Review of Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) by Filipeneto — 23 Feb 2018

This film, released more than ten years after the last film in the original trilogy, marks the start of the second Star Wars trilogy, a prequel to the original movies. It may even be considered that, if the first trilogy was the story of Luke Skywalker, the second is the story of Darth Vader. In this film, directed and written by George Lucas, has the participation of Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Jake Lloyd, Ian McDiarmid, among other actors.

This is a film that seeks to begin a new trilogy but that's full of failures, with a single guilty: George Lucas. He made the script and the direction, but he seems so concerned about action and special effects that forgot everything else. The script is reasonable, the connection he makes with the previous films, although remote, is credible. However, it gives too much importance to things that don't matter (as the race where Anakin participates) and ignore events that, if they had been developed, would have made the film more interesting. This is the case of the Naboo's invasion, which should have been more dramatic, and Luke chose to observe coolly, from the Amidala's palace windows. Another flaw is the character's design. Lucas took all the emotional and psychological side, emptying them. There are even certain characters that shouldn't exist because they have no relevance, as Sebulba, a poor attempt to create a villain which is never threatening. The passion of Amidala and Anakin, who should have been intense and overwhelming, hardly goes beyond the exchange of glances, prudish and restrained, unable to move the audience. Its a film with plenty of action, but a huge emotional shyness, unable to make the audience shed a tear. The public sees and appreciates, but isn't attached to the characters. The most notable exception is Jar Jar, a humorous and well developed character, making the audience love him or hate him and leaving anyone indifferent. So, if by some chance the actors didn't seem to be particularly inspired in this film, we can blame Luke, as the actors did what was asked of them.

Action scenes and special effects deserve applause and are, truly, the great strong point of the film. The new technologies have enabled to make wonders apparently unbelievable at the time of the first film. The costumes, characterization and scenarios also deserve congratulations. The soundtrack wasn't particularly great but the editing and sound effects were at the highest level, leading to the Oscar nomination for Best Sound, Best Sound Effects and Best Visual Effects.