Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace

Name: Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace
Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Fantasy
Released: May 19, 1999
Duration: 136 min
Rating: 51
Cast: Ewan McGregor, Liam Neeson, Natalie Portman

1999

METASCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 36 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 1751 Ratings

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6.1	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 1751 Ratings

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Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (Trailer 1)

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Movie Details & Credits

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation | Release Date: May 19, 1999 | PG

Starring: Ewan McGregor, Liam Neeson, Natalie Portman

Summary: Stranded on the desert planet Tatooine after rescuing young Queen Amidala from the impending invasion of Naboo, Jedi apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi and his Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn discover nine-year-old Anakin Skywalker, a young slave unusually strong in the Force. Anakin wins a thrilling Podrace and with it his freedom as he leaves his home toStranded on the desert planet Tatooine after rescuing young Queen Amidala from the impending invasion of Naboo, Jedi apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi and his Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn discover nine-year-old Anakin Skywalker, a young slave unusually strong in the Force. Anakin wins a thrilling Podrace and with it his freedom as he leaves his home to be trained as a Jedi. The heroes return to Naboo where Anakin and the Queen face massive invasion forces while the two Jedi contend with a deadly foe named Darth Maul. Only then do they realize the invasion is merely the first step in a sinister scheme by the re-emergent forces of darkness known as the Sith.… Expand

Director: George Lucas

Genre(s): Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Fantasy

Rating: PG

Runtime: 136 min

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Metascore

Positive:

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Critic Reviews

Shawn Levy

Phantom may not be the best entry in the series, but it's the most technically accomplished, and it makes you as hungry for the next film as you've been for this one.

James Berardinelli

Not a masterpiece, but it's an example of how imagination, craftsmanship, and technological bravura can fashion superior entertainment out of something that is far from flawless. Read full review

Susan Wloszczyna

Let the killjoys squawk. Lucas has proved he has the Naboos to pull it off again. And again. And again. Read full review

Todd McCarthy

Phantom is easily consumable eye candy, but it contains no nutrients for the heart or mind. Read full review

Film.com Sean Means

It earns an "Incomplete'' -- because we won't know the results until we see Lucas' next chapter.

Film.com John Hartl

Story. Character. They used to mean something to George Lucas. Read full review

Calum Marsh

It's difficult to discern precisely where this all went wrong, and even more difficult to speculate about possible improvements. Read full review

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User Reviews

MovieLonely94

Nov 1, 2010

George Lucas's epic masterpiece before the dark times.

47 of 117 users found this helpful4770

Spaceacer2012

Jun 19, 2018

I saw this movie in the theater on opening day. It was before the review bashing began. I enjoyed it alot. Some of the kid stuff in the middle was cheesy, dragged a bit, but come on, it was a fun ride and I enjoyed the experience. I bought this on VHS, then DVD and now on Blue Ray. I didn'tI saw this movie in the theater on opening day. It was before the review bashing began. I enjoyed it alot. Some of the kid stuff in the middle was cheesy, dragged a bit, but come on, it was a fun ride and I enjoyed the experience. I bought this on VHS, then DVD and now on Blue Ray. I didn't have a problem with Jar Jar. I would've loved to have seen George's versions of episodes 7, 8 and 9. Too bad it won't happen. Still, I never jumped on the prequel hate band wagon. I enjoyed them and wish George could have completed his Star Wars vision. But, we got 6 Star Wars movies from George, or 7 if you count Clone Wars. Many thanks George, I appreciate the many great memories...… Expand

2 of 6 users found this helpful24

leofromthedark

Dec 27, 2016

To this day still of the more beautiful movies I've watched, a true escape from reality. I've always viewed this as the Renaissance of Star Wars. People have often criticised the dialogue as 'wooden' but I think George did a great job extinguishing it from the previous entries. Boasting anTo this day still of the more beautiful movies I've watched, a true escape from reality. I've always viewed this as the Renaissance of Star Wars. People have often criticised the dialogue as 'wooden' but I think George did a great job extinguishing it from the previous entries. Boasting an excellent soundtrack and iconic battle between Darth Maul, Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi. Only cons I can say about this movie would the heavy feature of Jar-Jar in it, though I don't mind the character, felt a bit too much at times. The podrace always dragged on a bit and was a bit of bore. Despite that, Phantom Menace will always remain a classic and mainstay on my shelf as the years go by.… Expand

10 of 14 users found this helpful104

koothrappali

Feb 1, 2016

Episódio I é de longe o pior e mais desnecessário filme de toda a franquia Star Wars. E quando eu falo desnecessário, eu quero dizer que: se você pular esse filme, não vai fazer a mínima diferença no entendimento da história. A única coisa realmente importante que acontece nesse filme é aEpisódio I é de longe o pior e mais desnecessário filme de toda a franquia Star Wars. E quando eu falo desnecessário, eu quero dizer que: se você pular esse filme, não vai fazer a mínima diferença no entendimento da história. A única coisa realmente importante que acontece nesse filme é a introdução do Anakin/Darth Vader e da melhor dupla de robôs que existe na história do cinema, porque de resto, o filme é uma verdadeira desgraça. E não podemos esquecer de mencionar o personagem mais chato que eu já vi em toda a minha vida: Jar Jar Binks. C-3PO e R2-D2, esse 6 são dedicados a vocês.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

kiroarama

Jun 29, 2020

Not the greatest star wars movie, the special effects have aged really poorly and when the majority of the movie are green screens and many characters (including some of the main characters) are CGI, there is a big disconnection between the viewer and the world their are trying to create.Not the greatest star wars movie, the special effects have aged really poorly and when the majority of the movie are green screens and many characters (including some of the main characters) are CGI, there is a big disconnection between the viewer and the world their are trying to create.
The dialog is odd, almost nobody speaks like (normal) people.
Jar Jar is probably my biggest question mark in this film, I just don't understand his purpose.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

FlickFreaks83

Dec 11, 2015

Things get off to a cold start with the much parodied credit crawl. Where Episode IV goes for the in media res jugular – “It is a time of civil war!” - problems in Episode I are not quite so pressing. Events are “alarming” perhaps, there’s certainly plenty of “turmoil” and we all knowThings get off to a cold start with the much parodied credit crawl. Where Episode IV goes for the in media res jugular – “It is a time of civil war!” - problems in Episode I are not quite so pressing. Events are “alarming” perhaps, there’s certainly plenty of “turmoil” and we all know “taxation” is a thorny issue but the context is clear: like Anakin, this conflict still has some growing up to do. The menace is still phantom.

An inexcusably lazy establishing shot - the Jedi shuttle cruises past the camera - and lethargic opening sequence hardly help pick up the pace. In A New Hope’s famous opening salvo the bad guys fire first and ask questions later, in The Phantom Menace the Jedi are ushered into a meeting room while the semi-bad guys go into video conference with Darth Sidious about whether an invasion of Naboo is legal or not.

This arse-numbing inactivity recurs throughout The Phantom Menace: because the battles lines are not yet drawn and sides are still being taken there is always much explaining to be done, characters are forever having update meetings or being introduced to one another. The plot machinery lumbers through the gears, hampered further by the strange declarative dialogue and by an apparent disinterest in making these scenes visually interesting.

Critics complained that Lucas had got yet worse at writing for humans in the twenty-two years since Star Wars, in fact it is simply that, beyond Alec Guinness talking about the force, the plot of A New Hope requires no exposition - The Phantom Menace on the other hand is all explanation, much of it, like the midichlorians, unwanted and unnecessary. (To be fair, Lucas waited a generation before spoiling his enigmatic myth with background material, the Wachowski’s jumped that particular shark in film two.)

And yet there is still much pleasure to be had watching our full-blown Jedi guides in action. Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan quickly discover that things are mercifully worse than the credit crawl predicted, a robot invasion force is being unpacked, Naboo is under actual threat. Sadly, we never actually see any of the massacres that are apparently taking place, instead we land somewhere that looks suspiciously like the woods near Leavesden and meet one of the galaxy’s more annoying comedy sidekicks (although not as annoying as fans frantically searching for a scapegoat would have you believe). After all, this film has at its hero a small boy – it cannot visit the dark 12A places.

Lucas probably imagined that Anakin’s goodbye would be the real heartbreaker but he couldn’t write it and Jake Lloyd couldn’t act it. The irony is, we don’t need it. Given where he is destined to end up, Anakin doesn’t need to be innocence personified when we meet him. Indeed, we are told that the kid is too old to be trained and that the Jedi council fear him, facts that are utterly lost on an audience who see only a bowl-headed brat.

Despite the unspeakable Yoda puppet, more endless politicking and some iffy CGI, the arrival on Coruscant and the subsequent battle of Naboo provide most of the lasting excuses for forgiving The Phantom Menace. At last there are new worlds to explore, new creatures to encounter and new wrinkles to the Star Wars myth. On Coruscant we are free to marvel at the work of Doug Chiang’s design department - every bit the equal of the original trilogy. And during the saga’s very best lightsaber battle John Williams adds another classic theme (Duel Of The Fates) to his masterpiece. The final act is a mess of conflicting ideas and we are forced to root for a tweenage space pilot but you certainly can’t fault it for pace.

The most disappointing film of all time it remains, but with the galaxy of hype now far, far away Menace seems much less of a public menace than it did in the summer of 1999. Alongside the obvious action highs, the ability to consume the saga in a single.… Expand

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

Bigmouth123

Jan 4, 2020

Horrible. Horrendous acting, dont get me started on Anakins horrible acting. Jar jar was even better than him tbh.

0 of 5 users found this helpful05

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1	#1 Most Discussed Movie of 1999
3	#3 Most Shared Movie of 1999