A long time ago, in a galaxy far,
far away. errr actually it was 1977 and in Hollywood, a young film maker
named George Lucas released a film - 'Star Wars - A New Hope', which met
with tremendous critical acclaim. Its success was attributed to a simple
formula, it was a story about the fight between good and evil, and ofcourse
it had great special effects and lovable characters. Star Wars was followed
by two sequels 'The Empire Strikes Back' and 'The Return of the Jedi' which
were major successes too.
Why a prequel?
Now the first movie Star Wars, was
supposed to be the fourth movie in a saga.
When George Lucas started writing Star Wars, he gave each of his characters
a history to give them more depth. He realized that the histories of his
characters could themselves be made into one complete movie and broken
up into another set of three movies, starting with The Phantom Menace (sequels
to The Phanton Menace, to be released in 2002 and 2005). In 1983, Lucas
released 'Return of the Jedi' which he proclaimed would be the last Star
Wars movie for the time being, since he felt that technology at that time
was not up to the mark of bringing his vision to the silver screen. It
was only when Lucas was supervising the special effects of his friend Steven
Spielbergs movie 'Jurassic Park' that he realized that technology could
now render on screen what he saw in his mind's eye. So he decided to make
a new Star Wars movie, and what better than a prequel for which he had
already created a basic plot line while creating the character histories
for the older Star Wars movies.
The Last
3 Movies
First I'd like to say that one should
see the three other movies before seeing The Phantom Menace (TPM), as one
is required to know some of the happenings in the Star Wars universe to
understand some of the twists and turns in the plot.
The last three movies were all about
Luke Skywalker and friends battling the evil empire controlled by Emperor
Palaptine and his apprentice Darth Vader (who is actually Luke's father
Anakin Skywalker gone bad). The prequel saga (of which TPM is the first
movie) is more about Anakin Skywalker, his rise, his fall and his ultimate
redemption in 'Return of the Jedi'. Anakin (played by Jake Lloyd previously
seen in 'Jingle all the Way') here is a nine year old boy !!!!!!!!!!
A Brief
Synopsis of The Phantom Menace
The movie starts with the greedy
trade federation blocking trade to the planet Naboo. The supreme chancellor
of the senate sends two Jedi Knights, Qui Gon Jinn (played by Liam Neeson)
and his apprentice Obi Wan Kenobi (played by Ewan Mcgregor) to meet with
the trade federations viceroy and negotiate a settlement. Unknown to the
senate and the Jedi's, something more sinister is at work here than a simple
trade block. The Dark Lord of the Sith (the evil Jedi's who have
supposedly been wiped out), Darth Sidious is in control of the trade federation
and wants to invade Naboo. No one knows that Darth Sidious exists hence
he is the phantom menace. Darth Sidious orders the trade federation's viceroy
to kill the two Jedi.
While escaping, Qui Gon and Obi Wan
realize that the trade federation wants to invade Naboo. They help Queen
Amidala (played by Natalie Portman), the queen of the Naboo, escape from
the planet and reach the planet Coruscant, the capital of the union of
planets where the senate holds sessions. On their way to Coruscant, they
have to land on the planet Tatooine for repairs where they run into and
are helped by a young Anakin Skywalker. Qui Gon senses greatness in the
boy and takes him to Coruscant to be trained as a Jedi. On reaching Coruscant
the queen realizes that the senate is filled with corrupt individuals (on
the payroll of the trade federation) who will do nothing about their plight.
She is manipulated into passing a no confidence motion against the rule
of the supreme chancellor by Senator Palaptine (who later becomes Emperor
Palaptine) and nominating him instead. What follows is the queen's attempt
at freeing her planet Naboo from the trade federation.
The verdict
The special effects in the movie
are first class, the choreography of the light saber duels are the finest
martial arts scenes ever seen on screen. Unfortunately the special effects
steal the show from the characters. One finds oneself looking at the effects
more and the characters less. While the movie is excellent, don't get me
wrong, I wish Lucas had concentrated a bit more on character development.
For example, Obi Wan simply follows Qui Gon, there is no bond evident in
the acting between them as it should be for a Jedi master and his apprentice.
The end of the movie, while excellent, leaves one wanting more. But I don't
blame Lucas for this, TPM is just one third a movie, the rest of
the story is still to be told in the next two movies. On this I shall bid you
adieu or should I say 'May the Force be with You'.
Rating:
*****
Written and Directed by: George Lucas
Starcast:
Liam Neeson - Qui Gon Jinn
Ewan McGregor - Obi Wan Kenobi
Natalie Portman - Queen Amidala Jake Lloyd - Anakin Skywalker
Frank Oz - Yoda
Ray Parks - Darth Maul
Samuel L. Jackson - Mace Windu
Senator Palaptine - Ian McDiarmid
Shmi Skywalker - Pernilla August
