[Petch Lucas]

Okay. I saw The Phantom Menace tonight for the first time on the big screen in nearly thirteen years, plus in 3D. Ever since its 1999 premiere, I had always championed the film as a worthy Star Wars backstory episode, despite its aesthetic flaws.

After my personal adjudication tonight....it's still a great film, and yes, it still has some flaws. Preemptively, I know that more than a few friends will disagree. I'm ready for those verbal spankings.

Forget Jar Jar Binks. Forget the so-called "racist" accents of other alien creatures. Forget the by-the-numbers expository nature of the dialogue. The film's main problem is pacing. This is a 130-minute long movie that could have successfully clocked in at maybe an hour and forty-five minutes, had it been better honed. No particularly sequence seems ripe enough to blame, but the long stretch on Tatooine has a horse in that race.

But onto the positives, one of the very criticisms levelled at the film concerned the main storyline: the Naboo blockade. It shares its blame in the above-mentioned pacing problem, but it's unfair to define what the Naboo blockade was all about. The Trade Federation was not operating on its own interests, but working for Darth Sidious, who promised them a great reward which he had no intention of fulfilling once they served their purpose. That they were thrown under the bus was no accident, just merely a conclusion of Sidious' plan once he conveniently showed up on Naboo in his day-job as Senator Palpatine once the battle was over.

The Gungan Army? Merely pawns who got off lucky. Queen Padme Amidala? Sidious intended for her to die just to cover his tracks, but when she survived, he would find a way to further use her later down the line. And Anakin Skywalker? A lucky find for Sidious, especially since Darth Maul was unexpectedly cut short--and Maul's own executioner Obi-Wan would have a chance to be humiliated and/or killed once Anakin was coaxed to the Dark Side of the Force.

Oh, yeah....there's that 3D effect. In short, it worked pretty well. Because this is retro-fitted 3D, without "in your face" gags in place, look for a balanced nuance of depth in the picture. It works best on the outdoor setting at Naboo, the podrace sequence on Tatooine, and frankly, the opening titles with text scroll.

Nearly thirteen years ago, I attended a midnight premiere of The Phantom Menace. Then I drove home with my window down, and arm hanging out the window in the May wind, feeling as though I'd just had dinner with an old friend whom I hadn't seen in sixteen years, and then we had shot a few rounds of billiards and called it a night, soon to get together again. Tonight, I had my window rolled down again, but it was cold and raining. But that was incidental; my love for The Phantom Menace as a worthy Star Wars entry remained intact.

[Jack Frost]

Hey Petch, I haven't seen this one yet, not I am in a big hurry, but agree there with you on pace. What bothered me the most about Phantom Menace is that there was too much unnecessary dialogue about trade routes.

Is that final Jedi-Sith fight (or a dance if you like it better) good in 3D? I always thought that that huge space would look terrific in 3D.

I am sorry, but I hated new trilogy. I am not huge fan of original trilogy either, but at least they are fun. New trilogy was boring in most parts and I hated that guy who played Anakin in ep 2 and 3. He was horrible, and not even Christopher Lee and Evan McGregor couldn't help.

ps. Darth Vader was wus in ep.3 ...

[speedy]

I didn't think much of the first episode. The only 3D film I'm seeing next (unless I change my mind about not seeing Ghost Rider 2) is Titanic 3D.

Okay, hurl the insults.

[Craig]

I've tried to watch this movie about 3 different times, and I just can't get into it.

[Jack Frost]

speedy, on 19 February 2012 - 04:37 PM, said:

I didn't think much of the first episode. The only 3D film I'm seeing next (unless I change my mind about not seeing Ghost Rider 2) is Titanic 3D.

Okay, hurl the insults.

Some critics for Ghost Riders were mixed... but most of them say that Ghost Rider 2 has lot of impressive visuals, lot of action, but very little dialogue and minimum story... Now lack of dialogues would always be the problem, but you know how dreadful those dialogues were in first Ghost Rider, so this might not be a bad thing.

fuck that, I paid to see GHSOT RIDER, not love soap opera between Nicholas Cage and Eva Mandez (who is horrible actress in my opinion). I always wondered how they fucked up first movie about goddamn Ghost Rider, who has interesting origin and interesting powers. (ok, Daredevil got worse treatment)

[Admiral Ackbar]

I don't hate the movie, but consider it to be the weakest of the saga. It has some really good action scenes, but I can't stand Jar Jar. The only use for him is when I play Lego Star Wars, as he can jump really high. If you want to blame anyone for the fall of the Republic, it would be him.

I want to see this in 3D with my son, but he is motion sensitive.

[Jack Frost]

Jar Jar

even I hate him... and I saw Ep 1 only two or three times...

[Crafter]

IA little off-topic but it deals with Jar-Jar.

I was playing The Force Unleashed and was in one characters building, he was a hunter and a commanding officer of the Empire, I was in his trophy room and I noticed a carbonite slab where Jar-Jar was frozen, at least I hoped it was Jar-Jar.

I was hoping he would get shot down by the Clone Troopers in Revenge of the Sith just because the troopers found him so annoying that they couldn't have waited to put him out of his misery, or that Anakin would have force choked him because he grew tired of his bumbling around.

[Damien]

A little off subject but on the same subject has anyone else seen what is called Star Wars Revisited? It is a fan edit by a guy called Adywan, just one word on this...AWESOME!!! He has done 2 edits, one is his own edit with a few scenes re-edited and a couple of different music cues, the other is his purist edition cut (my favourite). If you are a fan of the original i highly recomend downloading this.

Here is a list of the changes and improvements.....
http://swrevisited.w...hr-change-list/

Here is the difference between his edit and his purist edition...
http://originaltrilo...262/category/4/

Here is the trailer...


Here is the battle above Yavin (the best example of the changes and improvements he has done)



And in May his Empire Strikes Back revisited will be released.

[speedy]

Jack Frost, on 19 February 2012 - 05:18 PM, said:

Some critics for Ghost Riders were mixed... but most of them say that Ghost Rider 2 has lot of impressive visuals, lot of action, but very little dialogue and minimum story... Now lack of dialogues would always be the problem, but you know how dreadful those dialogues were in first Ghost Rider, so this might not be a bad thing.

fuck that, I paid to see GHSOT RIDER, not love soap opera between Nicholas Cage and Eva Mandez (who is horrible actress in my opinion). I always wondered how they fucked up first movie about goddamn Ghost Rider, who has interesting origin and interesting powers. (ok, Daredevil got worse treatment)

Sorry Jack, I should have clarified. It's because all the showings are 3D and I don't want to pay £12 to see a movie.

[Jack Frost]

£12? Moth'a...

I checked how much the ticket is in Balkanian theaters. It's 3.5-4 euros (depending on time of projection. Daytime projections are cheaper)... Regular tickets are 2.5-3 euros (again, deepening on time) ... It's not that bad, I thought it would be lot more expensive since it's Star Wars.

[Admiral Ackbar]

[Jack Frost]

is there any option to blast the damn thing? Just to make sure he doesn't return?

[Crafter]

Throw him in the Sarlaac Pit.

[s0me-kind-0f-m0nster]

Is anyone else really really tired of george lucas re-re-re-re-releasing his movies?