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Phantom Menace Reviews
m3000 writes "Screening were held in New York yesterday for the Phantom Menace. Already there are reviews circulating on the internet about how they were disappointed by the movie. Was the hype too big or is the movie not that great? " Must-not-read-the-heresy-George-Lucas-is-the-Overmind. Er...sorry. The reviews are basically "all we expected, but not what we hoped for."
Well, it seems almost official. TPM panders to young kids. The most damming evidence is the ever-annoying Jar Jar Binks. Lucas did NOT design this movie for the adult, or for the Star Wars die-hard.
Why would he focus on the kids? I thought I wouldn't have to say this about Lucas, but follow the money. Young kids have parents. Ticketsales = Ticketsales * 2. And he's got a ripe audience for his next movie -- little kids who enjoyed the first and want to see the next.
It's a shame. But I'm sure I'll still enjoy the movie.
The funny thing about reading these reviews is that these people really do seem to have their finger on the pulse of what Star Wars is. More development of Darth Maul [aka: "Evil Bad Guy"]. More goal-oriented action. Action sequences are good. Less annoying creatures. Here's hoping that Lucas reads the same reviews as everyone else.
Here's hoping that he's got the Star Wars machine well-oiled by the release of Episode III.
I think that a lot of the disappointment about the new movie can be traced back to this. How many people here grew up on the Star Wars movies? A crapload. I did't see SW till ~1981, on a friends' Beta, because I was born in '76. Saw Empire at day camp, after it had just about finished it's theatrical release. Saw Jedi when it came out in '83. Naturally I love 'em all.
;)
I suspect though that relatively few people who were in their 20's or older back in '77 are as big fans as we are (YMMV). Basically it's nostalgia. I mean, they kick ass and all, but a lot of our enthusiasm is due to having been exposed to SW a lot growing up.
Anyhow, although a lot of us have matured, and want to see a more mature SW film (More mature than the Ewok movies, probably less than 'Leia does Alderaan'
*BUT*, although the new movies will be darker and probably cooler, the first one is going to have to be fairly light (otherwise it wouldn't be able to contrast with the later movies). And Lucas is still making movies that will appeal best to kids. We've aged, but the 'intended' audience of the movies has not. If kids who are currently growing up see the new movie, I bet you dollars to donuts they'll be as hooked as we are. We just have to remember our inner lil' geek and we'll love 'em too.
I am _SO_ there on the 19th. And that weekend. And maybe a couple other times....
-- This and all my posts are in the public domain. I am a lawyer. I am not your lawyer, and this is not legal advice.
A lot of people had this opinion of Babylon 5 as well. By mid-Season 1 we knew that Londo would be Emperor and that Babylon5 would be destroyed.
Same thing in this case, but by the previous poster's logic, there can never be a good prequel to anything, which is not true. It depends on the viewer's ability (or inability) to realize that a different kind of story is being told. One where the excitement is involved in _how_ you get to the conclusion, not what the conclusion will be.
Different kind of suspense, but suspense nonetheless.
George Lucas is not what I would call a particularly dumb person. I don't think many people would, even given the EWOKS.
I have little doubt this movie was shot in many different modes -- dark, light, in-between. And, as the saying goes, a movie is really made in the editing room. Lucas has had many years to seriously consider who he wanted the prequel to appeal to and he probably could have chosen whether "noir" or "political intrigue" or "cheesy kiddie flick" ended up on the cutting room floor. So, he chose "cheesy kiddie flick" and us old-timers will have to live with it.
I'm not necessarily lauding Lucas' move, but he does have a business to run and he's invested what surely amounts to a whole ton of money into Episode I. He could have made a movie for "us" but would he have had the same return on his investment? I doubt it. Personally, I'll probably see it at least twice in the theater, but, unless I had kids, I wouldn't invest seriously in the merchandise. In total, my investment into Episode I will probably run about $100, including 2 or 3 screenings and later purchasing a video or DVD; kids, on the other hand, will probably represent at least a few hundred bucks just in toys alone.
So in general, I don't honestly think us Star Wars "boomers" (yep, I saw it '77) would invest the same amount of cash into the movie as we will for our kids, even if we went to the theater and saw it 5 or 6 times. A small fraction of us has enough desposable income to just trash it all on the collectable stuff (those are always the die-hard collectors anyway). Perhaps it says something about our society when we kow-tow to our kids this way, but this is generally the reality of our consumer culture.
Lucas is in his 50s. The guy will *certainly* never go broke and it is highly improbable that his "Empire" would ever be anything less than seriously important in the film industry, even if Episode I had never come out, but he does have the next 20-25 years of running Lucasfilm to think about. There's no doubt we would have made his film a success at the box office if he had tailored it for us, but he has longer-term issues to consider than a few weeks (or months? or years?) of fan frenzy. After all, what is he going to do after the prequels are done?
I think George will come around the next 2 episodes -- again, in a decidedly calculated fashion. "Empire" was the best of the bunch anyway so we're likely headed for a fuller story line, plots, and characterization. The eye candy is great but wears thin. It'll need more substance if Lucas has any hope of us pulling out a copy of the movie in 5 years to just watch it for the fun of it (which I still do with IV and V -- ROTJ still stinks in my book).