movie review - Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace
the journal of Michael Werneburg
twenty-seven years and one million words
Not what I was hoping, after a decade and a half (and more build-up and speculation than anything since moon landing). In short, the sense of fun that kept the first series from getting stiff and ridiculous (e.g. like the Star Trek movies) is gone, replaced by a cutesy reliance on superchildren and godawful CG characters.
More frightening is the addition of a moralistic montage on the evils of gambling. A sign of the times, to be sure - what Sci-Fi doesn't come with a 'here-is-the-message' moment these days - but this is Star Wars, where the heroes shoot first and ask questions later!
Perhaps even worse is the tinge of stereotyping that creeps in to the characters from the Trade Federation (who seemed pretty much like gangsters from HK action flicks) and simply oozes from the walks-like-a-Jamaican, talks-like-a-Jamaican Gungans. I don't know what they were attempting to do with these characters, but I suspect it was to play up their alien nature. This was done far better with subtitles when Greedo or Jabba had Han cornered, and worked just as well for friendlies like Ackbar.
What compensates for these shortcomings is the depiction of the final days of the Republic. The spacecraft are still clean + work properly, the Hutt are simple local in operation, the government is a Galactic democracy, and there are interplanetary communications (if a little shaky). All of these are things of the past by the next trilogy.
Not recommended. It should be interesting to see what comes next. Too bad that's two years away.