But in terms of visual sophistication, already discernible in 1973’s American Graffiti, Lucas ranks with the masters.
As for Lucas’ directing skills, his work with actors still belongs to the “Don’t emote, just stand there” school. But Menace is light-years ahead of the uneasy mix of furry Ewoks and Freudian psychology in Richard Marquand’s 1983 Return of the Jedi. Good here’s what else you should know: Phantom Menace, which cost $115 million, lacks the crude freshness that Lucas lavished on the low-budget ($10 million) original in 1977 and the fluid storytelling that director Irvin Kershner brought to The Empire Strikes Back in 1980 – still the best in the series.
^Vhen Federation types send in droids for the kill, the Jedis link up with Anakin Sky walker (Jake Lloyd), a nine-year-old slave who will grow up to marry the queen, father the twins Luke and Leia, and turn from the Jedi cause to the dark side as Darth Vader. You’ll recall that Alec Guinness played Obi-Wan the first time, and McGregor does a deft job of matching up with him vocally.
THE ART OF STAR WARS EPISODE I THE PHANTOM MENACE PRO
To her rescue come two Jedi knights: old pro Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) and his apprentice, Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor). The Trade Federation sends battleships to her planet, Naboo, to persuade her to sign a dodgy treaty. Not Princess Leia this time it’s Queen Amidala (Natalie Portman). And reasonable facsimiles thereof are on sale at your local Force emporium.Įpisode I is set thirty years earlier than the original saga, Episode IV: A New Hope, but some things never change. There’s a less fancy explanation for why Phantom Menace will inspire fetishistic worship: It’s loaded with cool stuff. With this epic and the trilogy that preceded it, George Lucas has built a pop-culture monument that packs all of history – war, religion, myth, art, science and those old reliables, good and evil – into a mystical grab bag that plays like a kiddie cartoon. But it’s useless to criticize the visual astonishment that is Star Wars – Episode I: The Phantom Menace. The actors are wallpaper, the jokes are juvenile, there’s no romance, and the dialogue lands with the thud of a computer-instruction manual.
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