigh the good points for you?
2. Do the good points outweigh the bad points for you?

Thus you will find the answer of whether or not this movie works for you, somewhere in the balance of the two.

Some of the bad points; George Lucas's direction is stiff. Lucas hadn't directed a film since 1977 and it shows.
Jar Jar Binks is annoying and tedious and frequently gets in the way, however, as with so many complaints about this film, Binks is NOT as bad as some would have you believe, and you CAN enjoy this film despite the presense of JJB. Children will love Jar Jar, so if you show this film to your 8 year old child, please don't let your loathing of Mr Bink's ruin your child's love for this character.
Other bad points are that the pod race goes on too long (it went on too long in the theatrical release, and for some reason its been extended further for the DVD)
Ewan Mcgregor unfortunatly gets very little to do.
Natalie Portman shines as Queen Amidala, but as Padme she often leaves a lot to be desired. Jake Lloyds Anakin is given some annoyingly silly lines to read out (as with Binks, Lloyd is NOT as bad as outraged fanboys would have you believe)
The Gungans are probably the worse species in SW history (except for the Ewoks of course ;) ) and the final battle between the Gungans and the Battle Droids is unengaging.
Perhaps my main complaint about Menace is that the two characters that get the most screen time, Jar Jar Binks and Qui-Gon Jinn, are the two characters that don't really feature in the next two films. Thus, this is, I think, the central problem with Menace. Its mainly filler. Lucas needed "more" in this film.

Some of the good points; Liam Neeson is the glue that holds this film together. Anybody that says the acting was better in the OT, should look at Neesons performance. Its at least as good as anything in the OT.
The political sub-plot is interesting and engaging and seeing how Palpatine begins his rise to power is compelling. Ian Mcdiarmid is outstanding in the small number of scenes he is given.
The Mother/Son relationship between Anakin and his Mother is well done and you do feel a sense of Anakins pain at being parted from his mother and having to leave her as a slave. The twist of Anakin's origins (that he was born without a father) adds a mystical and mythical element. Deeply religious people may be offended, but "virgin births" feature in many mythical stories.
Seeing the workings of the Jedi Council and how the Jedi relate to the Senate is interesting.
Darth Maul is cool and The Duel Of The Fates is probably the most exciting lightsaber battle of the Saga. The piece of music that accompany's the duel is truely outstanding (otherwise John Williams' score on TPM isn't very memorable - Like Lucas, at times you get the sense he is warming himself up with this picture
The general time and effort and attention to detail is wonderful. For Amidala's gowns alone costume designer Trisha Biggar should have won an Oscar. ILM's special effects are amazing. The film looks outstanding and sounds wonderful. As a piece of art, The Phantom Menace is an awesome blend of creativity and artisitic inspiration. Too bad the final product ended up so mixed.

Just to say, the movie ranks as a solid *** affair, but the DVD package itself takes it up to **** The central documentery; The Beginning is one of the best DVD extras you'll find on any DVD release. An absolute gem. It even captures the moment George Lucas himself realise's the movie is not panning out as well as he had hoped. Also included in the extras is a full commentery, deleated scenes, trailers, music video and web-docs (which are also of the highest quality)

In closing, The Phantom Menace IS a deeply flawed movie. Slow, plodding and yes, in places even dull. Much of it is filler and a setting up effort. But it also has moments of pure brilliance and many parts are good or very good. Theres a fascination at seeing the Star Wars universe; BEFORE THE DARK TIMES. This is a film that is about children and for children. Theres a lightness and feeling of innocence that contrasts fantastically to the much, much darker Episode III. Given the time in which the movie was released, itself a moment that could be described as "before the darkness" you can't help but feel a pang of nostalgia when you watch The Phantom Menace. Even those that hate this film must feel that somewhere?

To date, my biggest ever disappointment.....
Review date: 2008-05-20 Rating: 2 out of 10

Star Wars episodes IV, V and VI make up the finest cinematic saga of all time. Originally written as the middle three episodes of nine stories spanning centuries in the Star Wars mythology, they captivated audiences of all generations and still continue to do so today. When George Lucas announced he was going to begin filming the three prequels to his original trilogy I almost passed out in excitement. We waited and waited and waited. And then, in a typhoon of worldwide media frenzy, Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace opened in cinemas. I was there of course, my only concern being whether or not I had enough time to run to Toys 'R' us and buy a lightsabre before the film started. I never even considered the film might stink. After all, this is Star Wars! How wrong I was.

Star Wars: Episode I is a boring, noxious dog's egg of a film. Industrial Light & Magic's gruesome creatures are replaced with irritating, glossy CGI animations giving the film a tacky, shiny gloss not at all in keeping with the spirit of the originals. Even Jabba the Hutt looks like a slimmer, more sanitized version of his Return of the Jedi self. The story concentrates on Anakin Skywalker (Luke's father), following him as a child growing up on Tattooine and then as he embarks upon a journey towards his inevitable destiny as a powerful warrior. Jedi knights, Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) and his young apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) meet Anakin and sense the force in him and realising he could become a powerful Jedi, take him with them. Standing in their way is evil Darth Maul, a pretty rubbish looking Sith warrior with a cheap looking painted face. His only saving grace is a cool double edged lightsabre. Tagging along all the time is an incredibly annoying and totally unnecessary CGI characater called Jar Jar Binks who is in no way as important to this story as C3PO and R2D2 were to the originals. Add all these factors to a very dull plot about an intergalactic trade dispute or something and drag the film out to over two hours and you have what could quite possibly be the most massive turd of all time. I still went to see episodes II & III but don't consider any of them as members of the Star Wars franchise.

Like this? Try: Episodes II & III

Just a mess
Review date: 2008-05-01 Rating: 4 out of 10

Can you handle another Phantom Menace review? Probably not, but having seen this again recently I thought I'd add my view on such a widely discussed film.

The film is regarded by just about anyone who has seen it as a disappointment. However there are some who say it's only disappointing merely because the hype was so huge that nothing could possibly live up to the expectation. Apart from that, some say, it was a great movie.

This is not a good movie.

I am not really a Star Wars fan, although I don't dislike it either. I saw the original 3 in the years when they came out, and enjoyed them from a childs perspective. (BTW if you wonder of the original Star Wars really did make a cultural impact, you bet, it was huge at the time.) So this is not the view of a disappointed fanboy, just the view of someone who found the film lacking.

Firstly I'll get one thing right out of the way, right here. You know what I'm talking about. Him. Jar Jar Binks. Hype can cut both ways I think, positive hype can lead to disappointment, yet negative hype can have the same result. When people refer to Mr Binks as "a mistake of Apocalyptic proportions" and there are websites devoted to finding inventive ways of killing him, I was expecting something so insanely annoying that I feared I might destroy my TV. He walks stupidly, talks stupidly, gets too much screen time, but I never found him as aggravating as I expected. I would still much preferred if he wasn't in the movie though!

No, the real problem is not with Jar Jar Binks. The real problem I found is that even after having seen this film 3 times, I'm still not sure what it was all about. The plot is so weak and meandering that boredom inevitably sets in. I know there's something about a blockade and a trade war, but the political shenanigans of Senator Palpatine and Queen Amidala are just so vague that it's hard to know what's going on. Only the presence of sudden ominous music will wake you from torpor and make you think "Whu? Oh he must be the bad guy then? Hmmm, yeah whatver" There is no real defined point to what's happening to the characters. With,say,Jaws, we know that the shark is going to have to be killed. In Lord Of The Rings we know The Ring must be destroyed. In The Phantom Menace we know.....we know...um....Well I don't know really.

Apart from that all the flaws that have been mentioned about this film are unfortunately true;

Wooden acting. There's no real interaction between characters, they just seem like reading grocery lists to each other. When Liam Neesons character says "Be careful, I feel a disturbance in The Force" it wouldn't sound out of place if he added "If they have any decaffeinated coffee left, get some, thanks" It's not the actors fault, I know they're better than this. In contrast with the antagonism displayed between most of the "good" characters in the original films (sarcastic wisecracks aplenty) everyone here seems largely bored in each others company. Obi Wan is relegated to largely a mild mannered yes man to...uh....forgot his name, the one with the fake beard. I can't offhand remember any lines from this movie apart from the derided "I've got a bad feeling about this" Oh and "Yippee!" too. Jake Lloyd just seems too out of place with his bland "Mom are we out of Cheerios?" approach to acting. There are some terrible cast choices too, mostly with Samuel L Jackson. I like the guy, and he's a great actor, but he just isn't a Jedi Knight. He was just too well known at the time to play such an out of character role. Only Jason Robards dressed in a toga playing Brutus springs to mind as a better
example of bad casting.

The aliens are all either silly like Jar Jar Binks and Pod race announcer, or grating racial stereotypes. I don't believe that Lucas consciously decided to make them so, but how can anyone not see that the evil Trade guys are Oriental caricatures? And just look at that goofy, happy looking egg headed alien at the pod race. *That* was the exact moment when I thought "This movie is bombing"

No real tension. Yes it's a common fault with prequels, we know Obi Wan survives, we know Anakin survives, we know wholesome George won't kill off the "comic relief" character in case the kiddies get upset. The battle droids are there to shoot holes in walls and get cut down by the Jedis.

The midi chlorians. I understand many Star Wars fans *hate* this idea, that it demystifies The Force. Well, I'm not such a fan as to really hate it, but it does seem pretty nonsensical. How do organisms in the blood make you able to move things around, or do mind tricks?

The immaculate conception of Anakin. I'm not religious so I take no offence, except for what a monumentally pretentious bit of twaddle this is.

Anakin destroying the ship by pure fluke was a really lazy and disappointing finale.

And there are just too many inconsistencies in character and believability. Best example of course that Anakin built C3-PO. Pretty impressive for a 9 year old kid who's a slave. Where did he get the money? I guess George loves his soap operas and what's to throw all these unexpected plot twists to the audience. I was half expecting Han Solo to be revealed as Luke's uncle.

In general just about every ham fisted directorial mistake that can be made, is made by Lucas here. This film should become a textbook case of the danger of letting just one person have too much control over the final outcome of a(highly anticipated) film.

It's not all bad. Visually, it's quite pleasing actually. Many say that this is where Lucas abandoned storyline for CGI toys. Well, the CGI ain't bad, but it's not really much beyond Jurassic Park. But CGI looks unnaturtal most of the time too no matter how well done. When you see a silvery CGI spaceship you don't see a futuristic space vehicle, you wonder "I wonder how long it took the computer graphics team to add the reflection mapping on?" For me the meagre enjoyment I got from this film was the sets and backdrops. Yeah, George probably only nudged the graphics designers in the right direction and they took over, but a lot of it is aesthetically pleasing. And the pod race of course is the standard Star Wars obstacle course race. It's engaging for a while, but actually the PC racing game was more entertaining. And the battle with Darth Maul complete with John Williams score, is, if you're forgiving, guite good.

Overall I can't recommend this movie much. Most Star Wars fans will be disappointed to various degrees (some have such a strong aversion to this, that they disown it) The feeling of Star Wars is largely absent here, it unfortunately comes across a Disney movie in space. (Hey, I'm sure even Disney's The Black Hole was a lot more serious than this.) The average viewer like me will be largely bored at the aimlessness of it.

Lucas misses the point
Review date: 2008-04-21 Rating: 6 out of 10

A long time ago in a cinema long since demolished my life changed i was 6 years old and was taken to see my first ever film at the cinema Star Wars. Wow what a film what an experience it was my introduction to sci-fi i was hooked. Then along came empire strikes back and return of the jedi. Every boy my age dreamed of going into space flying an x wing,using a light saber. But where did it all begin this was episode 4 (a brave concept in itself). We would have to wait 20 years to find out. Now that is a long time for expectation to build. I want to emphasise this we had to wait 20 years and in the opening 5 minutes have rubberised looking creatures with poor voice overs spouting lines like "are you Brain detad". Two jedis fighting a bunch of robots that look like they were made of matchsticks that apparently can think for themselves fire weapons and invade planets but haven't mastered the power of speach (and he voice overs for these again V. Poor). All this and i haven't even mentioned jar jar binks or bos nas yet.
Lucas claims this was a childrens movie but he misses the point. The origional was a childrens movie NOW the films fans are in there late 20's and older and where expecting a grown up explanation of how it all began.
My other big issue with this film is it does absolutly nothing to move the story along. We all wanted to see Anakin found, trained, fall in love, fight the clone wars, turn to the dark side, hunt down and kill the jedi and take his place at the emporers side. This was not a part of the story we wanted to see hence we miss out on what could of been some truely memorable sequences later on.
Ok there must be some plus's and the light saber duel at the end is great, and the pod race is great (although pointless). And the CGI effects are fantastic.
Should have been great unfortunately dissapointing.

Product Details/Specifications

Actor(s):
Ewan McGregor
Liam Neeson
Natalie Portman
Pernilla August
Jake Lloyd

Director(s):

Recording label: 20th Century Fox
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
EAN: 0024543023937
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 2
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Colour, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Subtitled, THX, Widescreen, NTSC,
Release date: 2005-03-22
Universal product code (UPC): 024543023937
Number of discs: 2
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Region code: 1
Running time: 360 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1999
Language: English (Original Language)
Language: Spanish (Original Language)
Language: English (Subtitled)
Language: Spanish (Subtitled)
Language: French (Dubbed)
Language: Spanish (Dubbed)

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Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace [1999] (REGION 1) (NTSC)

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