I just watched Star Wars: The Phantom Menace again

[mikeymikec]

I'm off sick with a cold, and because I picked up 1-6 as a cheap BR box set off ebay, I thought why not.

I've never actually seen the first aside from pirate copies The first time was a VHS that had been ripped to a digital format, and since then whatever version I had downloaded since (the era of 700MB movie downloads), so it was interesting to finally see an optimal quality version. According to bluray.com this boxset contains remastered versions of all the movies as well and I have to say the detail level is astonishingly better from what I remember and I bet that the CGI was far superior in this film to any/most in its era.

Other observations:

It occurs to me that Obi-Wan jumps far higher (when catching up to the fight between his master and Maul), than the jump that Anakin "shouldn't have tried".

Darth Maul only blinks once in this movie, moments before he makes like an empty puppet that's just been cut in half. If this film had been an anime, the lightsaber strike and artistic blood splatter would have been glorious.

One thing that's irritating is how the official subs for this film for the Gungans are written exactly like the Gungans talk. On occasion, even after reading the subs, I'm still wondering what was intended to be conveyed, leaving me feeling a bit like:

 

[igor_kavinski]

I liked the Phantom Menace novel much better than the movie.

 

[Kaido]

I like the Phantom Edit, which cuts out Jar Jar Binks. It's actually a pretty good movie without that character in it, haha! I feel super bad for the actor tho:

 

[Kaido]

And of course, don't forget this quality content generator:

Reddit - Dive into anything

www.reddit.com

 

[Torn Mind]

Jar Jar could have been the secret bad villain...

Lucas didn't take that path, but he left it as a path.

 

[brianmanahan]

now this is pod racing

 

[brianmanahan]

i continue to believe that jar jar is a sith lord

https://www.reddit.com/r/StarWars/comments/3qvj6w

 

[Torn Mind]

Jar-Jar is definitely member of the Sith - The Western Howl

Uncover the theory that Jar-Jar Binks is more than meets the eye—a potential Sith Lord in disguise. Discover more on The Western Howl.

wou.edu

 

[nakedfrog]

My partner had never seen the prequel trilogy, so we watched them last year. I hadn't watched The Phantom Menace in quite a long time, the last time I'd seen it was The Phantom Edit back in the mid-late 2000s. Upon re-watch... it was definitely worse than I remembered.

 

[mikeymikec]

My partner had never seen the prequel trilogy, so we watched them last year. I hadn't watched The Phantom Menace in quite a long time, the last time I'd seen it was The Phantom Edit back in the mid-late 2000s. Upon re-watch... it was definitely worse than I remembered.

Maybe with the cold it took the edge off for me; I enjoyed it more than I expected to, and ended up with a new opinion about the prequel trilogy.

IMO, the prequel trilogy has a pattern in common with the original trilogy being that the first film can be treated as a stand-alone story easily enough, whereas the next two movies have a follow-on story. The first film has a basic job to do, introduce some characters and they get a job done, and there's less to mess up (though frankly he did mess up in both 1 and 4, less so in 4). The second two however have a much bigger story to tell, and George Lucas did not have what it takes to direct that larger story in a competent manner. EP 2 and 3 are kind-of more enjoyable than EP1 because they tell a bigger story, but IMO fail harder than EP1 because his limited grasp of the craft was exceeded by his reach. IMO EP5 and 6 would have had similar and bigger problems than 4 if they had been directed by George Lucas.

It's interesting watching EP1 again because the actors in many cases clearly want to do a good job but actors need direction to really excel. Some of the early scenes with Liam Neeson struck me as "he's not doing a half-bad job here!", and then others are clearly not so good because he wasn't getting the feedback and criticism he needed. Another early scene with Natalie Portman talking to Jar-Jar in the ship (to Tattooine I think), where she clearly has no idea what she should be conveying and the cinematography gives an impression that she's grinning at thin air for unknown reasons.

Personally I think EP2 and 3's biggest problem is telling the story of a realistic fall to the dark side, but it's designed to be suitable for kids. The latter means it's got to be a teen falling to the dark side because teen problems can realistically be not quite so deep and dark as an adult's, but then you've got a whiny teen and no-one really wants to see that.

I ended up watching the entire prequel trilogy in one day. My wife caught bits of it too; Star Wars has kind of passed her by, and she said the dialogue made it sound like bad fanfic and I think she's completely right. Even in my cold-affected state I had to skip that scene where Anakin tells Padme that he really, really, loves her.

It would be nice if - once George Lucas has popped his clogs perhaps - for someone with talent and vision was given the job to rewrite the prequel trilogy and direct it. I think the SW franchise can easily withstand not being a seller of merch and still be a huge commercial success even with a certificate 15 or 18 rating on the rewritten version. I'd see Anakin fall entirely as a man (rather than the manboy he acts like in EP3), explore some of the themes from KOTOR 1 and 2, and give a realistic impression of why a man trained as a Jedi would fall to the dark side. Or maybe just put the KOTOR storyline into a trilogy format.

 

[Captante]

I like the Phantom Edit, which cuts out Jar Jar Binks. It's actually a pretty good movie without that character in it, haha! I feel super bad for the actor tho:

Yeah .... I'll bet his emergency money "jar-jar" is freaking stuffed to overflowing!

Error 404: Sympathy not found.

He should just be happy they ultimately didn't cast a white guy to play the "Jamaican" alien... pretty sure the idea crossed somone's mind!

 

[MrSquished]

My partner had never seen the prequel trilogy, so we watched them last year. I hadn't watched The Phantom Menace in quite a long time, the last time I'd seen it was The Phantom Edit back in the mid-late 2000s. Upon re-watch... it was definitely worse than I remembered.

Yeah, this is why I'll never watch it again. The first time was so cringy, and it's not like a cool cult status movie that will get better.

Honestly just sitting on a bench in a park watching flies fuck with the dog laying in the grass chilling would be a far better use of that time.

 

[Captante]

I enjoyed it more than I expected to, and ended up with a new opinion about the prequel trilogy.

IMO they're not "terrible" movies, they were just a big "letdown" after the original trilogy.... frankly if they had bothered to cast an actor WITH A PERSONALITY as Anakin/Vader that alone would have gone a long way towards "saving" those movies.

Believe it or not "Attack of the Clones" is my favorite of the three mainly because of Christopher Lee/Count Dooku.

 

[Torn Mind]

IMO they're not "terrible" movies, they were just a big "letdown" after the original trilogy.... frankly if they had bothered to cast an actor WITH A PERSONALITY as Anakin/Vader that alone would have gone a long way towards "saving" the movies.

Believe it or not "Attack of the Clones" is my favorite of the three.

It's a bit of dilemma to find people who look like their movie progeny but also have acting chops.

Plus, because of the fallout with "The Editor", aka his wife, Lucas' bad habits had no correcting force and thus manifested itself into the film. His ability to create lore was still there(as the written story works for some people), but to translate lore into compelling film was lost.

I think Hayden Christensen might have done well in silent films...because the way he makes faces is better than the way he talks.

 

[mikeymikec]

IMO they're not "terrible" movies, they were just a big "letdown" after the original trilogy.... frankly if they had bothered to cast an actor WITH A PERSONALITY as Anakin/Vader that alone would have gone a long way towards "saving" those movies.

Believe it or not "Attack of the Clones" is my favorite of the three mainly because of Christopher Lee/Count Dooku.

IMO the actors will only do as well as the director and script pushes them. Hayden did what he could with the crap was given to work from. I can't remember a single decent line of dialogue for Anakin in the entire trilogy, and I just watched it! The closest that character came to a decent bit of dialogue is his conversation with Padme about politics and democracy, and even then he came across as a simpleton who doesn't spend something like half his time with either the chancellor of the freaking republic or a senator. For an actor who's trying to build a career, that's got to suck.

I haven't actually seen Hayden Christensen in anything else but I wouldn't bother trying to judge any actor's ability based on their performance in a George Lucas movie; no actor was going to win any award worthy of note from a George Lucas movie.

 

[igor_kavinski]

I think Hayden Christensen might have done well in silent films...because the way he makes faces is better than the way he talks.

frankly if they had bothered to cast an actor WITH A PERSONALITY

I've seen him in other movies. He is nowhere near as bad in them as he is in these Star Wars movies. I think George Lucas was in a hurry and just went with one or two takes. Or someone messed up and what we see in the movies are rehearsal takes. I think Georgie's the one to blame coz Natalie Portman also manages to deliver cringe worthy acting.

 

[Torn Mind]

I've seen him in other movies. He is nowhere near as bad in them as he is in these Star Wars movies. I think George Lucas was in a hurry and just went with one or two takes. Or someone messed up and what we see in the movies are rehearsal takes. I think Georgie's the one to blame coz Natalie Portman also manages to deliver cringe worthy acting.

I think Lucas might have always had bit of habit of overdoing the dialogue...I mean, Alec Guiness didn't like the lines he was given either.

Alec Guinness - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Guinness soon became unhappy with being identified with the part and expressed dismay at the fan following that the Star Wars trilogy attracted. In the DVD commentary of the original Star Wars, Lucas says that Guinness was not happy with the script rewrite in which Obi-Wan is killed. Guinness said in a 1999 interview that it was actually his idea to kill off Obi-Wan, persuading Lucas that it would make him a stronger character and that Lucas agreed to the idea. Guinness stated in the interview, "What I didn't tell Lucas was that I just couldn't go on speaking those bloody awful, banal lines. I'd had enough of the mumbo jumbo." He went on to say that he "shrivelled up" every time Star Wars was mentioned to him.[39]

 

[Torn Mind]

'Star Wars': George Lucas Once Admitted That He Can't Write Dialogue

George Lucas once believed that he was bad at writing dialogue for 'Star Wars', but he also believed the films weren't about that.

www.cheatsheet.com

 

[Captante]

IMO the actors will only do as well as the director and script pushes them. Hayden did what he could with the crap was given to work from. I can't remember a single decent line of dialogue for Anakin in the entire trilogy, and I just watched it! The closest that character came to a decent bit of dialogue is his conversation with Padme about politics and democracy, and even then he came across as a simpleton who doesn't spend something like half his time with either the chancellor of the freaking republic or a senator. For an actor who's trying to build a career, that's got to suck.

I haven't actually seen Hayden Christensen in anything else but I wouldn't bother trying to judge any actor's ability based on their performance in a George Lucas movie; no actor was going to win any award worthy of note from a George Lucas movie.

Dude.... Hayden Christensen has the acting ability of a doorknob. He was 100% cast for his looks.

It's the SINGER not the song!

 

[Torn Mind]

Keira Knightley Thought She Played Padme in Star Wars: Episode I- The Phantom Menace

Keira Knightley forgot her Star Wars character's name.

screenrant.com

Kiera Knightley and Natalie Portman, not related but doppelganers.

 

[Captante]

I've seen him in other movies. He is nowhere near as bad in them as he is in these Star Wars movies.

Quite a "backwards-compliment" there lol .... those performances by Christensen were epic-level terrible especially in a hyped up "blockbuster" series of movies.

Also although a lot of the script/plot was no doubt cringe-worthy as mentioned previously, nobody else in the "prequels" was forced into completely inflection free monotone for their ENTIRE part!

And I've seen that guy in a few other movies.... given only a single word to describe his acting I'd have to go with "wooden".

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

If anyone is more interested in exactly why the prequels are so bad, check out the Red Letter Media/Plinkett reviews of the movies. Exceedingly detailed and well thought out, and can give a window into what actually makes a movie good or bad.

Also, Clone Wars, Rebels, and Bad Batch are like infinitely better than all the movies, nostalgia included. They're actually well written.

 

[mikeymikec]

I think George Lucas was in a hurry and just went with one or two takes.

Nope, it's just the way he "directs".

If anyone is more interested in exactly why the prequels are so bad, check out the Red Letter Media/Plinkett reviews of the movies. Exceedingly detailed and well thought out, and can give a window into what actually makes a movie good or bad.

Also, Clone Wars, Rebels, and Bad Batch are like infinitely better than all the movies, nostalgia included. They're actually well written.

Yup, I've seen the RLM review(s? been a while) before. One could go on for hours criticising the prequel trilogy in particular; it wouldn't surprise me if directing schools give the prequel trilogy as required reading for "how to do it wrong".

I tried to watch Clone Wars but it's child-oriented, 20-minute attention span style and the lack of character development and little worthwhile happening in the long-term plot bored me. I got about three seasons in before giving up. I realise it covers more plot ground later as well as post-EP3 content and say Ahsoka's character as she develops into an adult, but IMO it's pretty slim pickings through an awful lot of filler. It's obviously not filler for the intended audience, but I just acknowledged that I'm not its intended audience and moved on.

 

[NTMBK]

I rewatched Phantom Menace last year for the first time in over a decade and I enjoyed it more than I expected.

• The visual style is still stunning- it does a really good job of showing the height of the Old Republic.
• They built a LOT of practical models for this film, and I'm a sucker for that.
• Podracing. Hot damn, still a great bit of cinema.
• It's a well paced adventure that moves at a fair clip.
• It's not just a rehash of Empire Vs Rebels

Yeah, the child actor is annoying, the plot makes almost no sense if you stop to think about it, and it basically wrecked the Extended Universe, but it's still a fun film.

 

[adlep]

Where the reviews are more fun than the phantom turd itself