Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace

This is definitely a movie. Now, a lot of people tend to say this is one of the worst films in the Star Wars franchise, and I can see where they are coming from, but I have always thought, that, even if this is the worst of the prequel films, this is not the worst film to come out of the franchise. Let's explore what this movie is about.

The plot is a little complex, but basically, it involves a planet called Naboo having its trade routes taxed by a rival group known as the Trade Federation, which is obviously causing disputes. The main story concerns two Jedi Knights, Qui-Gon Jinn, played by Liam Neeson, and Obi-Wan Kenobi, played by Ewan McGregor, who, along with Padme, the queen of Naboo, played by Natalie Portman, they plan to overthrow the Trade Federation and bring relative freedom back to Naboo. It's not exactly the most exciting plot out there, and the biggest connection it has to the original trilogy of films is that, while pursued by the Federation, our heroes stop off at the desert planet of Tatooine to repair and refuel, and there they come across a young boy named Anakin Skywalker, played by Jake Lloyd, who of course, will grow up to become Darth Vader later in the future films.

Now, while the story is quite bland, and, where I normally don't mind fantasy politics in stories, I feel that they didn't make the politics interesting enough and a lot of this film is talking about the boring politics. The two scenes that I will say actually were pretty good were, surprise surprise, the action scenes, because that is where Star Wars excels. The first scene involves a high speed podrace with Anakin attempting to win so our heroes can get the parts to repair their ship. The other one is, of course, the duel of Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi vs. Darth Maul, the apprentice of an evil and mysterious Sith Lord known only as Darth Sidious. Both of these scenes are high octane, fast paced, and leave you at the edge of your seat, and the film is mostly watchable for those scenes alone.

I feel the cast is pretty good, but outside of the aforementioned action scenes, a lot of the actors don't seem to care about the movie too much. Like, Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor felt like actual Jedi Knights and their chemistry and dialogue felt natural, no matter the actual writing quality, but everyone else seemed to be going through the motions, bar the brief appearances from Darth Sidious, who is appropriately mysterious yet terrifying.

Overall, this movie is definitely one of the weaker films, not only because of its uninteresting plot, but also because, as a prequel, it doesn't feel like there is much setup being done for the Original Trilogy. Again, if it weren't for the action scenes, I'd probably rank this one a lot lower, but the fact that I was entertained at least some of the time means the movie wasn't a complete failure.

Next time, we begin the tale of a young boy who learns that he is a wizard, and is sent to a school of magic to learn how to control his powers. Be prepared for what is considered the beginning of one of the greatest fantasy film series of our time with Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

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