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

Two Jedi Knights escape a hostile blockade to find allies and come across a young boy who may bring balance to the Force, but the long dormant Sith resurface to reclaim their old glory.

Director:

George Lucas

Writer:

George Lucas

Stars:

Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 12 wins & 52 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Liam Neeson	...	Qui-Gon Jinn
Ewan McGregor	...	Obi-Wan Kenobi
Natalie Portman	...	Queen Amidala / Padmé
Jake Lloyd	...	Anakin Skywalker
Ian McDiarmid	...	Senator Palpatine
Pernilla August	...	Shmi Skywalker
Oliver Ford Davies	...	Sio Bibble
Hugh Quarshie	...	Captain Panaka
Ahmed Best	...	Jar Jar Binks (voice)
Anthony Daniels	...	C-3PO (voice)
Kenny Baker	...	R2-D2
Frank Oz	...	Yoda (voice)
Terence Stamp	...	Chancellor Valorum
Brian Blessed	...	Boss Nass (voice)
Andy Secombe	...	Watto (as Andrew Secombe)

Storyline

The evil Trade Federation, led by Nute Gunray is planning to take over the peaceful world of Naboo. Jedi Knights Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi are sent to confront the leaders. But not everything goes to plan. The two Jedi escape, and along with their new Gungan friend, Jar Jar Binks head to Naboo to warn Queen Amidala, but droids have already started to capture Naboo and the Queen is not safe there. Eventually, they land on Tatooine, where they become friends with a young boy known as Anakin Skywalker. Qui-Gon is curious about the boy, and sees a bright future for him. The group must now find a way of getting to Coruscant and to finally solve this trade dispute, but there is someone else hiding in the shadows. Are the Sith really extinct? Is the Queen really who she says she is? And what's so special about this young boy?

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Plot Keywords:

planet | queen | warrior | apprentice | alien | 

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Taglines:

The Saga Begins May 19th

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Fantasy | Sci-Fi

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for sci-fi action/violence

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

19 May 1999 (USA)

Also Known As:

Star Wars I: The Phantom Menace

Filming Locations:

CTV Services, Tunisia

Box Office

Budget:

$115,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$210,600,000 (Non-US) (6 August 1999)

Gross:

$474,544,677 (USA) (1 June 2012)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Lucasfilm

Technical Specs

Runtime:

136 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital EX SDDS (8 channels) DTS-ES

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The movie was shipped to theaters as "The Doll House" to thwart piracy attempts.

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Goofs

When Queen Amidala is standing before a big window (she watches the Trade Federation enter the city) she is wearing a dress with lights at the bottom. Behind her the power cable of those bulbs is visible.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Qui-Gon Jinn: Captain.
Radiant VII captain: Yes, sir?
Qui-Gon Jinn: Tell them we wish to board at once.
Radiant VII captain: [to communication device] With all due respect, the ambassadors for the Supreme Chancellor wish to board immediately.
Nute Gunray: [on view screen] Yes, of course. As you know, our blockade is perfectly legal and we'd be happy to receive the ambassadors.

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Crazy Credits

The opening logo for 20th Century Fox is static (to match the opening of Episodes 4, 5 and 6), instead of the animated 3-D logo used in Fox films at the time. The Fox logo also fades out halfway through the fanfare, and the final flourish is played over the Lucasfilm logo. Modern Fox films keep the company logo on-screen throughout the entire fanfare.

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Connections

Referenced in Hewy's Animated Movie Reviews: Despicable Me (2010)

User Reviews

Too many "Yes Men" around George Lucas

Of course this movie had a ton of hype and what movie can live up to all of that....yada yada yada. Even allowing for that, this movie is somewhat of a dissapointment. This movie proves that it wasn't just special FX that made "Star Wars" fun to watch. It was as if George Lucas was so thrilled with what he could do with CGI effects, he forgot what made the original trilogy so great, which is writing and characters. It's not a bad film but the problems are many.

-Many people have forgiven this movie for being lackluster as they say "It is only the first in another trilogy and it is just setting up everything to follow". WRONG WRONG WRONG, this film needed to be it's own movie first and foremost as the other three films were. It needed to have good characters and a somewhat interesting story....it didn't.

-The conflict in this story revolves around a trade dispute and the fate of the planet Naboo. Was anybody really caring about this? The details of the dispute are somewhat vague and what is revealed doesn't real generate enough interest for us to root for a particular side. The important conflict regarding Darth Sideous and his rise is kept far far in the background. We don't even know why Darth Maul hates the Jedi's so much....he just does. Possibly Lucas wanted Darth Maul to be somewhat like Boba Fett (silent and mysterious). It worked with Boba Fett because he was only a supporting character, not a main villian. This film really has no clear villian. I wish somebody would have had the courage and just told Lucas that his basic story was lousy.

-Nobody looks particularly happy in this film. Qui-gon is really the only character that can be related to and even he is rather distant. The queen acts like a mannequin in much of her scenes (and looks like one to). Obi-wan Kenobi wanders through the entire movie to no avail and never says anything interesting. The characters never seem to talk about anything besides the plot (unlike in the first film). C3PO and R2-D2 were pretty pointless. The Jedi council comes across as extremely cold and buracratic. And I will never understand WHY they wrote Annakin as a grade school kid in this film. He should have been a teenager. His scenes with the queen were awkward. We're not even going to discuss Jar Jar.

Various other things...

-The "midochlorians" thing seems to have just been tacked on. The humor falls flat unless you are an extremely small child. Annakin destroys the trade ship at the end and safves everyone, basically BY MISTAKE!!! ILM and George Lucas seem to be so happy with their new CGI toys that they spent 95% of their time perfecting them. Quite frankly I thought the FX in "Return of the Jedi" were sharper, more dimensional and less cartoonish. Nothing all that memorable seems to happen here. This movie may never have been as good as the hype, but it could have easily been much better than this. I waited so long for this film, yet the first time I saw this movie I was actually bored in the middle of it.

There are good moments. The pod race was fun, as was the light sabre battle at the end. There are some very nice special effects throughout.

Hopefully Lucas just had writers block when he wrote this one. Maybe he will remember what made the other films so good in time for "Episode II". Though he seems to have botched the title of it already.