The Star Wars Experience:
Cheers & Jeers

What can you say when you have such high expectations going into a movie and those expectations are surpassed? That’s the way I felt about The Phantom Menace. I had read a few reviews before seeing the movie, and saw the MTV special where everyone in our generation from Shannen Doherty to Hanson had the same thing to say about the movie: “Amazing!”

The biggest disappointment to me was the “dumbing down” of the audience I saw in Jar-Jar Binks. Slapstick humor is not my cup of tea, and it doesn’t belong in Star Wars. If done inconspicuously, I would not have minded it, but this was gratuitous. Before reading this site’s movie review, I was not aware that this was a widespread criticism of the movie, but it is one I unfortunately endorse. Another critique I read mentioned the line, “Mom, you always say the biggest problem in the universe is that people don’t help each other.” Having read that critique, that line was very hokey when delivered.

Here’s my section of cheers and jeers:

CHEERS

• The pod races. Awesome.
• The fight scenes. Especially the saber duels.
• The Intrigue. What will happen to Shmi Skywalker, still enslaved? What causes this nice little kid to become a villain?
• The Senate. Very well done. I especially loved when Queen Amidala moved for the vote of ‘No Confidence.’ Gutsy. Ironically, that motion leads the way to the emperor’s rise. Also ironic is that the audience wants Qui-Gon and the Jedi council to train Anakin, even with the knowledge that he will turn to the Dark Side.
• The plot. Very different than episodes IV-VI. The escalation of a trade dispute. Well thought-out.
• Watto. Clever character
• Tatooine. Great way of tying this to the previous trilogy. We even got a sneak peek at Jabba’s lover. That was a female Hutt, wasn’t it?

JEERS

• Jar-Jar. ‘Nuff said.
• Big fish scene. I was not impressed with the computer generated images there; they appeared fake, and the scene was largely pointless.
• Samuel L. Jackson. He seemed very out of place to me. I hope he doesn’t appear in the subsequent movies unless he gets killed off. I like the actor, but I felt his presence did not help the movie. Why not see some more wizened old Jedi types on the council?
• Darth Maul. OK, he looks like a bad-ass, and the fight scenes were awesome. But he was not in the movie all that much. That’s really my only criticism. He was a cool villain, but not developed enough. (Though, I concede that part of the plot was him as a mystery).
• The accent of Federation’s Viceroys. Did they have to be Chinese? The accent is unmistakably Chinese. A friend of mine hypothesizes that this was a political commentary on the Chinese (powerful Federation) oppressing the way of life of the Tibetans (Naboo). That seems far-fetched, but the Viceroy’s accents made for one more character that was hard to understand.

But, who cares about the jeers? They were minor nags that made me wince once in a while in the movie. I left with an awesome feeling, and I went back to see it the next day. Undoubtedly worthy of Star Wars fame, and let’s face it: the standards were sky-high for those of us who grew up loving Star Wars. To meet those expectations is the most satisfying feat. Let’s just hope The Phantom Menace passes Titanic (and that Jar-Jar doesn’t make the casting call for the next installment.)

Submitted 5/26/99 by Miami law student Steve Zaloom.