10 Things Learned From Re-Watching Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace
All of the things we learned after watching the re-release of Episode I - The Phantom Menace.
It has somehow been a whopping 25-years since one of the most divisive blockbusters ever made, Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, blasted into theatres.
And both our own world and the galaxy far, far away was never honestly the same, was it?
Refusing to just chuck out the familiar style of Star Wars people had fallen in love with throughout the acclaimed and hugely successful original trilogy, George Lucas opted to take bold swing after bold swing with the first of his prequel entries.
Some of said daring narrative and design choices - like the call to introduce a new Jedi as the lead and stunning worlds of Coruscant and Naboo - went down a treat. Whereas others - the unleashing of Jar Jar Binks and focus on politics and trade route taxation - left a bad taste in many a disappointed soul's mouth.
But time has a strange habit of altering one's perception when it comes to just about any movie, and the same goes for Episode I - The Phantom Menace.
So, following on from this prequel-starting tale's re-release in cinemas all over the globe during this year's May the 4th (be with you) weekend, it's time to talk about all the things that stuck out when revisiting this first chapter in the Skywalker Saga a quarter of a century on.
10. Just How Strong Some Of The Performances Were (And How Bad Others Were)
While it's nothing new to note that the likes of Liam Neeson and Ian McDiarmid put in some truly fine work as Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and the eventual Emperor Sheev Palpatine during this particular Episode, a rewatch of The Phantom Menace makes you realise just how unfairly a young Jake Lloyd was treated back when it premiered all those years ago.
Lloyd simply did not deserve the level of criticism and hate sent his way following on from a performance that actually feels like one of the more charming and moving on show during a revisit.
The youngster's exchange with Pernilla August's Shmi Skywalker as he leaves his mother behind on Tatooine is one of the most powerful and underrated beats of the picture, and hopefully Lloyd - who has been dealing with mental health issues in the years following his appearance as Anakin, but still loves the worlds Star Wars, according to his mother, Lisa Lloyd (via ScrippsNews) - is given a bit more love for his turn in 2024.
Elsewhere, though obviously not helped by Lucas' infamously awful dialogue at times, a young Natalie Portman just comes across as painfully flat and uninterested for much of her debut as Padme Amidala, often delivering her lines as both the 14-year-old (!) Queen of Naboo and undercover handmaiden like she was reading them right off the page.
Again, you can only do so much with dialogue this robotic. But a usually mesmerising Portman's first turn as Luke and Leia's mother is somehow blander than you likely remember, and serves as a reminder of just how much her talents were wasted under Lucas' direction.