Entertainment
The Phantom Menace may be the most hated Star Wars film but it’s the most important-David Roskin-Entertainment – Metro
Happy Star Wars day!
![The Phantom Menace may be the most hated Star Wars film but it’s the most important-David Roskin-Entertainment – Metro](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/SEI_202460128-32ac.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1024)
Star Wars: Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace was released 25 years ago (Picture: Lucasfilm)
No film has quite bore so much expectation as The Phantom Menace, the first entry in the Star Wars franchise in 16 years, since Return of the Jedi.
In the era of streaming and mass content releases, it feels hard to imagine that level of anticipation and expectation.
We were about to get our first glimpse of the long-awaited origin story of Darth Vader, his turn to the dark side, and his largely unexplained relationship with former Master Obi-Wan Kenobi.
However, the token movie crawl largely explained economic strife rather than the expected space opera tones. Between this, special effects that didn’t always feel right, the introduction of the infamous Jar Jar Binks and massively unwarranted dislike for Jake Lloyd’s portrayal of Anakin Skywalker in his boyhood, the film received a lukewarm response – it stands with a Rotten Tomatoes critics score of 52%, the only movie lower in the Skywalker saga is The Rise of Skywalker.
Todd McCarthy, for Variety, wrote that due to the hype, TPM ‘can scarcely help being a letdown on some levels, but it’s too bad that it disappoints on so many.’ and correctly predicted its box office success, raking in over $1 billion (and counting), from a $115 million budget. Despite financial success, the film still found itself hated by a faction of fans and ultimately being considered skippable and a mark on the legacy of Star Wars.
For many fans, especially millennials, in childhood at the time of the film’s release, TPM is loved. Speaking to Metro.co.uk, fan Luís, 36, says he has a soft spot for it, having been able to experience Star Wars in the cinema with his family after hearing stories from his parents of their viewings of the Original Trilogy. He appreciates it more as an adult and like many, became enthralled with Darth Maul.
Darth Maul, portrayed chillingly by Ray Park, decked out in menacing makeup, made a long-lasting legacy with three lines of dialogue. For children, he instilled fear and intimidation, whilst remaining indescribably cool.
For adults, he was much of the same. This, all before the reveal of his double-bladed lightsaber, like nothing we’d conceived before, which opened the doors to many more intricate designs we’ve seen on screen since, like Kylo Ren’s saber with a hilt, and those used by Inquisitors, and too opened the door for more merchandising.
Vacha, 41, found himself collecting Darth Maul merchandise since Christmas 1999 and was immediately attracted to Maul’s intimidating red and black design. ‘That design set the tone for so many things in the Prequels, and showed that Star Wars can incorporate such an ornate, radical design,’ he told Metro.co.uk.
The final face-off, Maul against Master and Padawan, Qui Gonn Jin and Obi-Wan Kenobi, was unlike any lightsaber battle seen before, remaining uncontested as the best fight scene in the franchise. Jedi and Sith face off in what is more like a dance to be viewed on stage, bolstered by intense choreography and masterful camera work. All previous lightsaber battles, usually focused on much other than the warfare itself, feel clunky in comparison.
Ray Park stole the show with his chilling role (Picture: Lucasfilm)
The scene is tense, the duel teased throughout the film until it explodes, and leaves us with an unexpected character death (how could this Jedi master die in the first of three films?!)
Throw in John Williams Duel of the Fates (one of the finest pieces of music featured in the franchise and cinema as a whole) and now this battle feels like it could shift heaven and hell – there’s a reason why the upcoming spinoff, The Acolyte, has made headlines with claims of a battle that will make this pale in comparison.
‘At the time, many were fairly disappointed in Darth Maul proving so quickly dispatched, considering the hype around him.’ says Timothy Stephens, critic and editor for The Spool and writer at Connecticut College. He further notes that plenty of TPM has been woven into the fabric of later Star Wars hits, and Maul is no exception.
Maul’s first reappearance was return in The Clone Wars, having scarcely survived being sliced clean in two by Obi-Wan, and slowly revealing his wits and manipulation tactics, culminating in a terrifying rise to power and an intense battle against Ahsoka Tano during the Siege of Mandalore in the final season- arguably the high point of the show’s long run. We had more to see, with his brief cameo in Solo: A Star Wars Story, however, due to its poor performance, it’s unlikely we’ll see the conclusion of that story anytime soon.
Ahmed Best played Jar Jar Binks (Picture: Lucasfilm)
And his nemesis, Obi-Wan has remained a stalwart of the franchise ever since Alec Guinness’ portrayal in A New Hope, however, he is now quite synonymous with Ewan McGregor’s younger performance. McGregor’s performance in the Prequels is quite possibly the best in the franchise, culminating in the brutal, raw, unrestrained battle with Anakin on Mustafar. Finally, he returned in the 2022 mini-series Obi-Wan Kenobi, whilst reviews were largely favourable, some were mixed, in its clear attempt to garner streams by dosing it in nostalgia, however McGregor, of course, recieved rave reviews.
And in retrospect, Jar Jar Binks, like a great deal of Star Wars, was quite camp and fun, if only a little too much at times. Much like the villainy briefly explored around podracing, and the whole race itself, Jar Jar breathed a playfulness and whimsy into a franchise that benefited from a splash of comedy amongst the dark undertones. In a universe where anything seems possible, perhaps we should celebrate the outcast and embrace the absurd a touch more. While he’s yet to return, Ahmed Best (actor of Jar Jar) played a separate role in The Mandalorian, to huge critical acclaim and praise.
TPM is at its core, fun. The galaxy we explore here is colourful and full of life, and yes, the battle for Naboo may be truly dated in terms of its styling, feeling like it takes place on an unreasonably bright screensaver. Still, the verdant surroundings pushed Star Wars into a new frontier.
Unlike much more recent Star Wars media (with a few notable exceptions) TPM didn’t shy away from bold and innovative designs of aliens, pushing 90’s technology to the absolute limits at every moment, with gungans, neimoidians and plenty of interesting characters on a much more alive Tattooine than we were used to and have seen since.
The film had a mixed reaction from Star Wars fans (Picture: Lucasfilm)
TPM’s exposition and focus on what may have seemed uninteresting lore laid important groundwork for the rest of the trilogy and enabled the birth of multiple animated franchises, even resulting in a spinoff of a spinoff (The Bad Batch, spin-off of The Clone Wars) and provided the basis for countless, intricate stories that never would have held footing in the prior understanding of what Star Wars is and could be.
The former Editorial Director of Digital Media for Marvel Entertainment, Benjamin Morse echoes this sentiment. ‘25 years later, the idea of taking existing intellectual property, no matter how beloved or revered, and creating new iterations that add to the mythology, is widespread across all forms of media.’ he believes TPM began the approach to retroactive storytelling we see as commonplace today.
TPM was a big swing, a huge one, for the franchise. Dr Tom Hemingway, Teaching Fellow in Film and Television Studies, University of Warwick, describes the film as ‘still weird and undeniably original’, recognising that with its faults, ‘it’s the vision of a creator with a story to tell.’
Without it and the path laid, we wouldn’t have a film and seven incredible seasons of The Clone Wars, without which we’d be missing arguably the best character in the franchise, Ahsoka Tano. Ahsoka, much like TPM, elicited strong feelings with her debut and is now a clear representative of modern Star Wars.
May the 4th be with you all (Picture: Lucasfilm)
As a professor, Morse now sees students devoted to prequel trilogies not seen in his generation. Many of the risks taken in TPM have paid off and solidified Star Wars’ legacy yet again. To look at recent years, with the return of Ahmed Best, Kenobi gracing our screens once more, and Anakin Skywalker playing a major part in Ahsoka, we’re soon to see neimoidians returning in The Acolyte. Hemingway believes that the Prequels stand taller, now we’ve seen multiple other films in the franchise release to sombre acclaim, and others exist in limbo with long gestation periods.
Matt Zoller Seitz, for RogerEbert, writes that he originally found the film lifeless, comparing it to a bricked phone that seems functional from far away. But now, on reflection of today’s Hollywood landscape, where we see not the vision of directors but the vision of megacorporations, he holds a fondness for the Prequels – seeing them as ‘a product of a singular consciousness with a definitive artistic signature.’.
The Phantom Menace seems to age well, how much of that has been our nostalgia weaponised and capitalised on by Disney? It’s hard to say, but it’s clear at this stage, that we’re no longer craving simply more exposition of the Original Trilogy, the history and lore of the world given to us in the Prequels is oft our favourite part of the Galaxy far, far away.
Got a story?
If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.
Entertainment – MetroRead More