Star Wars: The Phantom Menace

Reviewed by: Buttersfieldwire

July 1, 1999

Return

The great parts of "Phantom Menace" (which I watched in the same theater that I first saw Star Wars in) were so great that they cancelled out the really awful parts, in the sense that they made it worth the $6.50 and two hours to see. The pod race, the final battle between QueQueeg and Obi-Wan and that devil guy, and (especially) the classical style battle between those horse-frog guys and those robots were great and I probably will pony up to see them again.

But you gotta say that a lot of the movie was just incompetent (e.g. the underwater scenes where the true scariness of the monsters underscored the awful timing of the direction; give it up George, you suck). Then, the end when Darth Jr. acthidentawy geth in the thpacethip and acthidentawy thoots the bad guyz was too awful for words. It may have been the worst moment I have paid to see in any movie. In a sense, some movies are bad, but not bad enough to be camp. Then, other movies are so joyfully bad, that they become humorous entertainment. I think the finale of Phantom Menace explored a new territory of badness: beyond camp; i.e. so humorously bad, that it was no longer funny, no longer even bearable really