Well, the words that best summarise the first of the prequels to the intensely popular Star Wars series are “oh dear”. This movie is regarded as the worst of the Star Wars movies. Kids might enjoy it, but re-watching it now as a young adult I find myself noticing a lot of plotholes, some really bad acting and some terrible, terrible writing. True, the special effects and CGI are cool, and you can tell some of the actors really are trying their best with the script they’ve been given, but does it redeem the movie itself?
Characters are the most important part of any movie. They progress the story, they can provide humour and they can connect with the audience. Unfortunately, very few characters accomplish any of the above elements. The Jedi (played by Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor) can’t connect with the audience because we can’t relate to them. They’re not funny, and they don’t really move the story along either. In fact, the only characters that actually seems to move the story along are the villains: The Trade Federation and Darth Sidious. Most of the characters are just plain annoying, especially Jar Jar and Anakin Skywalker (played by Jake Lloyd )
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUbXyd-fK8Q
The plot goes as follows: The Trade Federation want to invade and take over the planet Naboo. Why? I don’t know! That’s one of the main problems with the movie, the main motivation for this whole plot is hardly explained. Our two Jedi are sent as negotiators, but The Trade Federation attempts to murder them. Rather than use any other method, the federation try to gas them and the Jedi escape to Naboo. After a long chain of events which involves the Queen of Naboo, Amidala, the ship the Jedi are on lands for repairs on a desert planet named Tatooine, where they meet Anakin Skywalker. Qui-Gon Jin (Neeson) wants Anakin to be trained as a Jedi. The Jedi council objects. Qui Gon goes ahead anyway, and thus he is responsible for the defeat of the Galactic Republic and the rise of Darth Vader and the Empire. Amidala then persuades the Gungans, natives of Naboo and a supposedly peaceful people (who have an entire war machine ready to use) to rally against The Federation. Naboo is subsequently invaded. But fear not! A nine-year old boy (Anakin) will take control of a starfighter, with no previous experience or training, join the battle against the Federation droid control ship and blow it up. This is possibly the stupidest, most contrived moment in recent movie history.
Star Wars: The Phantom Menace is poor. When you consider its predecessors, it looks even worse. The whole production is sloppy, with unnecessary characters given good amounts of screen time and plotholes aplenty. It feels more like the first draft of a script, rather than a finished one. Luckily, I feel the prequels improved in quality, but this one is one to avoid. It’s only redeeming features are the visuals, which look gorgeous.
Rating: 4/10
Words by Gabriel Rutherford