Escape to the Movies: The Phantom Menace 13 Years Later

[UsefulPlayer 1]

I didn't need the Phantom Menace to be amazing, it would help if it just made sense. I'm not old enough to grow up on the originals. Actually, for the longest time, I thought the originals and prequels were two separate series when I was little.

Anyway, I finally got around to watching the originals when I got older and thought they were pretty awesome.

At the very least the prequels could have made sense and contain nice action scenes. The only time things got exciting was when Obi-Wan storms in pass the laser field to fight Darth Maul. But then that lasts for like 5 seconds before a really anti-climatic ending. I rewatch the prequels all the time and some of it still doesn't make sense to me.

 

[Caligulove]

Well this video certainly helped stave off the feeling of disappointment over Episode I by comparing it to the even larger flop and disappointment of The Mummy 3. Now there's a piece of shit. As for Phantom Menace? I liked it when I was a kid, but as the years went along- I realized all the things I wasn't paying attention to and just lost interest in the prequels up until Revenge of the Sith.

I would call it a very dull film- not really good at all, not necessarily horrible. Attack of the Clones, yes, is another ordeal with some of the worst written dialogue and line delivery Ive ever seen.

 

[maninahat]

Episode I may not a terrible film, but it is a terrible sequel. In the exact same mold as Godfather III.

Bob is generally right, But it isn't an argument that needs to be made. We already know that fans are whiny, entitled and react with utter disproportion to shit that doesn't matter. That is not news, and it certainly doesn't deserve sacrificing most of another 5 minute review slot, just to make that point again.

However, most people I know about who complain about new Star Wars aren't really exerting anywhere near as much energy over hating the films as Bob suggests. Hating something in this postmodernist, internet, "That Guy With The Glasses/AVGN" age is something people do for fun, not because they actually suffer. If it is just a new way to derive entertainment (however smug and self-congratulatory), is that something we should really be bothered about?

 

[Andy of Comix Inc]

I watched it just now, on DVD. I have to say, the CG - especially on Jar-Jar - is a damn sight better than what I remembered. It was a pretty neatly filmed movie. Too bad for the whole pacing, character development, and editing that the original Star Wars films will be remembered for. I wrote this yesterday, and I stand by it:

"The prequels have a lot of spectacle, but it all falls flat - or rather, is flash-in-the-pan - without a coherent narrative. They don?t have that. They?re sloppily written and edited, and poorly acted. I don?t get that idea: ?the acting [in the original series] sucks?, because that was probably what held it all up! It had a core ensemble of characters (Han, Luke, Leia, C3PO, R2D2, Chewbacca), it followed their exploits and their exploits alone; they were well-defined and we grew to care about them as they grew to care about each other. It felt real. And we all remember those films positively because of this.

The prequels? They?re ads for themselves. We remember them because they were over-produced and had spectacle, but not for anything real. They made little impact on popular culture (I mean, the staying power of the original Star Wars is phenomenal. We?ll remember Darth Vader forever. Not so much Darth Maul). What are the best scenes in The Phantom Menace? The podrace? The lightsaber fight? ?that?s it really. They aren?t even very good. The point being, the films aren?t bad just because they?re bad (and boy are they bad). They?re bad because they were made badly, written badly, directed badly. The films themselves could have been passable if the basics of the plot and characters were figured out, but they weren?t. Not in the slightest."

 

[gphjr14]

BTW. I prefer The Expendables over the prequel trilogy.
Whats up with the hatred for that one? - At least you should have been able to expect the outcome of that one...

Movie Bob just takes shots at Expendables any chance he gets because it trashed Michael Cera's god awful acting as Scott Pilgrim at the box office. Seems if people have the option between gratuitous violence with a generic plot and Michael Cera's one dimensional lifeless acting they'll go with the violence.

 

[Frost27]

Umm, Bob? This was a Big Picture episode... Where is the Escape to the Movies part where you... You know... Tell us how the experience compared in 3D and how it all looked?

 

[Pedro The Hutt]

Gee Bob, you sure put a whole deluge of words into our mouths there, and it didn't taste very nice, please don't do that again.

Yes, I think the prequels are terrible, but no I don't rant and rage on about it nor do I let it dominate my life, I'm a happy person. =p

 

[Odin311]

You Bob are a really full of yourself.

TPM was bad, is bad and always will be bad. The issues isn't that the movie should be taken by itself. It can't be. It is a Star Wars movie. By making this a Star Wars move it must be taken as a part of a whole. By making it a pile, it deserves any hate that someone wants to spend the time and effort on. I hate the movie. I hate that it signals the decline of star wars. It is the forerunner of so many bad decisions of the part of George Lucas, and the creative teams behind the new movies, and the changes to the old movies.

No the movie was never going to recreate the same feeling that I had when I was a kid watching a New Hope. But they could have at least tried to make a good move.

And who are you to tell anyone how they should and shouldn't fell about it. How about you give your reviews of the movies, and leave all the holier than thou commentary to your other videos.

 

[DarthSka]

I'm 21 now. I grew up watching the originals on TV, but I guess it just wasn't memorable then to me. When they re-released the originals during the 90's, my God, I fell in love three times in a row. Those years were filled with flying my toy X-Wing and Millenium Falcon around and having lightsaber fights with the kid next door. Then I heard about the prequels coming out. I was so freakin' excited. After all, it's more Star Wars. And then I saw the film. I really liked it. Accompanying my X-Wing and Millenium Falcon was an N-1 starfighter and Podracer. I added Qui-Gon's lightsaber to my collection while the kid next door got Maul's. Needless to say, the battles we had were the stuff of legend. I just saw the movie last night. I still loved the hell out of it.

 

[ckam]

Still don't like the movie, but hat's off to you, MovieBob. Star Wars prequels aren't the apocalypse, but I'll just stay away from them because I don't want to watch the same bad movies again.

 

[quiet_samurai]

Thank you......my sentiments exactly. Giving people 20 plus years to fantasize about something will create something so superb in their minds that nothing in reality will ever come close to attaining. And nothing will make you feel the same way it did when you were a child.

 

[Fusioncode9]

I still think Episode 1 is the worst, but it has its place in the Star Wars universe. Not the worst film ever made, but could have been a lot better. And I don't think Episode 6 was very good either.

 

[chaosyoshimage]

Just came back from the 3D release, yeah, the movie isn't nearly as bad as the other prequels and other crappy genre films. Of course, I grew up with the thing along with the original trilogy. I agree, Attack of the Clones is easily the worst Star Wars movie. Revenge of the Sith is okay, but it's even more of a "dumb action movie" than The Phantom Menace.

Also, I thought the 3D conversion was pretty good, not nearly as bad as more recent theatrical releases, you can tell they actually worked on it as opposed to hastily converting the thing. Does it add much? Not really, but it's not laughably offensive in any way either, like say Thor's 3D Kashi box...

 

[OtherSideofSky]

You know, I have to agree. I remember having a blast watching The Phantom Menace as a kid and I've never really understood the level of hatred it gets. Sure, it wasn't great, but it was still fun. I think part of it is the intense desire on the part of Star Wars fans to make the whole franchise be something far more adult and complex than it has ever actually been.

 

[Ashley Blalock]

I'm going to have to disagree that movies can't be made good enough to roll us back to our childhood. I watched the original Star Wars films at the movie theater so I'm ancient. But you know watching the Lord of the Rings movies brought me right back to the magic and wonder of watching movies that I felt as a kid. So it can be done it just takes something epic.

I think what bothers me the most about the prequel films is that they represent Hollywood just cashing in on popular names with half ass movies instead of going for something epic. They just seem like one of the many poster children for taking the cheap McMovies way out instead of going for movie magic.

 

[lacktheknack]

All my applause.

All of it.

Congrats, MovieBob, you have regained some of the respect I'd lost a while back.

 

[KingofMadCows]

I don't really think the prequels were that worthy of hate. They're just extremely forgettable and unrelatable. There's just no emotional connection with any of the characters. Plus they emphasize really weird scenes while ignoring what should be more emotionally important ones.

The bad guys aren't intimidating or scary and they act like incompetent idiots that you can't take seriously.

The "good guys" are aloof apathetic assholes. I mean come on, Qui Gon and Obi Wan show no compassion or empathy towards a planet ruled by slavers and criminals.

Take for example, the dinner scene where Anakin tells Qui Gon, Padme, and Jar Jar that he and his mother are slaves and they have bombs implanted in their bodies that will blow them up if they try to escape. Look at the Qui Gon, Padme, and Jar Jar's reaction. None of them are surprised, shocked, horrified, or saddened by that revelation. Jar Jar just says, "that's so woo-d" while Qui Gon gives no reaction at all and Padme just casually says how she's surprised that there's still slavery in the galaxy.

Why wasn't that a more significant scene? Learning about Anakin's hardship and having the protagonists sympathize and form an emotional bond with him would allow the audience to better connect with the characters. But then later, you have a scene where Anakin fixes up his pod racer and when he's done, there's all this dramatic music and Anakin's all excited. Why did Lucas put more emphasis on that pointless scene instead of the one where Anakin's sad backstory is revealed?

 

[Monkeyman O'Brien]

I am not even a star wars fan. I find the whole universe kinda lame and don't see how anyone can get into it when even the biggest bad asses in the universe are still gigantic pussies. And even I thought Phantom Menace sucked a big fat nut.
Thats right. Im not butt hurt over it "ruining the franchise" I just think it was absolute garbage. Boring, annoying garbage.
Attack of the Clones was at least fun to watch.

Oh and Bob, you make your living off complaining about shit. That puts food on your table and a roof over your head.

 

[cricket chirps]

Ok, where is the review?

It's nice to know that you regret hating the movie when it first came out. Which is something i've never understood(i LOVED it when i saw it).

But this kinda -for the lack of a better word sorry- "ranting" episode isn't acceptable. It just doesnt seem professional to me.

The Big Picture is for ranting, Escape to the Movies is supose to be movie reviews is it not?

Not once did i hear a thing about how the 3D effects the movie at all or if it was used well. Or even if the movie is worth seeing again after all these years.

Where is the review?