A menace to pop culture: Phantom fails

From top to bottom, Phantom Menace is a flop

Any film that has been obnoxiously marketed and anticipated for years will probably fall short of the colossal expectations surrounding it. Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace falls into this pitfall, collapsing underneath its own weight as the first prequel to the famed Star Wars Trilogy.

George Lucas fashions his first directorial effort in 22 years with The Phantom Menace and it shows. The film is mostly his creative project, credited as the screenwriter and co-producer as well. This film runs into multiple problems, each of which can be traced back to Lucas as the keystone for failure.

The plot goes as follows: the evil Trade Commission decides for some unknown reason to take over the peaceful planet of Naboo. Two Jedi delegates, played by Liam Neeson and Ewen McGregor, are sent to mediate the conflict, but fall into untimely peril. They team up with leader of Naboo, Queen Amidala, played by Natalie Portman, to rescue Naboo from Trade Commission occupation. Along the way, the two Jedi gather hangers-on as easily as most collect gum on their shoes, including the computer animated character Jar Jar Binks, and the young Anakin Skywalker.

Lucas does not dazzle the audience with too much originality in its screenplay. The plot clearly echoes Star Wars, except it misses the foundational pieces that Star Wars thrives on. The film's characters are devoid of any depth or emotional content whatsoever, and Lucas fails to make us care about his characters.

The film's pace is miscalculated in relation to the thematic content. The film starts out in a blur and then slows down to a deathly slow rate. The audience is constantly thrown off by the film's movement from one secene to the next.

The Phantom Menace frustrates any intelligent human being because the tools necessary to construct a wonderful edition to the masterfully designed Star Wars Trilogy are all in place. The special affects push the limit of the imagination, and stand as the benchmark for film modern day film design. The imagination of Lucas shines again. He introduces us to whole new worlds and life-forms that echo the original. Lucas also included enough of the lore of the first three films to delight old school Star Wars fans. Neeson shines as the rebel Jedi sage Qui-Gon Jinn, despite the poor dialogue to he has to work with.

The real fault of the film lies on Lucas' rusty direction. He fails to bring all of the elements at hand together. For example, in a striking underwater scene a monstrous sea-creatures pursues the characters through an underwater world. The effects are there, but Lucas does not create any sense of suspense or drama. He leaves the audience wanting so much more, but does not deliver.

For the staunch Star Wars fans, Lucas makes some sacrilegious alterations to the original format. With all of his expensive technology at hand, Lucas cannot even make the Yoda puppet come to life on film again. The orginal charm of Yoda was lost in The Phantom Menace. They must have sold the original at a garage sale, because the new-look Yoda is far from the target of capturing the original.

Was the Phantom Menace doomed to fail? Not necessarily. The film fashions new highs in computer animation and design. Some of the animation looks fake and does not gel with live action as well as the puppet-work of the original, but Lucas is on the verge of a whole new film presentation technology. Lucas will be wise to hand off the directorial work in the next few movies, and stick to his finely honed editing and producing skills.