Feel The Force (Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (DVD))

Member Name: Gromit

Product:	Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (DVD)
Date:	05/11/00 (29 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great Sci-fi action

Disadvantages: Most people's expectations were unrealistically high

This is the long awaited prequel to the Star Wars saga. As such, it has an awful lot to live up to – perhaps too much. In reality, such a film is a bit of an oddity because you already know the answer. What is now intriguing, and what George Lucas is playing on, is how it all came about. How does Anakin Skywalker become a Jedi Knight and fall into the Dark Side? For fans of the Star Wars trilogy, it’s a must-see set of films.

Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace therefore introduces us to a young Jedi novice, Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor), under the instruction of Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson). They have been sent to the planet Naboo where the planet is under threat from the Trade Federation. The Jedis are sent to help Queen Amidala (Natalie Portman) and, following an invasion by the Trade Federation, escape to the planet Tatooine. While out searching for parts for their ship, Qui-Gon Jinn meets the young Anakin (Jake Lloyd) and discovers that the Force is very strong with him. Unfortunately, he’s a slave but he wins his freedom in a pod race and he accompanies the two Jedis.

The film is filled was some terrific special effects and some great moments. The evil Darth Maul (Ray Park) is simply stunning and the double-bladed light sabre if a great idea and there are some excellent fight scenes. A lot of people have criticised Jar Jar Binks (Ahmed Best) and, yes, I found him very annoying at times.

All in all, though, it’s a pretty good film. I think the problem Lucas faced with this film is the heightened expectation from the original three. To make matters worse, they was a lot of hype and pre-release tasters and I was one of the people grabbing the new trailer downloads as they came out. However, I didn’t raise my expectations for the film. I just went to see it for what it was and I found it very enjoyable. There were several interesting (and not so interesting) new characters introduced and the second film, I
’m sure, will have just as much pre-release hype surrounding it. I’m looking forward to the release of Episode 2 and I’m certainly hoping for the release of all these films on DVD.

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