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Watched Star Wars: Episode I last night.

Mentalist

Mentalist

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For the first time in a while. I watched it with my girlfriend since I'm on a mission to educate her on IMPORTANT MATTERS like Star Wars which she doesn't understand why "I get so excited about" or something.

She liked it and she hates science fiction movies and other than that GLARING ERROR in her judgment she has good taste and doesn't have much trouble in picking apart a movie if it's plain bad. She's also untainted by geekdom and so she watched it and rated it as she would any other movie and not one that happens to have "Star Wars" at the front of it. I was interested to see if her reaction would be negative or not and it wasn't. Jar Jar did end up annoying her slightly but she was surprised when I told her that he is one of the most hated characters in film history.


I really enjoy Episode I and always have. I think it's a great sci-fi movie and a good Star Wars movie. There are things to criticize but it's unfairly slammed for so many reasons that are not valid.

It's a shame because it could have been epic if it has focused a little more on Sidious and Maul and Tatooine had felt more pressured and dangerous. The biggest problem of the movie is not Jar Jar, or Anakin but in the pacing of the film as a whole.

Jar Jar DOES get tiresome, especially in the final battle. Slapstick really detracts from the urgency of the situation and it doesn't intercut well with the Maul duel, but meh.. Episode I is a mixed bag but its bad points don't drag the movie down as much as people love to make out.

Also it has teengage Portman and Keria in it and that makes it statistically impossible to be bad. DO YOU FUCKING UNDERSTAND YOU JELLYFISH?

Fact of the matter is I've watched it umpteen times and I still enjoy watching it every now and then.
 
It's a great family film. Liam Neeson deserves praise for doing a great job as Qui Gon.

Are you going to show her Episode 2 as well? It might be harder for her to enjoy since it's a bit more drawn out and has the terrible romance scenes.
 
Its always interesting to see someone watch the films in the order 1-6, rather than 4-6,1-3, especially if they are seeing them for the first time.
 
The problem for the Phantom Menace for me was that it had no idea what sort of film it wanted to be. Half of it wanted to be a kids movie, with Jar-Jar and podracing and SUPER BOMBAD GENERAL. And the other half was a lot of people talking about trade disputes and treaties.
 
I think some of it could have benifted from 24 style split screen, so that whenever some beardy bloke was yammering on about trade embargoes, you could see spaceships fighting off in the corner.
 
See I think that this is unfair. For a start the plot about the Trade Embargo and the subsequent political maneuvering in the film is well done. Although I admit it really does help if you know that Palpatine is Sidious. A Trade Embargo may not be very cool but when it's put in the context of the other movies we have a neat line of progression of Palpy's plan for Galactic Domination.

TPM doesn't go the simple "cool" route here and the manipulation of a vulnerable and naive republic and a complacent and out-of-touch Jedi Council by the return of the Sith is vital to the story. The fact that is done exclusively in the political arena is far more interesting than a few more space battles in its place. The downfall of the Republic starts within its own Senate and the seeds of that are sown in Episode I. So while there are Pod Races and Jar Jar bumbling along there is this parallel of politics and history going on as well.

And all the while you have this kid who is a mythological archetype who literally has the power to direct the course of history and again it is Palpatine who is on point to take advantage of this while even Yoda only barely comprehends the magnitude of the situation. Episode I does a very good job foreshadowing what comes next. Because it is the first chapter of an epic saga. But at the same time it has to be a movie in its own right as well that people can pick up and watch and be entertained without thinking too much about any of these things. George went the light hearted family way in this regard. A lot of people don't like that. But to be honest the lighthearted nature of the movie is foreshadowing itself.

The reason it might feel like it "doesn't know what it wants to be" is actually because it knows exactly what it wants to be. It wants to be a fun family adventure and also the first chapter in a six part decent of evil in the over-arcing saga of Star Wars.

Now, it doesn't hit the mark all the time but I still think that both elements are good.

Pretty interesting stuff I thought..
 
I'm not saying that you shouldn't have that sort of thing in there, it's just that it goes from wacky slapstick fun to serious political debate with not really much middle ground, like there were two film - "wacky wacky hey this should be a toy lets put it in the movie Episode I" and "let's talk about politics to set up the other films Episode I" - and they just don't mesh well when they're both put together as they are in the film.
 
YES THEY DO.
 
Also Padmé and Sabé totally did it.
 
Mentalist said:
For the first time in a while. I watched it with my girlfriend
Click to expand...

GIRLfriend!!???????????????????

hmmm....???????????

i would comment further, but yer fans would find issues with my comments.

lol, cheers & shit IMO.

POSTING IS A GIFT.

LIVING IS A SIN.

DEATH IS A FORM OF REBIRTH.
 
"Henoch" spelled backwards is "Fuck you, Henoch".
 
^^^A fan has issues with me.
 
lol
 
I. Found It. Boring. Anyone else is free to have their own reactions and impressions of the movie. I will be free to have mine.

It may not be fair to compare it to IV-VI. I don't care. There's no law requiring fairness when discussing a piece of entertainment. I wasn't bored by IV-VI. I was bored by I. I was bored by II. I was less bored by and more interested in III. And that's that.

aslklffl;fld;kasfoa;slfjal;dk7
 
I'll try spinning, that's a good trick!
 
I watched Phantom Menace tonight. But I don't have a girlfriend.
 
See, this, to me, is one of the greatest mysteries of the universe. A mass hallucination, even.

There are only *three* Star Wars films: Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi. Every once in awhile I hear talk of a first, second, or third film. IDK where these crazy kids get these things from, but THERE ARE NO FIRST, SECOND, OR THIRD FILMS.

The only films in the Star Wars universe are the three I mentioned. All others are just a figment of your imagination.

That is all.
 
What the fuck was my problem back then? Are there missing posts in here? Who am I being all fussypants to? It was written at night, not at dawn, so it's not like I was drunk...

THE MOVIE WAS OKAY I JUST DIDNT CREAM MY JEANS IM SORRY :)
 
I have made my point on this matter before, but TPM was necessary to draw the younger audience into the story. Likewise the original three films became darker and less comic as they developed.

He knows the mass audience well, and whatever you think of Lucas - he knows how to weave a reasoanbly complex narrative into a family blockbuster.

Compared the story of TPM to the horrendous Avatar, and surely you can forgive him a little slapstick aimed at capturing 7 year olds into the series. I know this for a fact as my two boys (now 11 and 13) watched the films in sequence over a few years and initially found Jar Jar funny. They now sneer at him through their world weary internet goggles - but I asked them recently if they would take him out of the film if they could. They said NO WAI! or something suitably modern.
 
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