February 09, 2012

Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace (1999)

Ok so it had to happy. George Lucas has found yet another excuse to bring out the Star Wars films at the cinema. After about 1000 different releases on VHS and DVD. Lucas has made his film into 3D when its clear the 3D is on the way out as it clearly doesnt work. I do remember seeing this the first time at the cinema 13 years ago and out of the six films, this is by far the weakest.

It is better than I remember but its still the weakest. The 3D does pretty much nothing and it just shows what a lost cause 3D is. Speaking of the film, there are some good sequences, the pod racing is something that has improved over the years as has the palace stuff towards the end on Naboo. On the downside, Ja Ja Binks is still annoying as anything and would make anyone join the dark side. McGreggor and Neeson are very good as is Portman and the guy playing Anakin manages to impress though is slightly annoying at the very beginning.

I dont know when the next films will be released but I cant imagine that the 3D will be better on those than it was on this one. I suspect that by the time Return of the Jedi is released the 3D fad will have pretty much gone from the cinema.

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