Movie Defense Force: Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace

[DTWolfwood]

but i liked watching the battles in attack of the clones

 

[Mahoshonen]

Actually, a closer look at the darth maul duel shows that it's well...kinda shit too, and comically so:

You mean that whole scene was fake? They were just actors and they weren't really trying to kill each other? And it becomes obvious when you slow it down and show the moves several times back to back?

Colour me not the least bit shocked.

That's not the point he was making. In comparison to the originals, the lightsaber duels in the prequels lacked weight. The video points out that it never seems like any of the comatants are aiming for each other. But more importantly, there's no emotional connection between Maul, Obi-Wan, and Qui-Gonn. If you go back to the original trilogy, the memorable bits are the storys the fights told, not the choreography. That's why I think the duel between Vader and Obi-wan in Ep IV is actually better than the one in the prequel. The emotional baggage of everything between them, which at the time was unelaborated, hangs tensely over the scene, and makes the slow pacing actually improve the scene rather than detract from it. And more importantly, it knows when to wrap up instead of dragging on for 20 minutes or so.

 

[Lovely Mixture]

Time has not done the first trilogy any good, the acting is bad,

You might be able to argue that for the A New Hope, but not really any of the others.

the CGI is bad,

Depends which version you watched, if you watched the shitty "special editions" which put in all the horrendous CGI (that was never there in the first place) then sure.

and most of all, the action scenes are WORTHLESS

I don't know how you can define an action scene as "worthless" in the original trilogy, as almost all the action serves a purpose.

especially the lightsaber duels which is just abysmal.

On what grounds? The prequel trilogy features so much acrobatics that you wonder if it was supposed to be a "duel." While the original trilogy has shots intentionally meant to resemble Akira Kurosawa's filmed samurai duels.

 

[PoolCleaningRobot]

I'm going to confess something: I never understood why people hated Jar Jar. I didn't even realize hating him was a thing until years after the movie came out. I agree with Jim. Its not like Jar Jar was focus of the movie, he was just "there"

Also, didn't Movie Bob already do this?

 

[Worgen]

Phantom Menace is a really horrible film, is it as bad as Star wars fans make it out to be? Not really. The film had some really good action scenes, the pod racing was enjoyable, it had Liam Neeson, one of my favourite actors and Jar Jar Binks.....well..... ok fair enough, I really hate him, but he didn't ruin the whole film

Jar Jar was annoying but the kid was much much worse.

Agreed, but I pretty much expect that from child actors(except the ones from Game of Thrones), but at least Lloyd was only in the first one, but I agree with Jim that at least it's not Attack of the Clones were Anakin is played by Hayden Christensen

Anikin being all whiny really killed it for me, granted hes a teen so you kinda expect that but really he shouldn't have been the focus of the movie, he should have been a side character and have someone else be the real main character.

 

[Fappy]

I think Jim needs to do battle with Plinkett over this. Also, I'm in the camp of people that still thinks Episode I is worse than Episode II. At least Episode II had a somewhat coherent plot and Sarumon in it.

 

[Fangface74]

But Jim!

Who was the main protagonist?

What were the defining characteristic traits of ANY of the cast???

Too much basic 'film making 101' missing for anything redeemable to shine through and personally, I think the prequel's got better as they went.

 

[Stryc9]

The pod-racing made a half-decent game.

It was actually quite a solid arcade racer for the time it came out in. I had a friend that badgered his grandma into getting him two copies of it so he could play with people over LAN. I wish I could dig a copy of it somehow and play it again, might have to hit the second hand stores one of these days and see if I can find one.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I'm surprised Jim didn't tackle Jake Lloyd as Anakin. Both the actor and the character were annoying as hell.

 

[Mahoshonen]

I'm going to confess something: I never understood why people hated Jar Jar. I didn't even realize hating him was a thing until years after the movie came out. I agree with Jim. Its not like Jar Jar was focus of the movie, he was just "there"

Jar Jar was an easy target. At the time, folks that were disappointed with the movie weren't sure why they were disappointed because on paper the film had everything they wanted. There was no Plinkett Review (which, interestingly, hardly mentioned Jar Jar) to disect all the problems. Jar Jar was very visable as a character because he clashed wildly with the film's otherwise overly-serious tone. Add in the fact that he acted like something out of a black-and-white minstrel show, and you have the perfect scapegoat for a fan's disappointment.

 

[Triaed]

Creepy amazon queen and a 10-year-old boy...
Still a better love story than Twilight

 

[Thedutchjelle]

I never saw the original trilogy. What few I saw of the original looked so.. dated due to it's special effects. I know they're decades old but they didn't look enjoyable to watch, they "didn't age well".

I liked the prequel trilogy. The stormtroopers were awesome in the second part and the action sequences are helluva cool.

I guess Star Wars fans are to the Star Wars prequels as to what I am to any Aliens made after Aliens.

 

[Lightknight]

Oh, Jim already mentioned the Plinkett review early on... that's usually my go-to link in situations like this. But he's also not saying that the movie is good or that it lives up to it's namesake. I'll admit that the movie was entirely watcheable and did have it's moments. It seems that's what his whole point is and validly so in my opinion. It's not great but it also isn't an abomination.

I will say that I genuinely did not enjoy Binks and his homeworld. It was a really out of place scene that was somewhat silly. Binks himself was annoying, but I also find superman annoying when he bumbles around as Clark Kent. Inept people who have no business doing what they're trying to do because they're so inept can be infuriating. I imagine people like Binks trying to drive a car in front of me during rush hour.

But yeah, thinking back on it, the battle scene was entertaining. It was his dumbassery actually being good for something.

 

[ron1n]

It's a shame that the fantastic cartoon here was officially retconned so Lucas could make that movie/show with Ashoka. I've heard that new Clone Wars show is good (although it's now canceled), but I couldn't get over the fact that the awesome Tartakovsky cartoon was canned.

Clone Wars was very much hit and miss, with some downright awesome episodes and some horrible filler.

I thought by the end though, it had really matured and there were some genuinely awesome characters and character developments. Not to mention it had some amazing big set piece battle scenes and duels:


The main thing that held it back was the obvious demographic considerations. Was all over the place. One week they'd have multiple deaths, battle scenes and intrigue. Then they'd waste the next three-four episodes following around some lame comedy relief droid group. The amount of 'teach the kids' Captain Planet style morality crap got old.

Still shits all over the movies to be honest. But to be fair, without the movies, you wouldn't have had any of it so I'll salute them that much.

 

[webkilla]

I can sort of agree with Sterling on this

Its a terrible star wars movie, but as a pop-corn flick on its own its not that bad. The point Sterling made to begin with, that Lucas's work is best when there's someone telling him "no" - loved it.

 

[TimeLord]

I have always defended Episode I as arguable my favorite Star Wars films. I'm a big fan of Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor too so that probably helped. I love the final duel with Darth Maul and the music throughout the film and as Jim said, it's an entertaining popcorn film and I will enjoy it every time I watch it. And yes, it isn't Attack of the Clones, which is god awful and should be destroyed.

Jar Jar > Young Anakin

 

[Lovely Mixture]

I'm going to confess something: I never understood why people hated Jar Jar. I didn't even realize hating him was a thing until years after the movie came out. I agree with Jim. Its not like Jar Jar was focus of the movie, he was just "there"

I agree, I think it's more about what he represented. Lucas was trying to appeal to kids and adults at the same time and it came off as wierd (you have a goofy mascot character in a movie about people discussing trade route taxes).

Also, didn't Movie Bob already do this?

No, because all Bob did was effectively bash the people who didn't like the The Phantom Menace, didn't analyze the film, and then gave a list of films he thought were worse.

 

[Oskuro]

I've always thought that Episode I (and the other prequels to some extent, although less so) is a perfectly fine sci-fi action/adventure movie.

It just fails as a Star Wars prequel.

Really, change characters and setting to be something different from Star Wars, and it is pretty OK.