Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999)

Starring – Liam Neeson; Ewan McGregor; Natalie Portman; Jake Lloyd & Pernilla August

Director – George Lucas

MPAA – Rated PG for sci-fi action/violence.

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away… I have to admit that when those words appeared on the screen, my heart skipped a beat, even if only ever so slightly. By the time the opening setup credits had finished, I was all set for a good time. After seeing Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, I was left wondering if I had seen the same movie that many film critics had seemingly taken great delight in eviscerating in the weeks leading up to its release. I certainly didn’t experience the colossal disappointment that many a critic were predicting that fans would suffer. Nor did it appear as though anyone else in the sold-out theater where I saw The Phantom Menace was overly underwhelmed; at least, not judging by the applause that erupted when the film’s end credits started to roll. Although, I suppose that could have been from just being relieved that the worst 2 hours of their lives was now over. Call me crazy, but I don’t think so. Let me set the record straight on some of the more prominent criticisms of this film. 1) That director George Lucas went a little crazy on the computer generated aspects of the film. To be honest, the CGI was so subtle that I hardly noticed most of it. Since 95% of the scenes were in some way digitally enhanced, you would expect that it might get a little overwhelming. Much of it involved scenes where some element of the background had been enhanced in some small way. As for the big scenes such as the dramatic battle between the Gungans and legions of battle droids, the digital effects were so well done that I didn’t even notice that everything on screen was CGI. Criticism number 2 — that the story was seriously lacking. Admittedly The Phantom Menace is a setup for the next two films. But the way in which Lucas sets up these cliffhangers that will be resolved in the next films is brilliant. There are also more than a few winks and nudges directed to those who are diehard fans of the movie. 3) The computer generated character of Jar Jar Binks is really annoying. At first he kind of is a bit, but I found that he grew on me as the movie progressed. He also had some of the funniest lines in the film, provided you could understand them. Of my complaints that is the biggest. Jar Jar’s whole race spoke in a backwards dialect that had its funny moments, but in most cases you really had to work to make out what they were saying. 4) Jake Lloyd, who plays young Anakin Skywalker, can’t act. There are a few brief moments in the film where it is painfully obvious why Lloyd has gained the nickname of Mannequin Skywalker among some. To be perfectly honest, he wasn’t half bad in most of the movie; which is a credit to Lucas for keeping Lloyd’s dramatic scenes to a bare minimum. But I certainly won’t miss Lloyd in the next film. To be quite frank, I found most criticism directed toward this film was blown way out of proportion. I guess that is in keeping with everything surrounding The Phantom Menace.

Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, for those of you who are just emerging from your caves, is the first in a trilogy of prequels to the original Star Wars saga. This trilogy concerns how young Anakin Skywalker eventually grew up to be the evil Darth Vader (the father of Star Wars’ Luke and Leia). The Phantom Menace begins with a trade dispute between the Trade Federation and the planet of Naboo. The Trade Federation sets up a blockade of Naboo to force them into submission. The Galactic Republic dispatches two Jedi knights, Qui-Gon Jin (Liam Neeson) and his apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor), to try to settle the dispute. Once there, the two Jedis realize that there is something more sinister going on that just a trade dispute. The mysterious Darth Sidious (even more mysteriously uncredited) is secretly pulling the strings of the Trade Federation armies encircling Naboo. He orders his men to commence the capture of the peaceful planet. Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan manage to rescue the ruler of Naboo, Queen Amidala (Natalie Portman), from the clutches of the Trade Federation’s army, and whisk her off to the planet of Coruscant where she can plead her planet’s case before the ruling Republic’s Senate. On their way, their ship experiences engine trouble and they have to land on the desert world on Tatooine for repairs. There, Qui-Gon and Amidala meet a young boy named Anakin Skywalker (Jake Lloyd) who seems to have a great connection with the Force. The rest of the film is more of less the Jedi’s and Amidala’s attempts to free her planet.

Much of The Phantom Menace is a setup for Episodes II and III. A good portion of the movie is spent introducing the characters and their forthcoming intertwining relationships which we all know will eventually happen. At least those of us who have seen the first three films know what is going to eventually happen. Episode I gives us a sneak peak of sorts into what we know these characters are to become. For instance, we get the first hints of the romance that is to blossom between the Anakin and Amidala (Luke and Leia’s parents). We also start to see the rise to power of the Senator from Naboo named Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) who would later become Darth Vader’s master, Emperor Palpatine. We also have the first indications from the Jedi council, headed by Yoda (Frank Oz) and Mace Windu (Samuel L. Jackson) that while Anakin may be strong with the Force, his future might be less than rosy. All of this, and other subtle hints, will be to the great delight of Star Wars fans. Those who have never seen the original trilogy or, haven’t seen it in a while, may miss out on some of the more subtle comments and hints. Lucas seems to have made The Phantom Menace as a teaser of sorts for what is to come, and in that respect he has done it brilliantly. The hints and anticipation about what is to come has left me wishing that I didn’t have to wait three more years to see the next chapter.

Aside from the setup for Episodes II and III, The Phantom Menace does stand up on its own. The plot may be a bit light in places, but I certainly never noticed. I was so caught up in the spectacle of it all. Visually, The Phantom Menace is one breathtaking movie. The computer technology available today has allowed Lucas’ technical wizards to create whatever magical worlds that Lucas can dream up. Particularly staggering were the capital city on Naboo which featured grand waterfalls and ornate architecture. The underwater sequences involving Jar Jar Binks’ totally submersed home are as stunning as anything you are ever likely to see on film. And of course, the final battle involving the thousands of battle droids is something that never could have been created without the use of computers.

As for the acting; I’ve already said my piece on Jake Lloyd. Liam Neeson displays the same abundant talent in this film as he did in Schindler’s List. He, along with Natalie Portman, is the heart of the movie. Portman is incredible as the young Queen with the weight of an entire planet on her shoulders. I feel obligated to note that when you take away the Queen’s strange outfits and even stranger makeup, Natalie Portman is absolutely stunning. I realize that she was cast for her enormous talent as much as anything else, but her classic beauty made me think that she was born to play a queen. I was a bit disappointed that Ewan McGregor and Samuel J. Jackson didn’t have bigger roles in this film. I was especially shocked at how little screen time McGregor got. But both be and Jackson gave great performances in their roles. I also would have liked to see a bit more of Darth Maul (Ray Park) who was other character that fit into the under used category. The cast as a whole was an amazing one especially considering most of them were acting with blue screens and not real actors at any given time. And even those that weren’t quite what they should have been (anyone who sees the film will know who they are) didn’t detract from the movie. In fact, very little detracted from the movie; and if something did, you could be sure that some other nifty thing would come along to take your mind off any little bumps in the road. George Lucas threw enough small touches and tiny details in to make up for any deficiencies that may have arisen.

Sure there were things that probably could have been done differently. I’ve never seen a perfect movie yet, so I didn’t expect this one to be flawless either. Lucas has made a fun little movie that all ages will be able to enjoy. It may not be quite as good as Star Wars, but it certainly stands up well to The Empire Strikes Back and Return Of The Jedi. I only had one major complaint as I walked out of this film — that I have to wait 3 more years to see the next one. That’s the sort of complaint I wish I had with every film.

10/10 – Well worth the 16 year wait.

The Mummy (1999)

Starring – Brendan Fraser; Rachel Weisz; John Hannah; Arnold Voslo & Kevin J. O’Connor

Director – Stephen Sommers

MPAA – Rated PG-13 for pervasive adventure violence and some partial nudity.

Brendan Fraser stars in this remake of the 1930’s Boris Karloff classic. This new mummy is not only a tribute to the original but it is very blatantly paying homage to Raiders Of The Lost Ark as well. Brendan Fraser is no Indiana Jones, but he comes pretty darn close. I’ll admit right off the bat that I wasn’t expecting a whole lot out of The Mummy. I figured on a few nifty special effects and not a whole lot else. I was in for quite the surprise. The Mummy is a whole lot of fun, and will probably rank as one of my favorite movies of the year. Fraser plays a former soldier turned fortune hunter who, in no small way, resembles a certain character that Harrison Ford made famous – although, Fraser’s character doesn’t have a bullwhip. Rick O’Connell (Fraser) is one of the few people who has ever seen the Lost City of the Dead in Egypt. It is reported to contain an immense treasure and volumes of great knowledge. He is hired by a librarian (Rachel Weisz) and her brother (John Hannah) to take them to the city so that they can try to find its hidden treasures. Once there they run into a bit more than they bargained for. They inadvertently bring back to life a mummy which has been sealed in the ancient city along with a very bad curse. Basically, once this mummy gets reawakened he isn’t a real nice guy. And once he gets up to full strength he will be able to control the world. By the way, the way he gains strength is to replace the long rotted parts of his body with new flesh from living victims. The mummy has as his command the power to create plagues of biblical proportion, such as locusts, making the water turn to blood and fireballs falling from the sky. All and all, he isn’t the sort of fellow that you want to be enemies with.

The plot of the movie is a little on the popcorn side of things. It is your typical light summer fare. This is not a difficult movie to follow, yet on the other hand there are enough spills, thrills and one-liners to keep the audience thoroughly entertained throughout the movie. I was not really expecting a whole lot in either the dialogue or acting portions of this movie. On both counts I was happily wrong. This isn’t Oscar-caliber dialogue mind you, but it is witty and often pretty funny. I found most of it was designed to give the movie that Indiana Jones feel. Even in the worst of situations, someone seemingly had a wisecrack. The acting was very impressive. Brendan Fraser has never really been in a movie that ever really impressed the heck out of me. This time he did. Fraser comes off as a young Harrison Ford in this movie. He might not have quite as much talent as Ford, but he certainly has the charisma and screen presence to make up for it. Quite honestly, he is no slouch in the talent department either. Rachel Weisz does a fine job as the take charge librarian who eventually falls for Fraser’s character. The actor who I enjoyed the most was John Hannah as Weisz’s somewhat roguish brother. His character was pure comic relief, and Hannah delivered all the way. Arnold Voslo was also good playing the mummy; although his scenes were somewhat limited because of the nature of his character.

The reason Voslo’s scenes were limited was the fact that for a good portion of the movie, the mummy was purely a computer generated character. He was more or less a walking skeleton with a little rotting flesh on him. Although there was more and more meat on him as the movie progressed and the body count mounted. The CGI Mummy was probably the most impressive CGI character that I have ever seen in a movie. I would say it will be a long time before the effects were surpassed if it weren’t for the fact that Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace wasn’t being released a week and a half after this film. The mummy itself wasn’t the only impressive computer generated horror in this film. Special effects wizards also used computers to generate a very impressive killer windstorm as well as the mummy’s undead henchmen. One of the neatest touches was the CGI flesh eating beetles — I’ll say no more.

If, when you think of The Mummy, you picture a slow moving creature wrapped in gauze chasing people at speeds approaching 1/4 of a mile per hour, you are in for a shock. This new Mummy is slick, scary and a whole lot of fun. The Mummy might not go down as a “classic” like the original (although it wouldn’t surprise me if it did), but it will provide you with one of the most enjoyable movie experiences that you are likely to see in a summer film.

9/10

Tarzan And The Lost City (1998)

Starring – Casper Van Dien; Jane March; Steven Waddington; Winston Ntshona & Rapulana Seiphemo

Director – Carl Schenkel

MPAA – Rated PG for adventure violence.

The only two really good things that I can say about Tarzan And The Lost City are as follows: Jane March was very cute as Jane, and the movie was thankfully under 90 minutes in length. If you haven’t already figured it out, I didn’t like this movie very much.

The plot was boring and contrived to the extreme. Tarzan (Casper Van Dien) has now left the jungle and living in civilized society. He is just days away from his impending marriage to Jane, played by the aptly named Jane March. Back in his former home of Africa, a group of looters has found the key to locating a lost city. (Mind you I never really figured out why they actually wanted to find this city.) Anyway, Tarzan’s old jungle friend appears to him in a vision. Tarzan realizes that he must return to Africa to help stop the bad guys from finding the lost city. He leaves Jane (his first mistake, in my opinion) and travels to Africa. Of course, Jane is hot on her ape man’s heals. The two of them are reunited in Africa where they do battle with the bad guys. Sound like a dumb explanation of the plot? It’s actually an improvement over the real thing.

The acting is just plain awful. I’m not quite sure what Casper Van Dien was doing in this film, but it wasn’t acting. Jane March wasn’t a heck of a lot better, but at least she is easy on the eyes. Compounding the bad acting was the fact that in many places the dialogue had obviously been re-recorded, and I’ve seen better dubbing in some old Bruce Lee movies. Added to the sound problems was the cinematography. This film was filled with beautiful African scenery. But the panoramic scenery shots looked overexposed to me. Quite frankly, I think you could probably do a better job capturing the beauty of Africa with a camcorder than this bunch did with professional film equipment.

Then we have the special effects. “Special effects in a Tarzan movie?” you are no doubt asking yourself? Yes friends, the writers injected some very out of place supernatural elements into the story. Probably for the sake of using CGI, since it did nothing but hurt the story. In most parts, they weren’t bad, just nothing special, and more than a little on the hokey side. This changes when we get to the ridiculous climax of this movie. The grand finale’s special effects went right into the toilet at that point. It almost looked like they had run out of money. These effects were of noticeably lower quality than those in the rest of the film and looked like something in an amateur video production.

I took one lesson away from watching Tarzan And The Lost City — ape men and bones that morph into skeletal warriors don’t mix. Stay far away from this version of Tarzan.

4/10 – Skip it.