Phantom Menace Review...Everything you were thinking and more!

[Zombie_61]

The thing is... there is so much emphasis on Anakin being oh so dangerous and oh so evil that it is completely watered down when he actually commits pretty heinous crimes that the Jedi don't even punish or expel him for. We all knew he was gonna turn into Vader... but don't rub it in our faces every few minutes... completely ignoring all the aspects that actually made him great. It was like... ooh... aah... look at him, ain't he evil...

Where's the hero, where's the great warrior and pilot... where's Obi-Wan's friend. If the fight in ep3 hadn't lasted for half the movie (exaggerated) it would actually have been a more powerful moment when Obi-Wan calls him his brother and the let-down he was feeling...

This was my biggest problem with the PT. Far too much time spent on political maneuvering and nowhere near enough time on why Anakin was considered to be such a great Jedi Knight.

But then, when you really think about it, before the PT we only knew about Anakin from Obi-Wan's conversation with Luke in Episode IV: "He was the best star-pilot in the galaxy, and a cunning warrior..." Maybe Obi-Wan was merely voicing his own opinion (one the Jedi Council obviously didn't agree with) or perhaps enhancing Anakin's reputation out of consideration for Luke's feelings. But...

"And don't any of you fu****ts tell me that it was explained more in the novelization or some star wars book. What matters is the movie. I ain't never read one of them Star Wars books, or any books in general for that matter and I ain't about to start."

I'd like to emphasize that point because as Lucas changed the focus of the story from Luke to Anakin, all we get is Anakin crap. It's like he wasn't entirely satisfied with how lackluster his character of Anakin was and after making the new trilogy he decided to make a second Clone Wars series to flesh out the character more.

:angry:angry

...I recall reading or hearing somewhere (can't remember where) that Lucas eventually admitted he had screwed up the PT. He said something to the effect that when he sat down to start writing the script for Episode III he only then realized he had too many loose ends to wrap up because he'd spent so much time on other things in Episodes I and II, and that he wouldn't be able to tell the story he really wanted to tell. I sincerely believe that is why he's so "fascinated" with the Clone Wars era--filling in all the missing pieces of Anakin's backstory that should have been in the PT.

 

[Solo4114]

Yep. that'd fit. Honestly, I think he's a great idea man who needs people around him to reign him in and guide his creativity.

 

[The Stig]

The first little while is definitely Andy Kaufman territory. He's daring you to take him at face value. :eek

Once you "get" what he's doing, humor becomes fun. :lol

Think of it like this: he's created a character that, once you get into it, compels you to follow his every word. It's almost hypnotic! :lol

Contrast that to a simple, dry "reading" of his salient points, with no humor or diversion. Bo... ring.

Granted the extreme implied violence is a little... disturbing. :rolleyes

Stick with him though and you'll find it time well spent.

k

I got past the initial part and got sucked in. Great points! Seriously, the fact that the characters have no character speaks volumes about the content of this movie. :thumbsup

 

[Goonie]

The best was the basement scene with the toys lying around amongst the dirt and bones, and the woman tied-up. :confused :lol

 

[phase pistol]

It puts the lotion on its skin. :sleep

 

[PHArchivist]

I'm not catching the TR reference, can u give a hint?

Again, minor and subtle:

Refers to Watto as Kuato

 

[PHArchivist]

Yep. that'd fit. Honestly, I think he's a great idea man who needs people around him to reign him in and guide his creativity.

The most profound point he makes is the rhetorical question:

"What if Lucas had this much (film-making) power when he made the first one (such that NO ONE would question him)?"

 

[Solo4114]

Ahh, definitely missed that at 7am with no coffee this morning.

 

[PHArchivist]

I think the elements I liked best in his videos were when he would use the behind-the-scenes footage to underscore his points. The furtive glances and bull**** artificial compliance offered by those working for and around George were painfully clear to me when I was watching all the documentaries on the DVDs.

I also loved how he used this footage to demonstrate George's extreme inconsistency, lack of grasp of his own work, and flat out contradictions.

I was disappointed though that he did NOT cut old Ben's explanation of the Force immediately after Qui-Gon Jin's BS about mid-eee-clor-eee-whatevers...

The inserted statement of young Lucas discussing how a special effect with no story value is BORING serves masterfully in reflecting how George has simply "lost it"...

 

[neosporing]

I think the elements I liked best in his videos were when he would use the behind-the-scenes footage to underscore his points. The furtive glances and bull**** artificial compliance offered by those working for and around George...

The inserted statement of young Lucas discussing how a special effect with no story value is BORING serves masterfully in reflecting how George has simply "lost it"...

EXACTLY...

more musings from 'conspiracy me'

he clearly has access to some industry standard editing equipment. His 'composited' image's framerate look to me to be driven my 90's 'hardware' and not desktop software. So my lunch money is on the idea that it was done in some kind of post-production house or local news studio editing suite (where they still use 'old' compositing hardware vs desktop software.)

Additionally, i believe his voice to be slowed down a bit. if you have the software, speed his voice up a bit to hear a near normal sounding person.

 

[Qui-Gonzalez]

I think the elements I liked best in his videos were when he would use the behind-the-scenes footage to underscore his points. The furtive glances and bull**** artificial compliance offered by those working for and around George were painfully clear to me when I was watching all the documentaries on the DVDs.

I also loved how he used this footage to demonstrate George's extreme inconsistency, lack of grasp of his own work, and flat out contradictions.

I was disappointed though that he did NOT cut old Ben's explanation of the Force immediately after Qui-Gon Jin's BS about mid-eee-clor-whatevers...

The inserted statement of young Lucas discussing how a special effect with no story value is BORING serves masterfully in reflecting how George has simply "lost it"...

I will say this in regards to most of what is stated about the yes men: Rick MaCallum was the WORST mistake ever.

 

[cayman shen]

God yes. That guy is a *******.

I just watched his Nemesis and Generations reviews. While I don't know Trek as encyclopediatically (that a word?!) as I know SW, I was definitely able to apperciate the points he made and the humor. Looking forward to the Insurrection review, but I'll have to bone up on the movie first since I only saw it once when it was in theaters.

 

[PHArchivist]

"What is it with all these "Ricks"!?"

 

[steveo]

Rick MaCallum was the WORST mistake ever.

While I feel the same way, as a director, I myself would love a Rick MaCallum...someone who does everything I need and want without question. But yes, a film is a COLLABORATIVE effort and a film is only made better by everyone's input, as long as it is good for the story.

 

[Clutch]

Funny stuff, but WAY too long. I could have done without the basement comedy bit as well.

 

[Treadwell]

The basement bit would've been funnier if all we saw of the girl was the pan with her unconscious in the background.

 

[Solo4114]

And therein lies one of the great underlying problems with the entire Star Wars saga and the tale of its development:

The Cult of Lucas.

Lucas himself, while the originator of the series, was not the sole creator for the whole thing. Other people shaped his views, guided his choices, told him no or "we can't do that. We don't have the budget/technology" in many cases, and those limitations forced him to keep pushing his ideas.

But over time, I think people came to believe he was this ultimate storyteller when in fact, his stories are not actually just HIS stories. They're his ideas, assisted by those around him at the time. With the prequels, though, he wanted complete freedom to have his word be law....and we see where it got us. Lucas unfettered is not a great storyteller.


I've said this before and I'll say it again. Lucas is an idea guy. Of his ideas, fully 5/10 are crap. 3/10 are so-so that could be made into something great. And 2/10 are sheer genius that leaves people stunned by their brilliance and creativity. When you have competent people around him and limitations placed on him, most of the outright crap ideas get dropped. Of the 3 so-so ideas, 2 get massaged into something great, and 1 kind of sneaks through but does't really bring down the film. Plus you dramatically increase the number of brilliant ideas that make it up on to the screen.

 

[PHArchivist]

The most profound point he makes is the rhetorical question:

"What if Lucas had this much (film-making) power when he made the first one (such that NO ONE would question him)?"

If you want the answer, read Star Wars: The Annotated Screenplays and The Making of Star Wars.

Combined, these two books offer wonderful (and often scary) insight to GLs unbridled and wacky ideas.

 

[cayman shen]

It's like the rationale behind writing formal poetry (sonnets, triolets, etc) as opposed to free verse: limiting options forces more creativity. Where as in a free verse poem I might put down one word, attempting to force the phrase into a pattern often results in a more interesting choice. Not always, but often. Lucas needed restrictions to force him to both limit and stretch himself.

I love parts of TPM and AOTC, and am a strong supporter of ROTS, despite weaknesses, but man it's a shame it didn't go differently...

 

[PHArchivist]

The simplistic beauty of ANH (I hate that term) is that Lucas had to severely curtail the grandiose story and flood of crazy ideas (like a space-borne, HALO-esque jump from the Falcon down to the Yavin moon).

Had George had his way, ANH would have incorporated an additional location - something between Corouscant and Cloud City - that the heroes had to reach, and from which they had to rescue the damsel. In his original vision, the Death Star (reminder: major cultural icon today) was a merely a secondary element/setting. Though they still would have had to blow it up in the end.

He was forced to axe the Cloud City-like location due to length of the screen-play and complcations in production. Instead, he "resigned" to just combining all that related action into the Death Star itself, such that the battle station became the destination of the rescue and location of ensuing action in his more streamlined script.

And the rest is history, as they say...