Obviously, ‘The Phantom Menace’ Sucked
But oddly, for many of us, only in hindsight
The new Star Wars is here, at last. But due to some traveling, I won’t be seeing it until next week. So I’m stuck glancing at reviews and generally avoiding the internet, which isn’t too hard when you have these views…
Anyway, the consensus seems to be that The Force Awakens is good. Watching the reaction from afar, the level of enthusiasm seems to range from strong to quite strong. Which is great. It’s not really a surprise given J.J. Abrams’ track record, but it’s still a relief. Because re-watching the prequels as I, like so many others, have been doing this week, it has been a good reminder of just how badly things can go, even with a great franchise.
What’s most interesting there is that looking back at the time of the release of the first Star Wars prequel, The Phantom Menace, in 1999, the reviews actually weren’t that bad. In fact, many thought the film was quite good.
Which is fascinating. Because it’s not just bad, it’s awful.
There are only a handful of passable scenes in the entire two-hour-plus movie. If it weren’t for Ewan McGregor doing a solid Sir Alec Guinness impression, Liam Neeson doing a solid Liam Neeson impression, and that one Darth Maul fight scene, the entire thing would be completely unwatchable.
And yet, no less than Roger Ebert loved the movie, calling it “an astonishing achievement in imaginative filmmaking.” The New York Times raved about its CG effects — which, even just 16 years removed, are laughable.¹
But I must admit that thinking back to when I first saw the film, I recall very much enjoying it as well. I don’t think I loved it, but I remember being giddy with excitement over certain scenes (like the aforementioned Maul scene).
The psychology at play here is fascinating. In hindsight, I’m fairly certain I liked The Phantom Menace more than I should have because I got to see a pre-release screening (the father of a good friend of mine owned a movie theater in town). Maybe it was a natural reaction to want this movie to be better than it was because it made my early glimpse more worthy of envy.
But I actually think it was bigger than that, and speaks to why so many people seemingly loved an awful movie.
So many of us grew up loving Star Wars, and so we couldn’t bear the thought of the universe veering into a very dark place, cinematically. The disappointment that should have followed such a putrid movie would have just been too much to take at the time.
And so we loved The Phantom Menace because we really, really, really wanted to love it. If we didn’t, it could call into question the original trilogy, because this was the backstory. Love it or hate it, this was official canon now. Also, no matter how bad the dialogue was, it was sort of interesting to find out why some of the things in the stories were the way they were.²
It’s only in hindsight, some 16 years later, that we can all admit what should have been so painfully obvious: The Phantom Menace sucked.
Now, again, that doesn’t appear to be the case with The Force Awakens. But I still think it’s interesting to have that context going into it. No matter what, I will still be giddy to see Han Solo for the first time in decades. But I also want to make sure I don’t look like a fool in decades.
¹ Yes, hindsight is probably quite literally 20/20 here, but still, just watch the movie again. All the CG looks not just fake, but ridiculous. The effects in the original Star Wars hold up far better.
² Who doesn’t love a good embargo or trade dispute in a science fiction/action film? Don’t answer that.
