Star Wars - Episode I, The Phantom Menace (Full Screen Edition)

Rating:
Summary: IMAKIKUASS
Review: The funny thing about this movie, other than it being horrible, is how people defend it. I actually know people who told me things like "you didn't like it because you expected it to be good".
Uhhh. Yay and so the @#$% what? Shouldn't it have been good? Lucas only had a decade and a half to come up with it. He had the good idea's of other authors, and countless others. He had templets from other movies. Yet for some reason MANY people feel the need to defend this movie.
Let me start of with the infamous Jar Jar. First of all, I couldn't care less if Lucas wants to use stereotypes. In fact, he gets his stereo types pretty accurate and so I'm not sure what all the fuss is about. So, yes, Jar Jar is supposed to be a "brown man" but, get this, no one wants him shoved in their face over and over. We get enough of that on WB, MTV, and every other media outlet there is. Science fiction used to be a safe haven from that sort of thing. Everyone would have loved the idea of Jar Jar if Jedi whats-his-face would have chopped him up with his light saber after the first 5 minutes. Alas, no, we had to endure "wheezagonna dye esheeebieubu!" for the duration.
The story was a snoozer. Little Anakin's constant scowling just didn't seem like good acting to me. The Jedi Council meeting was overdone. The whole Naboo story was ridiculous. And then there's the fact that Boba Fett is a little Mexican kid. Darth Maul wasn't memorable at all.

Sigh. The whole movie seemed too forced and at the same time didn't seem to go anywhere. It was also inconsistent with the original trilogy. Yoda was the one who was supposed to have trained Obi Wan NOT Liam Neeson. Jedi, when they die vanish in the original trilogy, only Vader does not. In episode one Obi Wan cremates Liam Nelson. But if he were a Jedi then why not vanish? A hardcore Star Wars fan would try to justify this by making up some kind of hidden plot that Liam Nelson's character wasn't really good but must have had darkness in his heart. Blah blah blah!
If someone else had done the movie then I wouldn't care so much about the inconsistencies but didn't Lucas watch his own movies?
It seems to me that a much better plot line for this trilgoy would have started with the Jedi and the Sith in a HUGE battle on Tatooine. Both the Jedi and Sith end up destroying a home out int he desert, the home of the Skywalker family. The family is killed in the crossfire but through the rubble Yoda finds a baby, however, unbeknownst to Yoda and the other Jedi little Skywalker can already talk but only be heard by the audience, the voice over done by Bruce Willis. As Yoda tries to change his diapers and go shopping little baby Darth Bruce makes witty comments for our amusement.
In episode two Yoda and Skywalker (played by Screech) , now in his late teens, must set off on a deadly mission to recover the Lost Ark in the Temple of Doom. Armed with nothing but a whip, Yoda and his sidekick beat up the Nazi's and save the day from the bad blonde people.
Episode Three... Well, here Anakin rebels against Wacko Yoda after years and years of sexual molestation. Yoda, of course, dismisses Anakin's claims saying that his mother put him up to it so that she could get money. Unfortunately the Jedi already killed Mother Skywalker in episode one so she cannot be Yoda's alibi, which of course adds even more fuel to Anakin's hate. Because of Anakin's confused sexual history he takes on a disguise as The Talented Mr. Ripley and works as the Evil Emporer's bulter, leading to disastrous consequences.

Now isn't this an improvement?



Rating:
Summary: The Saga Begins...
Review: The Star Wars saga has thrilled audiences for over 20 years, and now we are all invited to bear witness to what started it all. In Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace, George Lucas takes us to the beginning. This movie is set many years before the events in Star Wars Episode 4: A New Hope, in a time that old Obi-Wan referred to as a time of peace and justice, before the dark times, before the Empire.

This movie was fairly light in tone, given how this new prequel trilogy is designed to shed light on Anakin Skywalker's rise and fall from Jedi grace. Some have said this was more of a kid's movie, I disagree, though yes there are elements that appeal to kids more than adults (the excessively irritating Jar-Jar Binks is the prime example, and the fact that Anakin is a just a small boy). There are many elements that are quite adult oriented, such as; honor, sacrifice, love, evil, and deception. This movie sows the seeds of what will occur not only in the other 2 sequels in the trilogy, but also what has already transpired in the original trilogy.

The special effects in this movie were top-notch, the acting was good (Ewan McGregor seemed a bit wooden, he was much better in Episode 2), and the story was a great launching point for one of the greatest sagas in movie history.

The interesting thing about this prequel trilogy is that even though we all know how everything ends up, it's fun to watch and see how we all got to that point. It's interesting to see how Anakin went from this young boy with a big heart, became the scourge of the galaxy in the form of Darth Vader; or how the Jedi went from large in number to but a few.

If you are a fan of the original Star Wars trilogy, this movie is a must see and for that matter the entire Prequel trilogy is a must see.

Rated PG for sci-fi violence.

Rating:
Summary: Has grown on me
Review: I'm not sure if it is repeated viewing or the realization that the last film will be here soon, but this one has grown on me. Return of the Jedi was always the problem child for me. It was replaced when this one came out. Once again the effects are breathtaking, but it has several obvious weak points. We should have met Skywalker at a later age. Jar jar is completely useless. My favorite peev though is the point where Skywalker destroys the control ship and say's "Now this is pod racing!". I can never help myself but to respond with "No, this is warfare and many people have just died!"

However, within the storyline George has laid out, this film does what it sets out to do. And there are moments of brilliance. The podrace and the duel are worth price of admission alone. If we did not know what was going to happen in future segments of the story it would all be very mysterious (I plan to make my grandchildren watch them in correct order!)

Overall, I would say that the rabid negative reactions many had towards this installment were tad over done. After all, even the worst Star Wars movie is still much better than the majority of stuff we get. George has created a whole galaxy for us to explore, unlike LOTR where existing mythology was just pasted together in a new format. I enjoyed Episode 2 and have high expectations for Episode 3. I even hope somebody picks up the flag and does other Star Wars stories.

Rating:
Summary: I am blown away...
Review: ...not by this movie, but by the number of Star Wars apologists on Amazon.Com! There are people rating this four and five stars, but their review contains nothing but digs at every aspect of the film, excluding the visual effects. People spending hundreds of words to say why the movie is bad, then turning around and saying they loved it, and proclaiming it "100% Star Wars." This was NOT Star Wars. Seeing this in the theater was like being in a bad dream. I'd wanted to see the prequels for so long, and was utterly let down in every way. The idiotic introduction of "midi-chlorians" stomped all over the spiritual aspect of the originals...that mastery of the force was all about spiritual and mental focus, and belief. Now it's just about how many of the right cells you've got. Ridiculous. I could go on ad infinitum about Jar Jar Binks, the worst character ever introduced in film, but that's been done to death. Jake Lloyd has already taken his lumps for his awful performance, as have others...so I won't belabor that point, either.

The fact is, the characters of the original trilogy are icons for a reason - you CARED about them. We don't care about any of the characters in the prequel trilogy - they are all completely disposable. We know what becomes of everyone of significance in the story, the rest of the characters are one-dimensional and unimportant. The Jedi Council is a rogues gallery of makeup artists at work, but not a single one will be remembered...let alone acheive iconic status. Shouldn't they have made more of an impact on us than the characters in Jabba's palace, who we only saw for a few minutes? In fact, who still cares about Darth Maul? Nobody. He was a microcosm of these prequels - all flash, no substance. I was bitterly disappointed by both the two prequel movies and I'm praying for a small amount of redemption in the third, but I feel Lucas has lost his way and is now only good at putting effects on-screen...which is more a testament to the talented staff of ILM than anything. But the long line of digital characters rolled out by his effects company do nothing to match the simple, rubber-mask charm of Greedo or the denizens of Mos Eisley Cantina...just as none of his main characters can hold a candle to the charisma and charm of Han Solo.

In twenty years, nobody will be talking about the prequel films. No future filmmakers will hold them up as the movies that inspired their career choice. They are disposable entertainment for an audience that has apparently become so easily amused that ANYTHING is passable, as long as their eyeballs are entertained by "great graphics." Final Fantasy: The Movie was panned by critics and viewers, but I'd argue that it had every bit as much depth and made just as much sense as the Star Wars prequels have.

So that's my rant, just had to get it out of my system.

Rating:
Summary: The Phantom Menace
Review: I seen this in theatres in 1999. In any case, I believe it to be a good movie, even if it wasn't as good as the original trilogy. The graphics are better in this movie than the originals, but what are you to expect with the time difference? The Pod race was awesome too. Jake Lloyd (the kid who played Anakin) cannot act to save his life, therefore the film suffers with the scenes he's in.

Here's the biggest problems: How do you have better technology in the past then you do in the future? If I remember right, Episode I takes place 32 years before Episode IV. Why do you have an animal pulling something that can levitate, they can figure out how to levitate something but they can't figure out how to move it from point A to point B? George Lucas has such a big ego that he had to showoff how great he is and make this movie so over the top with special effects that it makes the originals look dated instead of making the new movies flow into the old movies.

Rating:
Summary: Annoying at best...Don't you dare buy it!
Review: Considering the money, cast, and producers behind it, the Phantom Menace is possibly the worst movie ever made. Even the title is confusing. It's almost like they just chose a title that sounded cool and threw it on. It doesn't mean anything. What exactly is the phantom menace? Who is the phantom menace? Is it Darth Maul, a character we see for about five minutes before he's killed? Come on. How terrible. How cheap. Do they really think we're that stupid? And don't get me started with the acting. Even though some very good actors are in this movie, they all do a horrible job. It's almost like they did the movie for the sake of doing it. There was no emotion. Look at Natalie Portman. NOt a flicker of interest, and she sounds like a lesbian. Liam Neeson? He acts sort of gay, and seems out of place. And the kid is the worst. I wish he would have died (the kid, not the character) in the making of the movie. Have you noticed that he hasn't been in anything since? Hmmmm, I wonder why. He absolutely ruined the movie. People blame Jar Jar, but it was Jake Lloyd who ruined it. Of course, having a terrible script didn't help either. Remember that part where he says "Yippee?" Who the heck actually says yippee? No one. How terrible. I can't believe this movie actually made it to theaters. The minor characters are stupid too. The salesman who talks like a greasy Italian, the viceroys, they're just annoying. And I hate all the senate crap. It's boring. If I wanted to watch the senate crap, I'd turn on C-Span. I could go on for days. The first three Star Wars movies are great, but this one isn't worthy of them. What a tragedy. Oh, and Attack of the Clones is almost as bad as this one, certainly slower and as badly acted. Stay away from them! Use the force if you have to...

Rating:
Summary: Only One Major Flaw
Review: My feeling about what detracts from episode I when compared with episodes IV-VI is that there isn't a central character that we can identify with fully enough. In episode IV-VI, we have a pivotal moment at the end of each movie: Luke has faith in the Force and destroys Death Star, Luke discovers Vader is his father, Luke defeats the Emperor by refusing to give into the dark side when he had the advantage over his father. In episode I we have a pivotal moment in the battle between Obi Wan and Darth Maul. But this moment doesn't carry the emotional impact that the similar moment did in the other three movies.

Obi Wan Kenobi should be the Luke Skywalker for the first three episodes. We don't develop an emotional understanding of Obi Wan Kenobi. We are not prepared to see the great potential significance of Obi Wan giving into rage as he attacks Darth Maul. Basically Obi Wan went to the dark side for a moment to defeat Darth Maul. This stands in opposition to Luke's defeat of the Emperor in episode VI. Obi Wan has evidenced a weakness that represents a crucial character flaw that impacts everything that happens afterwards. Obi Wan's rage makes him a less than adequate mentor for a young Anakin who has a real problem with anger. It is this crucifixion between love and the patience to choose other than a quick course decided by hatred for those who have destroyed what you love that must be chosen by the Jedi. Otherwise, the dark side prevails.

This movie needed to explore the source of Obi Wan's rage and its consequences in order to give us a profound moment of "Oh no!" when he turned himself loose on Darth Maul. I believe that it would not have taken much to create that effect given the rest of the plot. Even if Obi Wan had a quick counseling session with Yoda afterwards and admitted his feelings in the moment in his fight with Darth Maul and a concerned response on Yoda's part regarding how his foresight has becomes significantly more clouded (as he mentions in episode II) might have been helpful.

Otherwise, I find the movie as engaging in every other sense as the previous movies. I just think that this episode and episode II both lack this personal spiritual climax that we were spoiled with in the other three episodes.




Rating:
Summary: Why do I have a feeling we picked up ....
Review: ...another pathetic life form?

"Every generation has a legend. Every journey has a first step. Every saga has a beginning."

Two Jedi knights and an outcast must help a queen save her world, and along the way discover a boy who has the potential to be a powerful Jedi himself. And so the Legend of Darth Vader begins.

This was a very entertaining movie, and some people forget that: it is a MOVIE. Star Wars is not Rome, and it is a story based on the bible, IT IS A MOVIE, for your entertainment purposes. To be honest with you, the plot was just as good as any of the original plots, the story line has never been what makes Star Wars great, people act like "Luke, I am your father," was as dramatic as the end of the movie Seven, bad news for you guys, it wasn't. If you watch it again, it seems kind of ridiculous. I still have a hard time seeing why people viewed it as so dramatic, like watching the old Star Trek episodes (Yes I grew up watching it, I'm 25).

Back to the movie, as I cannot expect everyone to stop drinking the Kool-Aid, and realize this and those are just another movie. They are very good movies, and so was this, but nothing more. The cast of this movie was brilliant. Liam Neeson was fantastic, and had a very strong screen presence. His character demanded respect, and demonstrated authority. Ewan McGregor played a very good young Obi-Wan Kenobi. What I liked about this movie is it showed that despite Jedi being picked out while young, and trained almost since birth, they still possessed the ability of defiance.

Natalie Portman played Queen Amidala, and again, Lucas made a tremendous choice, and maximized her talent utilized her to perfection. The same can be said for Jake Lloyd as Anakin Skywalker.

I will admit Jar Jar Binks character was annoying, and perhaps was a little over the top. He did not ruin the movie, he just detracted from it; yes DETRACTED, nothing more. Some people really just need to get a life, do something in their spare time besides talk in chat rooms about how bad this movie is, and realize the special effects are far superior to the old films, the story line is at least as good, and this was a perfect lead to the sequel. Is it my favorite movie? No. Does it belong in your DVD collection? Yes, right beside the old Star Wars movies.

Grade: B


Rating:
Summary: You People Must Look At This Differently
Review: We all know the orginal trilogy is like god of movies etc...But you must look at this film differently from the orginal trilogy. If you were to compare a book to a film, obviously everyone is going to say the book is better because it is more detailed. Truly you can not compare a book to a film. A Film is not composed of the same material exactly to a book. Yes a film has chapters, and so does books but films are a layout, almost like an outline. Everyone compared Return of the King movie to a book. I love Rotk and the book but i do not compare them. I actually think the movie was much more well accumulated and put together than the Book! Star Wars Episode I is a totally new saga but the same criteria as the orginal trilogy. YOu must stop comparing the two. Stop complaining about the ships. You must realize that the whole triolgy is NOT COMPLETED!!!!!!!!!! SO WHY DO YOU JUDGE IT AND CALL IT ABSOLUTE GARBAGE????? EPISODE III, REVENGE OF THE SITH HASN'T EVEN BEEN SEEN! It will all make sense when the final chapter is completed. You must also relaize that Darth Maul is not a major villian! Darth Sidious is always the major villian. Lucas is trying to show you the Deception that Sidious unleashes upon the galaxy. Did you really think One Man and one apprentice could take over the galaxy? Sidious uses different people as his servants! Lucas said in the DVD, that he is the Puppet Master. That is what a Puppet Master does! He controls everyone and takes away free will. It's the power that evil grows from. You must also realize that even that Darth Sidious is the Enemy! It was not Vader! Sidious is truly the Personification of Absolute Evil. Darth Maul is just a pawn used in Sidious's scheme. Another thing is that many say it does not remind them of anything from the Orginal Trilogy. How can it remind you, its a totally different World! Its Before The Dark Times! Before the Empire! Lucas has to show you how the Empire was all accumulated and brought together. It did not happen over NIGHT!!!!!! Jar Jar Binks is another issue. He is not really a big deal. He's just a crazy character in Star Wars. Yet i think he should had been protrayed different and a little more serious. He was designed for children just like Wicket. Yet no one said anything about Gollum or Wicket when they were made! I love Lotr but i think Gollum is an annoying S.O.B and i hate that character but he fits the PLot and Story! Jar Jar is just one of those characters that fits the Story! O and for Die Hard Fans Out there, which i could be considered one....Accept the fact that Anakin was born from a Virgin! Except it! it's in the Jedi Prophecy! That makes the Chosen One so significant. Well i am sorry for those who do not beleive in Incarnation. I don't care because i believe in incarnation, such as Jesus Christ's birth. Besides the point, I used to hate Episode I. Now i respect it more because i am realizing that they had to be done this way! People should not see Star Wars as a layout or blue print because of how the orginals were made. People should not point their fingers and say things like, "O in Episode I, it should had been like A New Hope." Its a totally different story! And i hate when people say it does not seem like the orginals because of the ships and etc. You must understand that this is a time of peace, glory and greatness before the Empire! This is when the Republic were in charge of Affairs! i actually think Episode I is better than Episode II! Wait and see for Episode III. i just know Lucas has something up his sleeves that will blow the fans away!!!!!!

Rating:
Summary: c'mon george lucas
Review: this is just another ploy by george lucas to make money off of a failed movie, don't get me wrong i love star wars, but i'm not the biggest fan of the new ones, ESPICALLY episode 1, the hype was so big for this movie and i believe that lucas defiantly failed to deliever. Now he's trying re-release this movie, what's new about it, widescreen format and a few new documentaries with the same footage used in other documentaries about the movie that you could probably see on cable tv.

In my opinion just another attempt to make money, is this really worth another $20 dollars to you?