Escape to the Movies: The Phantom Menace 13 Years Later

[Aprilgold]

I have my likes and dislikes with the Phantom Menace as much as anyone else, so I think the real question here is: Is the 3D conversion worth a movie trip, or should I just stick with the Blu-Rays if I absolutely must watch it again?

Probably not at all, because if your going to see 3-D in the IN YO' FACE way I can almost guarantee that it probably won't happen. I might be wrong, but I think sticking with the Blu-Ray would be good.

Also, Bob, why in the HELL didn't you mention any of the actual 3D bit and review that?

 

[nathan-dts]

I hope even more people watch the Plinkett reviews now thanks to you

Funniest reviews ever. Still haven't gotten my pizza rollds though.

 

[Monsterfurby]

I have actually seen quite a few amazing fanedits for TPM. I think it is probably the most fixable of the prequel movies still. Have a look at some of those (the Lone Gungan Edition may be a bit rough around the edges, but it tells a brilliant story) and you'll be amazed.

No amount of fanediting was able to fix the pathetic dialogue and horrifying plot in Ep2 and 3 though.

 

[RatRace123]

I never hated the Phantom Menace that much. I do think that it's the worst film in the series though, and I'm not counting the Clone Wars movie, that was simply the first 3 episodes of the show. That should never have gotten a theatrical release.

And in mentioning the positives of The Phantom Menace, I'm surprised Darth Maul wasn't among them. He's usually thought of (even by the haters) as the best thing in the movie.

Well, regardless I was going to see it, and I do plan to see the others when they launch too.

 

[malestrithe]

I can honestly say that the Phantom Menace did not do anything to my childhood. I was 16 when I first watched a New Hope from end to end in one sitting. It was not the groundbreaking spectacular that my friends claimed it was. I watched Return of the Jedi at the local Drive theater, but I lost interest when Jabba got blowed up and played with the dirt underneath the screen with about 30 other kids who lost interest in it. We lost interest in the dirt when we saw the Ewoks on screen.

Phantom Menace was not going to work because Star Wars fans were expecting a movie that could not be made. The simple reason was that the best version of any movie exists in your head, a place that only the viewer can get to on a regular basis.

 

[Okysho]

maybe it's because I wasn't born in the 70s, but I'm one of those people who don't actually care about the differences between the original trilogy and the special edition.

The blue ray release on the other hand... fuck... Han or Greedo shooting first in a 1/2 second sequence not a deal breaker for me. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" During the climactic epic sequence in Luke vs. The Emperor ? Piss off man...

Ok, OT:

Phantom menace. I actually didn't have any real problems with it. I'm with Bob in that 2 and 3 were significantly worse. It's textbook, and is a bit more baseless than the original trilogy, so it was probably a bit harder to get the story together.

episode 2 though? Too much love sequences! Yoda using a lightsaber? awesome. Obi-Wan being useful? awesome. Introduction of stormtoopers? awesome (unless you don't know that after the formation of the empire they opened up academies for recruits, then it's inconsistent story) Just... we don't care about Anikin and Padme. We wanna see blasters, ships and lightsabers!

I have two gripes about the original clone wars. First is the animation. Not because of how it turned out, it looks great. After seeing some special features on the production, the director said he wanted it to have a more anime feel to it. Actually study anime if that's the effect you wanted to go for. Second gripe, "New and improved Anikin!" After getting knighted, there's several sequences that flow like they've come out of the marketing department. "Oh no! Two jedi are trapped by the seperatist forces! Who can save them?! Look! It's new and improved Jedi Knight Anikin!!"

episode 3? the biggest deal breaker for me was the CGI. The ending (with the exception of the "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" and "I have the high ground!!" Wtf is that?) was actually ok though.

oops... that turned into a bit of a rant...

 

[Axolotl]

wow, I mean when I saw he was doing The Phantom Menace I just thought it'd be repeating the same old hate, I certainly didn't expect him to say anything new. Major respect just for having a different opinion.

Although, saying it' better than The Mummy 3 or Van Helsing? Really? I never thought I'd be defending those films but they don't deserve that.

Although just speaking for myself I haven't come across anything Star Wars related that was particularly good.

 

[floobie]

I was 11 when the Phantom Menace came out. Honestly, I loved it at the time, just like I loved the original trilogy. The entire series was essentially made for preteen boys. Though, even upon seeing them for the first time, episodes 2 and 3 were instantly counted among the worst movies I've ever seen, and not in a good way.

But, a few years after that I realized something: None of these movies, the original trilogy included, are particularly good. The Star Wars universe as a whole is pretty great. It has produced some truly awesome video games. But, the movies themselves all feel hyper cheesy and awkward to me now...

 

[Hitchmeister]

Can we at least still hate George Lucas for changing the Star wars movies we loved and by doing so attempting to keep the versions we prefer away from us?

 

[Hoplon]

So bob, what you're saying is despite being in 3d now, it's still feels flat... hmmm, that's pretty fair.

 

[snd_dsgnr]

I absolutely agree with more or less everything Bob has said here, particularly that this movie not living up to the legacy of the original trilogy is simply not something worth maintaining a grudge about.

Having said that, I can't get on board with the idea that The Phantom Menace never had any chance to live up to that legacy. Yes the backlash to the movie was over the top if judged on its own merits, and yes it may have been difficult to make something that right out of the gate was going to be compared to something that people loved. But it also received advantages from that comparison. It had a built in audience that was going to deliver a huge payday no matter what, so there was more room for taking risks than most directors have. There was a story and universe and characters that people already cared about, which is a huge head start. Given all that, I think it was absolutely fair to expect more at the time. Just maybe not worthwhile to still be angry about it over a decade later.

Lastly, I would ask if Bob thinks that the upcoming Hobbit movie has no chance to live up to the standard of the LOTR movies and if he plans to judge it simply on its own merits as a fantasy movie without comparison to what's come before. Personally, I think it can live up to that standard, and I'm optimistic that Jackson isn't going to squander the same advantages that Lucas had.

 

[Malignanttoe]

It was supposed to be the Chosen One!


Or something...

I started playing KotOR again last night, so I couldn't really care less about PM3D.

 

[adlerman1]

Personally most of the hate at these movies is in all the retconing he had to do to the original three to make these as you said not terrible movies fit and Mr. Lucas' misunderstanding of what the word remastered means. I think a lot of fanboy rage would die out if he just released a true, original edit, remastered edition of the original three. The original three aren't this holy grail of movie making there held up to be, but there good and part of many peoples childhood. Putting in all those computer generated effects next to 1970's puppetry take you out of the movie.

Also not going to see any movie that wasn't filmed in 3d, in 3d

 

[Teoes]

That finale slayed me. Touche, Mr Chipman.

Personally I'm more inclined to just ignore it all as much as I can rather than getting bent out of shape. T'is the sensible thing to do.

 

[DrOswald]

Can someone please explain to me why Van Helsing is a truly bad movie? What makes it worse than Independence Day, for example? And does it really belong in the same category as Catwoman?

 

[TownTattle]

I grew up in the best time to be a star wars fan, and not it wasn't the 70s or the 80s.

Born 1993
Watched originall trilogy multiple times 1997-1999 ROTJ is still my favourite film of all time
Watched Phantom Menace at the Odeon in Leisceter Square 1999 Loved it
Watched Attack of the Clones at the Odeon in Leisceter Square 2002 Loved it
Watched Revenge of the Sith at the Odeon in Leisceter Square 2005 Loved it

Best time to be a star wars fan, still like all 6 movies, despite their flaws.

 

[TheEnglishman]

Yeah, Meance is not a BAD film, it sort of varies on how you approach it. On a bad day the characters are somewhat annoying, dialogue poor and CGI over-used and annoying.

On a good day it's a precursor to Liam Neeson's career change to ass kicker, has solid fight choreography and very pretty stuff to look at, and also features the best character of the series in my opinion, Darth Maul, who only has two lines of Lucas written Dialogue and the rest comes down to Ray Parks expressions, make up and fighting skills.

I don't think its completely unrelated that I'd never seen the original Star Wars films when I saw Menace, and I liked the film for what it was, an amusing children's adventures story.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I think the reason most "butthurt" fans were "butthurt" was because Lucas casually went into a franchise, which was tremendously precious to a lot of people, simply so he could exploit it. And he was the one who gave it to them in the first place.

So, pretty much a double betrayal.

As for the movie itself...

It's not simply bad, it's fucking boring. And that includes every single aspect of it; The story, the characters, the acting (seriously, everyone acted like a fucking Vulcan), the action/fight scenes, the designs, the visuals, and yes even the score which was run of the mill Williams god-choir crap.

No sorry, it's still as bad as I thought it was.

 

[370999]

This is going to be one of the few occasions where I dislike a movie more then Bob. For me Phantom meance is very much a 3 out of ten affair, it has enjoyable moments but it is largely boring. He's spot on with the fandom stuff, though I would say a lot of this applies to Bob on other things, like how often he brought up Expendables. Whatever.