Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace 3D

[Brian in Mesa]

Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace 3D

Release Date: February 10, 2012 (3D theaters)
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Director: George Lucas
Screenwriter: George Lucas
Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
MPAA Rating: PG (for sci-fi action/violence)
Website: StarWars.com

Starring: Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Jake Lloyd, Ian McDiarmid, Pernilla August, Ahmed Best, Anthony Daniels, Ray Park, Kenny Baker, Frank Oz

Plot Summary: Set against the thrilling and exotic backdrop of a "galaxy far, far away," "Star Wars" is perfectly suited to the immersive 3D theatrical experience, and "Episode I" delivers some of the Saga's most stunning and spectacular sequences - from the Naboo invasion to the Tatooine Podraces to the climactic lightsaber battle between Darth Maul and the Jedi. Supervised by Industrial Light & Magic, the meticulous conversion is being done with utmost respect for the source material, and with a keen eye for both technological considerations and artistic intentions.

Naboo, a peaceful planet governed by the young, elusive, but wise Queen Amidala (Portman), is being threatened by the corrupt Trade Federation, puppets of an evil Sith lord and his terrifying apprentice, Darth Maul (Park). The seemingly benevolent Senator Palpatine (McDiarmid) is chief advisor to the queen, though there are suspicions surrounding him. Jedi knights Qui-Gon Jinn (Neeson) and Obi-Wan Kenobi (McGregor) are called on to intervene in the trade disputes. Along the way, they acquire an apprentice of their own in the form of young prodigal Anakin Skywalker (Lloyd). They also encounter Jar Jar Binks (Best), a goofy, lizardlike creature who has been banished from his underwater world for his clumsiness. When the Trade Federation launches an attack on Naboo, the queen and her allies must battle hordes of robot troopers while Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan face off against the sinister Darth Maul.

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[Cardinals.Ken]

My favorite among the prequels. I saw it twice in the theatre during it's original release, and I own it on DVD.

However, I have no motivation to see it again in 3D. Why hasn't this fad faded?

 

[Cheesebeef]

one of the worst 3D releases i've ever seen (only saw it because my little brother wanted to see it). it added pretty much NOTHING to the experience. just an awful, awful movie.

 

[azsouthendzone]

one of the worst 3D releases i've ever seen (only saw it because my little brother wanted to see it). it added pretty much NOTHING to the experience. just an awful, awful movie.

Agree 100%. The 3D was a sham. I took off my glasses several times to see if there was a difference between wearing them or not wearing them and there wasn't most of the time. Also, seeing this after a few years, removed from the hype machine surrounding it, I realized for the first time how completely terrible this movie is. The dialogue is so bad, and I am not even talking about the pathetic lines from Natalie Portman and Jake Lloyd. The constant back and forth political mumbo jumbo, midi chlorians, was such filler, it was actually really sad to see how disinterested my kids were. Outside of the pod race and the last 20 minutes, the movie is a complete waste of time. I always thought part 2 was the worst one, but I have to rethink it now. The one positive is that I thought about purchasing a 3D TV last week, and after seeing that piece of crap I have changed my mind.

 

[Covert Rain]

Agree 100%. The 3D was a sham. I took off my glasses several times to see if there was a difference between wearing them or not wearing them and there wasn't most of the time.

That is a sign of not so good 3D. When it's really good 3D you can see the difference when removing the glasses.

Also, seeing this after a few years, removed from the hype machine surrounding it, I realized for the first time how completely terrible this movie is. The dialogue is so bad, and I am not even talking about the pathetic lines from Natalie Portman and Jake Lloyd. The constant back and forth political mumbo jumbo, midi chlorians, was such filler, it was actually really sad to see how disinterested my kids were. Outside of the pod race and the last 20 minutes, the movie is a complete waste of time. I always thought part 2 was the worst one, but I have to rethink it now. The one positive is that I thought about purchasing a 3D TV last week, and after seeing that piece of crap I have changed my mind.

I don't hate it as much as others but it was by far the weakest of the films and it feels less like Star Wars to me versus the other films. The POD race and the Darth Maul are enough to get me to watch the film.

Every Star Wars film has some pretty poor dialog but this one stands out because you have so horrible acting to boot (Jake Lloyd). Plus they have the ridiculous Gungans and that fight seen with the droids feels cartoony.

My kids love this movie for some reason....I guess much like kids loved Return of the Jedi but die hard fans hated the "teddy bears".

I personally don't HATE any of the Star Wars films.....it's freaking Star Wars. However, this one comes damn close.

 

[D-Dogg]

Agree 100%. The 3D was a sham. I took off my glasses several times to see if there was a difference between wearing them or not wearing them and there wasn't most of the time. Also, seeing this after a few years, removed from the hype machine surrounding it, I realized for the first time how completely terrible this movie is. The dialogue is so bad, and I am not even talking about the pathetic lines from Natalie Portman and Jake Lloyd. The constant back and forth political mumbo jumbo, midi chlorians, was such filler, it was actually really sad to see how disinterested my kids were. Outside of the pod race and the last 20 minutes, the movie is a complete waste of time. I always thought part 2 was the worst one, but I have to rethink it now. The one positive is that I thought about purchasing a 3D TV last week, and after seeing that piece of crap I have changed my mind.

Part 2 was ok...I didn't even see it in the theater though, and long after it came out on DVD to watch it though, because this first movie was so asstastic it hurt.

My kids want to go see it in 3D and meesa wansa bang meesa head on a rock.

 

[azsouthendzone]

Just watched AOTC and it is basically Gone With the Wind compared to TPM. Not great, but TPM is really, really bad.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Just watched AOTC and it is basically Gone With the Wind compared to TPM. Not great, but TPM is really, really bad.

yeah... at least the stuff with Obi-Wan and the Clones and Count Dooku was interesting in ATOC, but ALL of the stuff with Anakin, save the scene where he goes to find his mother and kill all the sand people was beyond awful.

 

[D-Dogg]

Watched it today. It was fun with the kids - it was better watching it knowing how bad it is than it was watching it in the theater the first time not knowing what claptrap I was about to see.

 

[PortlandCardFan]

That was 3D? what shamockary!!! Georgie is luck I have two kids that weren't old enough to see the movies on the big screen, otherwise he wouldn't be getting my money for this sorry effort of 3D effects!!!

 

[Bada0Bing]

I watched this film (not the 3D version) for the first time since seeing it in the theater back in the day.

I made an effort to find some things to like about it. There were some sick fight scenes, Liam Neeson was really good and so was Ewan McGregor, and the jedi council was pretty cool.

It was much more enjoyable this time around.

 

[Covert Rain]

I watched this film (not the 3D version) for the first time since seeing it in the theater back in the day.

I made an effort to find some things to like about it. There were some sick fight scenes, Liam Neeson was really good and so was Ewan McGregor, and the jedi council was pretty cool.

It was much more enjoyable this time around.

Never liked the movie but yet some of my favorite characters came out of that movie.

 

[Chaplin]

I watched this film (not the 3D version) for the first time since seeing it in the theater back in the day.

I made an effort to find some things to like about it. There were some sick fight scenes, Liam Neeson was really good and so was Ewan McGregor, and the jedi council was pretty cool.

It was much more enjoyable this time around.

I watched it again recently, and other than the jedi council, I pretty much disagree with you. Neeson and McGregor had a HORRIBLE script to work with, Darth Maul wasn't as bad ass as they wanted you to believe and the acting across the board, especially from Natalie Portman and Jake Lloyd is unbearable.

And I didn't even mention the racist character stereotypes with JarJar and the Federation.

 

[Covert Rain]

\

I watched it again recently, and other than the jedi council, I pretty much disagree with you. Neeson and McGregor had a HORRIBLE script to work with, Darth Maul wasn't as bad ass as they wanted you to believe and the acting across the board, especially from Natalie Portman and Jake Lloyd is unbearable.

And I didn't even mention the racist character stereotypes with JarJar and the Federation.

I don't think he was commenting on the quality of the script. I agree with you. It was horribly bad. I also agree with Lloyd being unbearably bad. However, he is right that Neeson and McGregor's characters are two of the most popular characters with fans. So is Darth Maul.

That actually speaks volumes to me that those characters can be huge fan favorites despite the weak script the actors had to work with.

 

[Chaplin]

\


I don't think he was commenting on the quality of the script. I agree with you. It was horribly bad. I also agree with Lloyd being unbearably bad. However, he is right that Neeson and McGregor's characters are two of the most popular characters with fans. So is Darth Maul.

That actually speaks volumes to me that those characters can be huge fan favorites despite the weak script the actors had to work with.

The most cringeworthy line in the entire movie is spoken by Neeson! Great actors, terrible script that even they couldn't save. Everything Neeson said sounded memorized from a bad script. "You must trust my judgement" is one of the worst lines with a horrible delivery. McGregor was far better, but still not great.

 

[Covert Rain]

The most cringeworthy line in the entire movie is spoken by Neeson! Great actors, terrible script that even they couldn't save. Everything Neeson said sounded memorized from a bad script. "You must trust my judgement" is one of the worst lines with a horrible delivery.

I bet if you did a poll that line doesn't even register with most people. There was a ton of bad dialogue in that movie much worse than that line IMO. Fans latched on to those 3 characters and those actors portrayals regardless of the bad script. We have seen actors act "above the script" plenty of times.

Let's call a spade a spade though. Look at ALL the Star Wars movies. I can show you cringe worthy dialogue in every single one which means people don't just judge an actors portrayal of character on written dialogue alone.

 

[Chaplin]

I bet if you did a poll that line doesn't even register with most people. There was a ton of bad dialogue in that movie much worse than that line IMO. Fans latched on to those 3 characters and those actors portrayals regardless of the bad script. We have seen actors act "above the script" plenty of times.

Let's call a spade a spade though. Look at ALL the Star Wars movies. I can show you cringe worthy dialogue in every single one which means people don't just judge an actors portrayal of character on written dialogue alone.

Neeson's delivery made the line worse. You may love him in the movie (which I don't understand), but IMO it is one of his worst performances of his career. But again, I don't blame it entirely on him, the script and the direction was horrendous as well. But anytime he speaks to Obi-Wan and Anakin, he is godawful.

The problem is that the rest of the movie is so bad (except for the pod race, which I like), his shortcomings are barely noticed. You are proof of that. The ONLY human actors that are just ok are Ian McDiarmid and Samuel L. Jackson, with Ewan McGregor a close third, even though his most believable line delivery is "NOOOOOOO!" when Darth Maul kills Qui-Gon in that idiotic room with the shutting partitions.

 

[Covert Rain]

Neeson's delivery made the line worse. You may love him in the movie (which I don't understand), but IMO it is one of his worst performances of his career. But again, I don't blame it entirely on him, the script and the direction was horrendous as well. But anytime he speaks to Obi-Wan and Anakin, he is godawful.

The problem is that the rest of the movie is so bad (except for the pod race, which I like), his shortcomings are barely noticed. You are proof of that. The ONLY human actors that are just ok are Ian McDiarmid and Samuel L. Jackson, with Ewan McGregor a close third, even though his most believable line delivery is "NOOOOOOO!" when Darth Maul kills Qui-Gon.

It's not just me that loves him in the movie though. I have seen multiple polls and his character, along with EM's Obi and Maul consistently are three of the most popular characters. Personally I think he did what he could with that crap script but it must have worked to some extent for that character to be so popular.

I don't get your shortcomings point though. I can clearly tell how bad the script was, how bad some of the other actors and dialogue was. You could definitely tell some of the actors had trouble "bringing up the script" on several occasions which means clearly I do recognize the shortcomings. However, where I think we differ is that I think he did his best to elevate the script and if you compare him to say Lloyd there is no comparison to performance delivered.

Agree on the POD race. I still think it was cool. I also love the duel as well. It's funny though you bring up SLJ. As much as I liked Mace Windu I thought Samuel Jackson's delivery was horrible at times. I believe one of the lines was "You believe it's this boy?" was AWFUL!

 

[Chaplin]

It's not just me that loves him in the movie though. I have seen multiple polls and his character, along with EM's Obi and Maul consistently are three of the most popular characters. Personally I think he did what he could with that crap script but it must have worked to some extent for that character to be so popular.

See, I don't get this reasoning, and I'm surprised you've bought into it. This is the same exact reason that more Transformers movies get made.

I don't get your shortcomings point though. I can clearly tell how bad the script was, how bad some of the other actors and dialogue was. You could definitely tell some of the actors had trouble "bringing up the script" on several occasions which means clearly I do recognize the shortcomings. However, where I think we differ is that I think he did his best to elevate the script and if you compare him to say Lloyd there is no comparison to performance delivered.

I never said I thought he was on par with Jake Lloyd. Of course he wasn't. But there is an expectation with Neeson that he did not meet (same can be said with Natalie Portman). There was no expectation with Jake Lloyd.

Agree on the POD race. I still think it was cool. I also love the duel as well. It's funny, as much as I liked Mace Windu I thought Samuel Jackson's delivery was horrible at times.

The duel would have been much better if 1) the movie had more of Darth Maul earlier and 2) if they didn't throw in ridiculous environment things. Those sliding doors were there ONLY to allow Darth Maul to kill Qui-Gon.[/QUOTE]

 

[Covert Rain]

See, I don't get this reasoning, and I'm surprised you've bought into it. This is the same exact reason that more Transformers movies get made.

I never said I thought he was on par with Jake Lloyd. Of course he wasn't. But there is an expectation with Neeson that he did not meet (same can be said with Natalie Portman). There was no expectation with Jake Lloyd.

The duel would have been much better if 1) the movie had more of Darth Maul earlier and 2) if they didn't throw in ridiculous environment things. Those sliding doors were there ONLY to allow Darth Maul to kill Qui-Gon.

You have lofty expectations. I have never gone into a Star Wars movie thinking that the dialogue will be so good it will be one of the actors best jobs. Dear Lord NOBODY thought that with Alec Guinness. Most people were wondering what the hell he was thinking. His oh I felt a disturbance in the force scenes in Star Wars was literally one of the worst scenes I have ever seen him in.

Personally I thought that it was a mistake not to build off of Maul verses kill him. It would have played into the narrative that the Sith often kill each other for succession. Instead they introduced General Grievous and Duku and made them unnecessary antagonists.

Also, don't get your Transformers analogy. Aside form the first one which I thought was average I hated those films. So what did I buy into? By your logic fans should have loved those characters and those iterations become massively popular over the original iterations. I hardly know of anybody that likes this version over the 80's versions. In fact, most people that I know even semi-enjoyed them would love to see a non- Michael Bay reboot.

 

[Chaplin]

You have lofty expectations. I have never gone into a Star Wars movie thinking that the dialogue will be so good it will be one of the actors best jobs. Dear Lord NOBODY thought that with Alec Guinness. Most people were wondering what the hell he was thinking. His oh I felt a disturbance in the force scenes in Star Wars was literally one of the worst scenes I have ever seen him in.

Personally I thought that it was a mistake not to build off of Maul verses kill him. It would have played into the narrative that the Sith often kill each other for succession. Instead they introduced General Grievous and Duku and made them unnecessary antagonists.

Also, don't get your Transformers analogy. Aside form the first one which I thought was average I hated those films. So what did I buy into? By your logic fans should have loved those characters and those iterations become massively popular over the original iterations. I hardly know of anybody that likes this version over the 80's versions. In fact, most people that I know even semi-enjoyed them would love to see a non- Michael Bay reboot.

You used the "everybody likes it so it must be good" excuse to support your like of Neeson.

 

[Covert Rain]

You used the "everybody likes it so it must be good" excuse to support your like of Neeson.

I think TPM is pretty universally panned and or loathed which seems to dispel that notion. Everybody seems to love Star Wars but not that film. Which says to me fans in mass have the ability to look at something and like aspects without the mentality of "everybody likes it so it must be good" driving those opinions. Fans flocked to it but most people didn't like it.

I get what your saying though. There are definitely examples of hit movies that were not very good and people flocked to them anyway. Still not sure that's exactly the same thing though.

Saying that Neeson rose above the script to deliver a character that tons of people loved and write that off automatically because Star Wars fans seem to agree doesn't seem very fair. I see it as liking aspects of a film the same way that you liked the POD race. We both agree still the movie wasn't very good. We just differ on the things we liked about it.

 

[oaken1]

You have lofty expectations. I have never gone into a Star Wars movie thinking that the dialogue will be so good it will be one of the actors best jobs. Dear Lord NOBODY thought that with Alec Guinness. Most people were wondering what the hell he was thinking. His oh I felt a disturbance in the force scenes in Star Wars was literally one of the worst scenes I have ever seen him in.

Personally I thought that it was a mistake not to build off of Maul verses kill him. It would have played into the narrative that the Sith often kill each other for succession. Instead they introduced General Grievous and Duku and made them unnecessary antagonists.

Also, don't get your Transformers analogy. Aside form the first one which I thought was average I hated those films. So what did I buy into? By your logic fans should have loved those characters and those iterations become massively popular over the original iterations. I hardly know of anybody that likes this version over the 80's versions. In fact, most people that I know even semi-enjoyed them would love to see a non- Michael Bay reboot.

right?? we could have had some good scenes in which Darth Maul bullies or antagonizes Anakin... then after telling Anakin he can help amadala live,.. he could look at the two of them and calmly state.."Sith only ever have one apprentice,...you two work it out"...then walk out the door..

 

[Covert Rain]

right?? we could have had some good scenes in which Darth Maul bullies or antagonizes Anakin... then after telling Anakin he can help amadala live,.. he could look at the two of them and calmly state.."Sith only ever have one apprentice,...you two work it out"...then walk out the door..

HAHAHAHAHA. Seriously I would have had them both competing for the apprentice spot with the Emperor. One thing I liked about some of the novels is it indicated that a Sith Master often groomed more than one Sith secretly knowing that one would eventually kill the other in the end. Could have setup something good. Definitely sounds better than a robot light saber wielding Ginsu and Lord Saruman who in the duel with Yoda looked like he in real life couldn't wield a tootsie pop.

 

[oaken1]

HAHAHAHAHA. Seriously I would have had them both competing for the apprentice spot with the Emperor. One thing I liked about some of the novels is it indicated that a Sith Master often groomed more than one Sith secretly knowing that one would eventually kill the other in the end. Could have setup something good. Definitely sounds better than a robot light saber wielding Ginsu and Lord Saruman who in the duel with Yoda looked like he in real life couldn't wield a tootsie pop.

I know the SW story gets convoluted.. But I read somewhere(or maybe Yoda said it?) many years ago that there can only ever be two sith...one master, and one apprentice..
this was how anakin brought balance to the force like the prophecy said he would...
he killed off the Jedi so that Yoda and kenobi were the only ones left..

I'm sure there are always young wannabes and up and comers working and getting stronger... but I imagine the reigning sith apprentice just kills them off as they get strong enough to pose a threat.
That was an issue I had with the prequel trilogy, because they set up sith basically like the jedi..as an order with many sith lords..... I think it was based on the premise that evil does not share power.