Rating: 
Summary: "Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace"
Review: The Phantom Menace (PG) **/5
Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Jake Lloyd, Ian McDiarmid.
Directed by: George Lucas.
Synopsis: Jedi knights must protect a Queen from assassination. Along the way they find a boy that might fulfill an ancient prophecy.
Special Features: 2-Disc set: Featurettes, Web Documentaries, Animatics and Stills Galleries, Trailers and TV Spots, Music Video, Deleted Scenes, Documenteries.
Review: In this childish butchering of the Star Wars saga formerly talented director George Lucas tells the beginning to the Star Wars saga. Where to begin? Well where for the former films were excellently made and entertaining for kids as well as adults this is poorly scripted, directed, trash dedicated to the celebration of special effects over script. This film butchers every aspect of the Star Wars universe right down to unraveling the mystical force fantasy to symbiotes living inside a host body. The script is almost nonexistent as we wander from one special effect scene to another. Poorly written dialogue such as "Are you an angel?" mar the script. The performances are largely poor. Samuel L. Jackson and Ewan McGregor are given next to nothing to do, Jake Lloyd delivers the worst performance by a child in cinematic history, Natalie Portman is more wooden than the forests on Naboo, and Hugh Quarshie appears to be reading the teleprompter. The direction is terrible. Lucas gets nothing out of his actors, and runs a point and shoot imagery. Also, his use of cutaways, box outs, and fades is 20 years old and it shows. Mr. Lucas special effects are not considered direction. Aside from that creatures farting, stepping in feces, and such odd childish acts coupled with the worst comedic sidekick ever to disgrace the silver screen doom the first entry in what was once the greatest film saga in history. As for the DVD? It is too good for the film. Great special features got placed here. My major beef about it is the deleted scenes only seem to remind me just how bad this film was.
Rating: 
Summary: Just the beginning
Review: The Phantom Menace can't be judged as a film unto itself. It is the beginning of a 12 hour mega epic. It seems people forget this when they're looking for story and character development. The beginning of a movie does'nt have character development. All it is supposed to do is introduce the characters and set up the story. The Phantom Menace succeeds in doing this. Return of the Jedi didn't have much of a story or character development either. It's not supposed to. It's the conclusion of the story. What happens in episodes II-V is what really matters. Anyone who understands story telling knows this, which are'nt the people who were dissapointed by The Phantom Menace.
Rating:
Summary: The purists protest, but come on its still a blast
Review: The Phantom Menace disappointed many of the Star Wars fanatics. But what film could have recaptured the enthusiasm we felt toward the original trilogy? The technical achievement alone in further realizing Lucas' vision is worth the price of this DVD. Unlike the fantasy stories of Tolkien and Rowling, Star Wars has always been told through film. As a result, we constantly thirst for the complete vision of the Universe created by George Lucas. The Phantom Menace delivers.The Star Wars enthusiast can poke holes in Lucas' choices in both plot and character. That is a luxury that the Star Wars trilogy gives us. After all, half the fun is critiquing this beloved fantasy world. The DVD is outstanding and encourages multiple viewings. The deleted scenes included are not all that interesting, but the documentary on the creation of Episode One is worth watching. Any Star Wars fan should be ashamed if they do not own this DVD, even if they don't like Jar Jar Binks.
Rating: 
Summary: DVD Quality- Excellent, Movie itself- Disappointment
Review: The Phantom Menace DVD is excellent in terms of quality, extras, and fun. However, as a die-hard Star Wars fan this by far is my least favorite. It is not what we Star Wars fans are used to seeing or expect from George Lucas. Jar Jar & Boss Nass are incredibly annoying and make Barney look like a cool dude. There are so much CG characters and ships, that some of the scenes will make you dizzy. Jake Lloyds performace is mediochre at best. The Dialogue scenes go on forever and the mystical Force has been reduced to a genetic infection of micro-organisms called "Midichlorians". The greater the infection, the more potential one has as a Jedi. Even without all the extremely high expectations, this movie is a major miss in terms of what we should expect from ANY Star Wars movie. On a positive note, Liam Neesons performance as Qui Gonn Jinn & the Lightsaber duel between Obi Wan & Darth Maul are superb. The Pod-race is like watching a sci-fi version of the Indy 500 and is quite entertaining. In my opinion, those are the only redeeming qualities that this movie has. If you aren't a die-hard Star Wars fan, but want to see this anyway, rent it first. If you are a Star Wars fan, you gotta have this DVD anyway because it is sadly the foundation for the prequels and the saga itself. I recommend reading James Luceno's "Cloak of Deception" FIRST. The book allows one to make a lot more sense our of the movie and you will have an understanding of the events that set this first chapter of the STAR WARS saga into motion.
Rating:
Summary: Very banal writing, Great Visuals
Review: The Phantom Menace failed some people, I guess I'm one of them. Stealing jokes from Looney Tunes and writing bathroom humor for 'JarJar Binks' was horrendously insulting, why should children have to be exposed to such mindless, typical humor? I prefer serious or dark scenes to that. In short, TPM has many things thoroughly wrong with it, and some CGI that is nice, the plot and acting is mildly interesting for a step below a 'B' movie. Many lines are cringe-inducing, turn your brain off or just try to laugh at what could have been worthwhile dialogue. When I first saw this film and heard the introductory aliens speaking, I thought someone was joking and that that was a pre-film scene spoofing Star Wars, honestly I did. TPM merely sets up what is going to happen and it makes it very disinteresting to watch, it should have stood on it's own, not recreating the originals or simply trying to tie it together. What I loved about the original was the darkness, good versus bad, capturing an enemy would mean torture, and the other, more interesting way to capture an enemy was mentally. The aliens were cool/strange looking and the heroes were put into awesome situations, like Jabba's palace which was just so forboding I couldn't stand it as a kid (and loved it so much at the same time). TPM does create a great, lovable environment like Naboo and GunGun city, the fun of the original isn't here, because there's few characters to abhor (beyond some wooden acting), it's all very political.
Rating:
Summary: This film is a disgrace to Star Wars......
Review: The Phantom Menace has to be the most boring Star Wars film I've ever seen.Nute Gunray and their droids were pretty stupid. And if this was supposed to be a kid's film, why do they bore us with all the political details?
The original trilogy was amazing. They talked about politics, yes, but keeping up with it was fun. Not so with Tpm.
Not to mention, the acting was pretty bad. Natalie Portman's character was so stiff and two-demensional that I thought she might be a droid. You just want to scream at her ,"Lighten up! This is Star Wars- have fun with it!"
Other than that, well....it wasn't that bad. People keep criticizing Jake Lloyd's acting ability, but he can't be older than ten or so. I thought he did a pretty good job.
The podracing scene was the best part. Can't see the point in bringing back Jabba the Hutt, though.
I'll give this film a 2/5. Watch for the much-improved Attack of the Clones and the as yet untitled Episode 3.
Rating: 
Summary: Phantom Savior?
Review: The Phantom Menace is a good movie. That's all it is though, a movie. If you go i expecting the second coming of Christ you will be dissappointed.
Rating:
Summary: A great beginning to a great story
Review: The Phantom Menace is a great start to an already great series of movies. The storyline starts to explain it all. Many have said that it does not live up to the original 3 but those people are looking for Han Solo, Chewbacca and the rest that we all grew to love. But without this story it leaves us wondering how it starts. How did Luke come to be? How did Obi-wan come to know Darth Vader? Well here it is in The Phantom Menace. An action packed story that starts it all. I for one am happy to own this movie and await the other 2 to come out. Thats why I give it the highest rating of 5 stars.
Rating:
Summary: intergalactic shenanigans part 4 - the beginning
Review: The Phantom Menace is a highly entertaining fantasy romp - ok the acting varies from good to awful but the cinematography, sets, SFX, storyline and music are all top notch - the look and feel of the film is amazing and the story that is slowly unwravelling and will continue through the rest of the movies is compelling - keep 'em coming.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful!
Review: The Phantom Menace is a wonderful movie, I reccomend it wholeheartedly. The Boxed Set is especially fun, for me at least, you get a small strip of film and a little art book (enthralling for artists!) not to mention better quality movie. My only note is to -please- make sure you've watched the original trilogy... One of my friends that had only watched the Phantom Menace gave me such a startled look when I broke the news that little Anikin grows up to be Darth Vader!
|
