It is very thin, and it could have been very good. All the
elements were there, but some awful choices pretty much relegated
the film to mediocre.
First, action figure Jar Jar Binks is a nasty distraction, mainly
unintelligible, and when you pick up his patter, you wish you
hadn't. Worse, his race is a bunch of malt liquor drinking
softies and it denigrates the great battle at hand.
Second, I (unlike many) liked the look of Darth Maul. But we
learned nothing of him, despite great opportunity (especially the
extended time-outs in his saber duel with Liam Neeson). All you
learn is that he is mean, he is one of two, and he has the double
light saber.
Third, the child is awful. They needed someone who could
communicate quietly anger and internal strife. They settled on
the youngest of "8 is Enough" with a nasty "What
You Talking 'Bout, Willis?" look.
Foruth, the decision to make robots warriors of evil is always
bad. You never get the sense of any great battle, or any great
loss to the Trade federation. Instead, it feels pointless, not
epic. The best thing about Star Wars and its progeny was that men
were under the white suits.
I don't like all the computerization. I prefer more characters in
outfits and fright wigs and puppet costumes. If a movie is this
big, I want "Ben Hur" and "Quo vadis" crowds,
not computer-generated masses ala' Nintendo 64.
What the hell were Terence Stamp and Samuel L. Jackson doing in
this movie?
The film had a chance, albeit small, to be mythic, but the Jar
Jar Binks fiasco, the computerized enemy, the incessant slapstick,
the absolute determination to avoid one conversation of depth or
background, all conspired to make it closer to "Battlestar
Galactica" than anything else in the Star Wars trilogy (though
Lucas tipped his trend with the introduction of the Ewoks).
I realize the choice was made to please the kiddies, but the
kiddies can be pleased with depth and character and even nuance.
Indeed, you can even perpetrate violence, with all of its
attendant unpleasantness, without risking another Littleton. As
it was, Phantom menace only menaced during the final showdown
between Neeson/McGregor and Darth Maul. All else was Road Runner/Wiley
E. Coyote stuff.
