As mentioned previously, I was kind of out of the habit of reviewing anything except things about which I had a lot to say last year, and the Star Wars movies were no exception despite my working through the new blu-ray set, extras and all. It’s not like I didn’t have anything to say about them, either, particularly the prequels. I know them well, I watch them frequently – and I’m likely to watch them even more frequently in the next few years as each hits the big screen again in 3D (it’s one of those series I always have to watch in its entirety even if I really just want to watch one part – more on that in a sec).
So the occasion here is the first of these post-converted 3D re-releases. Some were angry that George Lucas wished to tinker with these movies yet again at all; some were angry that he chose to start with the “inferior” prequels; some just don’t like 3D at all. I have to admit, I’ve been slow to come around to the new 3D stuff in general. I’ve written often of my love for Mark Kermode’s weekly film show/podcast on BBC Radio 5 Live and respect his opinions on the matter greatly, at the same time as spending (just looking at last year) a good quarter-to-a-third of my time in the cinema wearing those silly glasses. There are some things I just want to see in 3D. Even if it’s just so I can be allowed a valid opinion on how it looks (especially where post-conversion, as here, is concerned).
Since I’d already watched the whole Star Wars saga mere months ago, I wasn’t sure how bothered I’d be to see this one – which, however you look at it, is easily the worst in the series (this doesn’t mean I don’t still like it) – again. But when I saw the trailer before A Monster in Paris on Monday, I knew I had to. The 3D, simply put, looked fantastic, and it even looked like they may have tweaked the visual effects even more than the blu-ray release (the final battle on Naboo here has always bugged me – looking as it does like an unfinished animatic taking place literally on a Windows XP desktop).
At the time of this writing, my opinion on the whole Star Was saga is thus: it is one long story, the best and worst parts of which are scattered throughout. The prequels as a whole were not necessary, sure; the original trilogy stands alone perfectly fine, just as the very first movie (sans “Episode IV” title) stood fairly well alone. HOWEVER… The last hour of Revenge of the Sith – and I realise this will upset some people – is for me as powerful as anything in much grander cinematic sagas – I’ll even invoke The Godfather – and places it far and away as the best film in the whole series. Everything in Revenge of the Sith after Anakin kills Mace Windu makes everything else in the prequels absolutely essential, and makes even the original trilogy, if I’m honest, a little pale to my eyes.
The Phantom Menace is a necessary beginning to all this. It’s overly verbose politically, relatively humourless, and yes – even here, surely the best it will ever look – some of the effects look frankly unfinished (that last battle? I guess it’s just the total absence of human figures… I just don’t know…). But it’s worth it, if for nothing else, for the two key set pieces: the pod race (simply stunning in 3D) and the “Duel of the Fates” (the three way – four way, if you count Darth Maul’s double ender? – light sabre duel between Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan and Maul). For me personally, I’d add Padme/Amidala’s wardrobe – some of the most beautiful dresses I’ve ever seen in movies. I’d even add fragments of Jar-Jar which honestly do make me laugh – his whole Buster Keaton act in the final battle on Naboo is fantastic fun. And then there are the few fragments of story that resonate later on in the series (just one, for example, I noticed this time around, Anakin’s telling Padme “I can fix anything,” echoed later in Attack of the Clones after his mother’s murder) making the best of what’s to come just that bit better.
Is the 3D necessary here? No more necessary than it has been in any 3D movie I’ve ever seen. I will say that, as with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II (eep, I really ought to review that soon I guess!), I was more than impressed by the post-conversion… I don’t know how they do it but the technology is certainly getting better. Most of all, provided your eyes can physically “do” 3D, it’s a great excuse for seeing what I find to be at the least an interesting movie again on the big screen looking fresh as the day it was made.
I find it so easy to look past this movie’s flaws because some people simply get so laughably venomous in regurgitating them and being blind to the many good things in it. At one stage Qui-Gon tells Anakin, like the Neil Diamond song, “Feel: don’t think.” And while The Phantom Menace might not have the emotional weight it aspires to, I’m convinced if the audience is just as empty as they think the movie is, they’re only adding to the problem.
Older review: October 10th, 2006:
This one always surprises me by being so perfectly watchable as it is – moreso, in fact, each time I sit down to it. It’s true that it has its flaws – slightly flaky visual effects, acting at its lowest ebb for the series (and, considering the series, that’s pretty damn bad), and a general absence of energy, spark, je ne sais quoi … and, of course, Jar Jar. But I’m of the opinion that the whole Star Wars series has just as many, similar flaws, that it’s real value in cinema comes mostly from the combo of the powerful story and John Williams’ score, both of which are present enough here. I really view all six movies as one work, and the more I watch it, the more I see that this sixth is just as valid as the rest.
Star Wars: Episode II | Episode III


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