The Phantom Menace: A Look Back

It could be safe to say that back in 1977 when the original Star Wars film premiered with it came the ideology of fanboyism. If thats true, then in 1999 when The Phantom Menace (currently being re-released into theaters with a 3D upgrade) hit theaters that we as a society hit a fanboy renaissance; to where fanboys were now the angriest movie goers in existence. And while a decade ago I was a simple, naive child probably to young to realize just how people truly felt about The Phantom Menace; I've now had a nice long 13 year period to listen to the complaints. But now with the benefit of some movie-making knowledge and contemplation I've reached the conclusion that Im sick of it. Sick of the fanboys, sick of the inane complaints, and sick of the painting of George Lucas as some awful person to be burned at the cross. And most of all, Im REALLY sick of people complaining about how a movie that is at worst a 2/5 to be the worst thing to ever happen to them. Because truth be told, The Phantom Menace is not the worst Star Wars movie.

Wait, stop. I know someone out there will read this a think their smart by posting that stupid Plinkitt review somewhere so let me save you the trouble. Here http://redlettermedia.com/plinkett/star-wars/star-wars-episode-1-the-phantom-menace/ if you have an hour to spare sure watch it, but it does not vindicate anything. He raises some interesting points, but in the end does not really prove the film is as bad as the fanboys make it to be.

But lets be clear here: I do not think The Phantom Menace is a good movie. Its underwhelming, terrible written, has a completely wooden child lead, the cgi hasn't aged that well, and it has major pacing problems. When people say this movie isn't good I don't argue against that. What I argue against is those people that say this movie has nothing good to it. When in reality it has some great looking locations, a pretty strong performance in Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon, the best fight scene in the entire series, and some of composer John William's best work in his entire career.

When you take all those into account your left with a pretty average film that could use some major script work. Or better yet work on its sequels instead. Most of the problems in The Phantom Menace are because most of its issues are completely irrelevent, and removable. Would anyone complain about Midiclorians if they were ever mentioned again? Would pod-racing be so hated if it was at least mentioned again? The answer is no. Yes you heard me, The Phantom Menace could be a better movie if its sequels were better films also. Especially Attack of the Clones.

Many people attack George Lucas for Phantom Menace, but really the real crime is Attack of the Clones. Seriously that movie is just boring. The worst part of it all is that he wrote it to appease the fans, not for the story itself. Fans hated Jar-Jar so he gave him a smaller role. Fans wanted classic characters so hey, lets add baby Boba-Fett. Yoda is always mentioned in the original trilogy as a great teacher, so lets make him fight here.  Taken for its merits The Phantom Menace is just below average, and its certainly better then most action movies of today. But the problem it receives so much hate is in the title: its a Star Wars movie.

The Phantom Menace came out in 1999, so it was almost 20 years since a official movie was released. Fanboys were ecstatic and for good reason. When fans finally got what they wanted it didn't live up to their expectations, in what I would like to call Dark Knight Syndrome (seriously in a year from now everyone will realize Dark Knight Rises has no chance). But Phantom Menace isn't to blame for its fan-base. People have waited 20 years for this, and those people were expecting a movie that reminds them of their childhood when the original trilogy came out. That will never happen. This is why people hate this movie so much, because of 20 years of collective disappointment. Seriously fanboys just need to stop. I love Transformers, but that doesn't stop me from saying the newer Michael Bay movies are terrible piles of shit.

But what does hating on this movie do for people? I mean you got three more movies, two television shows, and a ton of spin-offs. This very movie was remade in 3D so clearly hating on this movie is not going to do anything to LucasFilm. Your not going to get an apology letter from George Lucas; so why don't you just stop it, grow up and realize that at the end of the day movies can be disappointing.

Oh, and while Im on the Star Wars topic yes Greedo shot first. Big deal. This is George's franchise and he has the right to do what he feels fit and his explanation is sound. Han is not a blood-thirsty badass that you want him to be, he is a charming character. It was the charm that makes you care for him. He was never some badass murderer. Deal with it.