Star Wars Episode 1. The biggest box office smash since the 1989 Batman. Widely considered to be the biggest disappointment in the history of cinema. In 1999, George Lucas finally released the first of a prequel trilogy, which had been in development for sixteen years, since the release of Return of the Jedi in 1983. Lucas had sixteen years to write this thing. And this was the best he could do? I still don't hate this movie, but couldn't it have been a lot better? But as I said, I don't think this is anywhere near as bad as the second and third episode.
The movie starts off with the following information. The Galactic Republic is in a period of decline, with its economy corrupt and deteriorating. In response to a taxation on trade routes, the Trade Federation organizes a blockade of battleships around the peaceful planet of Naboo. No one gets in, and no one gets out. Hoping to resolve the matter, the Supreme Chancellor has sent two Jedi, Qui-Gon Jinn and his Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi, to negotiate with Trade Federation Viceroy Nute Gunray. So, what is the Trade Federation doing? They're unhappy with some taxes, so now they decided to become terrorists? It is revealed later that they're working with Darth Sidious, a Sith Lord, whatever that is. But still, they decide to become full-blown terrorists just because they're frustrated with some taxes? And if they're terrorists, why didn't the Chancellor send an army to take out the battleships? And why is a Jedi-in-training suddenly called a Padawan? In the old movies, Yoda never called Luke that, and neither did Obi-Wan. Anyway, Darth Sidious orders the Viceroy to kill the Jedi. Even though he has to know how hard it is to kill Jedi. Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon escape, and discover that the Federation is planning to invade Naboo. They head down to the planet to warn the people. It is there that they meet Jar Jar Binks, the most despised character in the franchise. The thing is, he didn't really bother me that much. He's supposed to be the comic relief, which he actually is, occasionally. I understand the point of view of people who hate him, but I didn't really feel that way about him. I didn't love him, but I didn't hate him.
So then the Jedi go to the Naboo capital city and find that the invasion has already taken place. The planet has been taken over. The Trade Federation wants the Queen to sign a treaty so their invasion will be made legal. The Jedi rescue the Queen (why is there a Queen in a Democratic system of government?) and escape the planet. They want to head for Coruscant, but they are too low on fuel. They have to stop at the nearby planet of Tatooine, a planet that is not a part of the Federation. They meet a young Anakin Skywalker here. Here's another thing I have a problem with. At the end of Return of the Jedi, when Darth Vader is unmasked, he looks to be about at least sixty years old. And since they decided to set this movie tirty years before "A New Hope", he would be at least in his late twenties at this point. Anakin is a young nine-year-old slave kid. When Qui-Gon hears that, he isn't shocked that there is still slavery in the Galaaxy. He doesn't call Coruscant and have them send over a huge relief effort to free the slaves. See, Jedi only help when there are trade or border disputes. Not with stuff that actually matters, like this. Qui-Gon can't get the parts for the ship that they need. He doesn't have the correct money he needs on this world, so they are stuck for the time being. Anakin then offers a solution. He does Podracing, a sport than humans are not usually able to do. He can enter the race, win, and give them the winnings. They make a convoluted deal with Anakin's owner, Watto. Qui-Gon has deduced that Anakin has Jedi reflexes. He also makes a side bet with Watto. If Anakin wins, the race, he is free.
Now, I have to say, even though this race was just a CGI version of the chariot race from Ben-Hur, I thought it was very good. I don't know why so may people hate it so much. After the race, Anakin is free. They now have money for the parts they need. Anakin has to leave his mother, and tells her that he will come back and free her one day. As Anakin and Qui-Gon are about to leave, they are attacked by Darth Maul, who is a Sith, whatever that is. After a short fight, they manage to escape unharmed. Qui-Gon deduces that the Sith have returned. When he returns to Coruscant, he reports this to the Jedi Coucil. He also tells them about Anakin, and how he has a lot of iron in his blood, or something like that. He thinks that Anakin is the chosen one, the one who was prophesied to bring balance to the force. The same prophecy which , in the old movies, was never mentioned by Obi-Wan, Darth Vader, Yoda, or the Emperor. Qui-Gon requests that the council agree to Anakin's training, but they refuse, claiming that he is too old. Even though Luke Skywalker is later trained at about age twenty. Meanwhile, the Queen cannot get the senate to act quickly enough. Acting on advice from Palpatine, the Naboo senator, Amidala calls out the Chancellor as a weak leader who needs to be replaced. In the meantime, she decides to go back to Naboo to try to help her people herself. The Jedi council sends Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan with her to assist her and to try to meet Darth Maul again. Instead, of, say, sending a few hundred Jedi Kights to assist the Queen.
The last half hour was the highlight for me. They weren't really up to coherent storytelling in this movie, but they could at least do decent action scenes. Padme, a handmaiden who befriended Anakin but is really the Queen in disguise, but who cares since she wasn't really developed a whole lot, devises an elaborate plan to capture the Viceroy. When did she become such a great military strategist? I thought Naboo was a peaceful planet. Anyway, the ending battle was visually stunning. It would have been a lot better if there had been an interesting story leading up to it. Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon battle Darth Maul. Qui-Gon is killed, but Obi-Wan is able to defeat Maul. Before dying, Qui-Gon makes Obi-Wan promise that he will train Anakin. This completely disarms what Obi-Wan told Luke in the old movies. In Return of the Jedi, Obi-Wan told Luke that he wanted to train Anakin because he saw a potentially great Jedi Knight. Not because Anakin was some chosen one or something. And not because his old master asked him to do it. Making this Obi-Wan's primary motivation for training Anakin makes his relationship with Anakin less meaningful, and doesn't establish the father/son-like relationship that they were supposed to have. What they should have done is have Obi-Wan be the one arguing with the council that Anakin should be trained. So Naboo is liberated, Obi-Wan becomes Anakin's master, Palpatine becomes Chancellor, and the movie ends.
This is no where near the worst thing to carry the name Star Wars. It's certainly not the best, but it did have a few things going for it that puts it above the other two in this trilogy. First of all, Qui-Gon is awesome. Liam Neeson plays the fatherly mentor very well, and it was a shame that he could only be in one movie. He could have possibly played Obi-Wan, even though Ewan Mcgreggor did a phenomenal job in that role. Ewan wasn't too great in this movie, though. He just seemed kind of wooden. But maybe he was just playing the role he was given. Another positive thing about this movie was the utter lack of Hayden Christensen. Granted, Jake Lloyd wasn't a good actor either, but I have more sympathy for him. He's just a kid, wheras Christensen is a grown man. And Lloyd didn't whine nearly as much as Christensen. Another thing I liked about the movie was Darth Maul. Some people complain that he wasn't developed enough. The thing is, that's what made him so interesting. He's scary and mysterious. Unfortunately, we never really learn what a Sith is. I guess it's just a Jedi who turned to the dark side, but why didn't they call them that in the old trilogy? For this prequel trilogy, they made up a bunch of names for thing that had different names in the old trilogy. The Phantom Menace suffers from a lack of coherent plotlines, and the fact that it disarms what was supposed to happen based on the classic series. However, there is some great CGI work done here. I like to pretend that this prequel trilogy never was made, but this is the one movie from that trilogy that I can actually stand.
