Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace [1999]

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 veritye-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

The plot manages to be both thin and incomprehensible at the same time. Most acting in Star Wars films isn't the best but most of the time the characters just seem plain bored. Portman's Padme has a 'high speak' - her character has a droll monotone that kills the performance. Ewan McGregor plays Obi Wan like he's sedated throughout. No passion, no enjoyment, no fun. Darth Maul is completely pointless. He says about 5 lines in the whole film and so his character is very poorly developed. When Darth Vader said "I find your lack of faith distirbing" we COWERED. When Darth Maul appears he actually looks funny! He seems to be a token bad guy thown in just for the sake of having an evil chracter. Jake Loyd is an annoying brat who delivers his lines very poorly. And it has been will documented that Jar Jar Binks is very irritating indeed. Trouble is he's in nearly every scene. Anything meaningful or important is instantly ruined by Jar Jar belching lines like "Yousa thinken yousa people gonna die?". I felt no empathly or interest for any of the characters in this film. Even Samual L Jackson - a great great actor, falls flat when he arrives in this film.

A lot of the appeal of Star Wars is that there is hidden depths to the films. You can get into them more and more on mulitiple viewings. Trouble is in this film everything is so obvious and is rammed into our faces. Here are the droids C3P0 and R2D2 just meeting! Here's Jabba the Hutt! Here's some Jawas! It's all very unsubtle and obvious. There's nothing to notice on multiple viewings. Add to this some blatent mistakes and you have some very annoyed Star Wars fans. Why doesn't Obi Wan remember all these adventures he had with the droids when he meets R2D2 in eposide 4? Where are all these new digitally created aliens in episode 4? Do they become extinct? I will not accept that Anakin built C3P0. It's too perfect. I also thought that the Virgin birth idea of Anakin was very very dodgy indeed. Add some very unfunny toilet jokes like Jar Jar stepping in Bantha Dung and you begin to have an idea of how bad this film is.

Could the pod race be any longer? People kept saying how awesome the pod race was going to be and how much it "kicked ***". I found it rather boring. During the entire pod race sequence I am never fully convinced that Anakin is in a pod, rather I am reminded of the poorly done car sequences from the movies of the thirties and forties. It goes on for far too long. It sums up the film very well. It looks great but is poorly planned, and badly acted and turns out to be quite dull overall.

Yes this film looks amazing. We all know that. However this film has none of that magic of the other Star Wars movies. We get a feeling of lurching from one well-designed and great-looking set to another with no real purpose or direction. It should be an epic Space opera. It is actually very BORING.

The extras on the DVD are very good. We get very well presented documantaries, outlakes and bonus features. It's a feast for any Star Wars fan. This DVD is worth getting just for the extras alone. It's just a shame about the film. It's very fortunate that episode 2 was a vast improvement on this. Such a shame.


Utter rubbish   September 8, 2004
21 out of 42 found this review helpful

I hate this film. I love the original trilogy. Comparison -

all of the spaceships in the original trilogy were memorable i.e. The Falcon, Slave 1, X-Wings etc. Does anyone remember the ships in the new films? They were forgettable cartoonish representations.

The characters where extremely likable in the original trilogy with interesting and complex relationships. Did anyone care about the cardboard characters in the new films? Is there anyone that comes even close to Solo's lovable rogue?

The aliens in the old trilogy were memorable even the barely seen ones i.e. Greedo, Max Rebo, Yak Face etc. The aliens in the new films again look like cartoons.

Also, why was the Phantom Menace even made? Shouldn't Attack of the Clones have been the first in the trilogy? There was nothing important to the Star Wars story in this film.

And finally, it's already been said, but the acting, writing, story and effects are trite.

I really hope that when George Lucas watched Lord of the Rings he was embarrased by how much he had to live up to and by how very much he failed to do so.


TPM - We wanted to see a movie, we saw cartoons   October 9, 2001
17 out of 33 found this review helpful

What is in fact Star Wars? A comedy, a movie for kids? Did anybody have any laughs at any of the other SW episodes? NO! Then why should we laugh at TPM? Things are very serious in the galaxy with wars and with the revealment of the "dark jedis" and so on. I just don't understand what is that Jar Jar - cartoon like - character doing in this movie, and what is with those cartoon-comedy like scenes of ground battle?
This movie has no value in itself, it is just something super-commercial, and aren't we all seak of commercialism?
I liked it, however, as a SW fan, just for the value it adds to the story in a whole, and i look forward to part 2, still hoping for the better.


Very bad movie, one to miss   February 26, 2002
17 out of 35 found this review helpful

Star Wars fans are in denial, but face up to it, TPM sucked. Irritating characters, no humour, a weak storyline that strained credibility in places and set pieces more designed for the PS2 than for the cinema. No amount to extras and frills on the DVD set will disguise how poor this movie actually is. I cannot believe that this movie was until Harry Potter the second highest grossing movie in the UK. Proof enough that there is one born every minute.


A part of history   October 4, 2001
16 out of 21 found this review helpful

I sat and waited for this film for a long time, and I made the mistake that so many others have expecting a continuation of the original trilogy. What I should have rememberd is that I an not 11 years old anymore. I did however, get to enjoy the film throught the eyes of my eight year old son who though it was fantastic - he even though that Jar Jar Binks was funny (bless).
Basically you have to see the film at least twice, then it starts to make sense (apart from the dialog wich really was poor) and if you remember that it's just one episode from six you start to understand it!
Go on, try it again.