Lincoln Journal Star from Lincoln, Nebraska • 38

Unco Journal Star W-edy. May 19, 1999 mm JLulG UKJjJ Lit! iw 11 Review CT KENT WOLGAMOTT tewan JoumeJ Star Dent believe the hype. "Star Wars: Episode One The Fbantom Menace" isnt the biggest ad best Elm ever made. It's not even the biggest and best "Star Wars" picture. In fact, it is the weakest of the lot, a disappointment magnified by all the pre-release hubbub.

Not that my opinion or that of all critics in the country could stop "The Phantom Menace" from fMng theaters lor a few weeks. Eat even die-hard fans are likely to experience a bit of letdown after, they the long-awaited "prequel" ttht -Star Wars" trilogy. The advance publicity concentrated on the film's technological wizardry end eteator writerdirector Oorge Locas' reputation as a great daematie storyteller. With reason Borrowing from Jaaeph Campbell, Japaneee happens further reduces "The Phantom Menace" to an ordinary story that lacks the epic sweep and emotional, mythological power of the original. That said, "The Phantom Menace" isnt a total turkey like last summer's overtyped "Godzilla." It is a technically dazzling production that makes impressive use of the burgeoning computer technology that is forever altering the way movies are made.

Using digital effects to create characters and backgrounds in more than 90 percent of the scenes, Lucas and the Industrial Light and Magic crew have forever blurred the boundaries between animation and reality-based production. In doing to, they ve created stunning environments from the Neoclassical palace on Naboo to the mile-high skyscrapers of the aty-world of Coruscant The wild pod race wouldn't have happened without computers. Nor would Jar Jar Binks, Sebulba and even good old Jabba the Hutt exist without digital magic. But computers dont have souls. Neither does "Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace." from Jar Jar BLnks, a floppy-eared underwater creature from Naboo.

Speaking in a Jamaican patois, Binki (voice by Ahmed Best) is funny, but his humor comes from a cowardly Incompetence, not the macho, space-cowboy swagger of Sola Much of the fan of the original "Star Wars" was rooted in its surprise-filled action. But "The Phantom Menace" is talky instead Beyond a few key scenes, there's not much real action for an adventure movie. The two most effective of those action scenes are the Jedi Knights' trip through the monster-filled underwater world at the core of Nadoo and a pod race on Tatooine in which young An akin proves to be a daredevil pilot as he helps win his The final battle between the Queen's forces and the droids is also impressive as is the simultaneous light saber struggle that pits Maul against Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan But both of those echo the original too closely to be genuinely gripping. "The Phantom Menace" also wastes much of its talent No one goes to a "Star Wars" picture to see great acting after all, Mark HamiH pla ved'Luke. But McGregor is given almost nothing to do as Obi Wan Kanobi and Samuel L.

Jackson has all of about two stiffly delivered lines as a member of the Jedi council. Netson has to carry the movie and manages to do so, even though he plays Qui-Gon far too dour for an uplifting adventure. Still, the visual centerpiece is young Lloyd, who is adequate at best as the movie's pint-sized hero. That concentration on Anakin, who we all know will grow up to be Darth Vader, is understandable. Kis adventure should draw the 8-year-old crowd to the theater in throngs.

But beyond a cryptic reference to a sense of fear and evil perceived by Yoda when he talks to the boy, master storyteller Lucas doesn't give even the remotest hint about what turned sweet little Anakin into the ominous Vader. -s That, one assumes, is left to the next two pictures in the series, set for 2002 and 2005. But the omission of even a hint of why the change Jedi Knight, the Force-driven guardians of the galaxy. But before he can be fuDy trained, Luke has to fight in a battle against the dark side of the Force, personified by Darth Vader, in order to save a planet under siege. In "The Phantom Menace," the boy on Tatooine it -year-bid Anakin Skywalker (Jake Lloyd) who is rescued from slavery by Jedi Knights Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) and Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor).

They are on their way from the planet Naboo with Queen Amidala (Natalie Portman) to report to the intergallactic Senate about the invasion of her home by a force of droids from the Trade Federation From the evil side of the Force comes the devil-like Darth Maul (Ray Park), setting up a final confrontation that seems dully familiar. That wouldn't necessarily have been all bad. But Lucas didn't fully clone his original, a There's no wise-cracking adventurer a la Han Solo to provide much-needed comic relief. Instead, the laughs are supposed to come Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace Director George Lucas Stars: Liam Nee son, Ewan McGregor, Jake Lloyd, Natalie Portman RatinarPG Now Showing: Stuart, East Park, SouttiPomte The Reel Story: The much anticipated "prequel'' to the "Star Wars" trilogy Is a technological dazzler. But its story disappoints as It essentially recycles the first "Star Wars" as young Anakln Skywalker helps save a planet from destruction.

He liked that story so much that he repeat most of it in "The Phantom Menace." In the first tale4 as you no doubt remember, a boy named Luke Skywalker leaves home on the desert planet Tatooine to become a "Seeing It wasn't about 'Star Wars for the first time for most people was an epiphany. being a good movie or a bad movie or a hit movie at the box office. It was, 'Oh, movies can do this? If they can do this; they can do anything, Oinn DDCIH mm stariVm; (1977) Sat tor ltd mdllort, I hH MitMd MSD (Won. Th sioti Pm hot "wiiiitr tm HtnoM and punt Htn Sow ma I erinom, tap DmSi Star and mt an Kmplrt trembi. t1MtfjiMiMtdtor2t mutton, hu wmtd ti muuort.k the tMt kh IM Imptrs, Lutt Jtdl matMT da, barm asoul tit ton mi tndi that ha eons In UMilWhar.

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A droM tor al eeasona. Seeaka 6 million language, all with a ruty Brtoah aooent '-r ThenouM'oVoidChewtoraariat on the Death Star. Cheecy. EEST 'ra EEST tm EIST mm C-JPO. Nag, nag, nag.

A Han Soto aaya, "Shut him up or ahut Nrn downr Cmmaking master Aura Kurosawa -i i -J: mna oamic wesieraa, iiH.as uiu Indeed craft a work of modern mythology with the original "Star Man' back in 1977. 'Star Wars' hit America like Death Star blast BY ROBERT W. WSLKCS lfi Anggla Tma HOLLYWOOD On "The NBC Nightly Newt," anchorman John Chancellor told viewers that If they know what ft 100-year-old Wookie was, they'd learn soon enough, and noted that "he or it! was the hairy creature depleted on a photograph right behind him. LTb June hewscaat i showed long lines of people standing ootside movie theaters la which a new 20th Century Fox film called "Star Wars" had opened only weeks before and reported that the $9 million film was expected to make 1 10 times tifttflfuk A reporter In the field then mtoned "It's old-fashioned escapist entertainment, pure and Simple, ntui umn mm mum uu And it appears this Is What just about everybody to the country Is in the mood for." The week the movie opened, Time magazine reported that kids i ti a i naa acrearoea oeiigni ai an advance scrtenln In San Francisco. The magazine also took note of the buzz among td-fl fans, reportint that A nMt iHMMMnolu Imm' -vnrm mivnw waa.v vbac toe turn were stolen rrom tne I production offlces and were selllna for more than each.

It has been more than two decades since moviegoers sat in in am an Trrtnarlal rfaatmtrap tlrln f. laser Diasis ai a smaller tveoei Alliance spacecraft appeared at the top of the screen, dramatically fntroducinc director Georee Lucas' aaace varn. Two decadaa since moviegoers were first introduced to a strange and colorful array of characters named Luke Skywalker. Darth Vadef Princess Lela, Han Solo, the 8-foot Wookle Called Chewbacca and those two humorous droWs, RMt and C4P0. uuiwv wrw vsj mvu films, which arrive each summer with all the fanfare studio publicity machines can muster, the original ocar wars saw its success oorn, lor tne most part, rrom tne greatest publicity machine of all word ot mouth.

i iU fill WaW, UW IWI IV tVft Adagio and his wife, HeldL recalled how they were datsled at the film's special effects the kind of special -seeing since SUnley Kubrick's mooi A Space Odyssey" nearly a decade earlier. "What I remember most was Darth VuW anil tha awnrrli Heidi said. "OutaUa Ot 601 1 dont there had bn tnythinf like those special effects. Just to see so nunv flAnhod at vtMl Blmultanaatislv when you had never seen anything out Tour was just rnifla-oossung. Everything sbout the movie seemed unique, they recounted, like he hovercraft with heat leemltigly rising from the sand "And the was not made of bright, 3hiny metal," she noted "It looked dirty, used, like a space jalopy.

Before that, all you had (in science- r- iv0UUU0ULIU Tha MUtennlum Faioon. tor amuggdng and drag Jutt tie Wn raoea. Darth Vder oommand anla. So hai Ha own BP oode. (And a Vader room.) Luka X-wlng.

In INa movie, geta MUlon mllea to tha gallon. (w lot wftcei Ud tor rhnuen, hai ssmsd 1301 tMNItThthMMStiMli iMurraettd Clh Star, imath KM EmpN tnd Una Ihtt Darth Vtdar, War Kama (UrtS-8IS hati aetata Stiaa Marrlaen fori (Han Solo), Ma took Smbartaaiad to ba lhars. Ho ona told NmthatMokihadaHihaimat. jCitftieMon(f ttmi 1ar (Oott). Hii la Jabbai pat ihorlator, and not a minute too toon.

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ht SUEP8 outely again, hat parts tor r0. tha knpartai anuwa wviga aiat untold, and anouflh head room tor a Wootoa. tha ktebby Rebel eommand ahtoa. Butt by tha Doughboy ot Planet a Tata sWMhgm eutm. Luoky Jabba hadKlhharalta.

r- Latoa tree-girl outlH. Do the Iwoke havaaKmartt The speeder-blks ehaaa. (Exoapt tor thalwokotvinwtthoutaone.) Tha Bwoks'rnakaopjobt Look Wat Pooh Beer. Vader kill the emperor, then die a haru iVK- the Death Star return, mia fcnpira' torerune.) Luke: -Nevermw (u makM a leet attack on Vader) lata (to I wok): tovm a littery wtia UB HIipMI I twirl; ttmwwwn HMutonu raiimem axu, aat proudly Wore buttons handed out by theaters that read: "May the Force Be With You." Producer torn Pollock, who In im was part of an entertainment law firm that represented Lucas, said he was among those who were blown away by that first scene in the film. "The reaction wasn't so much by me or anyone else that, TJh, my God, potataJ' i- EEST The Imperial atormkoopera.

All apooky white armor. Tha tmperta) atorrntroopert. Why tha apooky whrte armor It wont atop a laaerbolt? Bounty hunter Boba Felt Catoh Ihoaa Wooki aoalp on his grungy bettT The enowtrooper. Just Hka stormtmopert, orVy with a plaauo bandanna over the mouth. this is going to make a Pollock recalled.

"It was, TJh, wow 1 didn't know movies could do -It was the movies that had changed. Seeing 'Star Wart' for the first time for most people was an epiphany. It wasn't about being a good movie or a bad movie or a hit movie at the box office. It was, TJh, movies can do this? If they can do this, they can do 6 Director Joh Turteltaub said "The first 'Star Wars' made me realise that you should never underestimate the Imagination of your audience. Most films of that genre were very talky.

They did a lot of explaining. George Lucas just presented his universe as a reality, and the world bought it." Until that moment, Hollywood 1 regularly scoffed at sci-fi buffs like Donald Reed, who ran a group called the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. "That film put us on the map," Reed recalled. "No longer did we have to worry about criticism from people who would say, "Oh, you're science fiction. That's 'Plan 0 From Outer Space' (a reference to director Ed Wood's 1959 cult film, which has been called the worst 1 movie ever made) "Now, they showed some respect," Reed continued.

"The year 1977 was the turning point of my life. It put me on the map." Soon, TV producers came knocking at his door asking Reed if they could telecast his annual Saturn Awards, given out to the best science-fiction films and TV shows of the year. But it went beyond that, Reed said. "The film affected women as well as men, blacks as well as whites, Catholics as well as Protestants, every group," Reed said. "A black kid growing up in the ghetto could identify with "Star Wars' as well as the rich kid in Beverly For the latest film In the "Star Wars saga Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace, Lucas Instructed executives at Fox that he didn't want the film to debut In 8,000 theaters, even though they could Erobably fill them.

Instead, the hew Im was released in approximately i600 to 1,000 theaters, Even so, It was a dramatically different story back on Wednesday, Msy 19, 1977, when the original "Star Wars made its maiden voyage. At the time, Fox had booked the film Into only 31 theaters. By the fourth weekend, It was in only 79 theaters. Not until the fifth week did the film achieve wide release in 362 theaters a pittance by today's standards. "You have to remember, there weren't as many theaters In those days, said Tom Sherak, chairman ot 10th Century Fox Domestic Film Group.

ThiB was a movie that nobody knew about What made this movie was th underground." Anthony Daniels, the British actor who has portrayed C-SPO in every "Star Wars film, said the cut didn't expect the film to become a cultural phenomenon. "1 actually remember ringing the manager of a Wtstwood theater and saying, I'd kind ot like to see this movie with an audience, but I don't want to stand in line because I saw lines going around the Daniels recalled. "I don't think he knew who I was, because he didn't allow me In. battle. Wen) o.

Looks HW a The aneroid ohao. "Never tell ma tie tr aetoroid womt. Looks' Hka a large aook puppet WORST EEST WORST EEST The Death Star trench going In, Red Ona. The Death Star plan. 197B game ol Ponf.

Darth Vadat WORST garbage i Ben, bin. Hefty bags Aunl Bam: '(Uik) got too muoh ol hia tether in him: Lata: into ltd garbage ehuta, DyboyT (And put on this Hefty bag )- but lets hit 1 am your lather," (Take my hand, Dope, The OTMEP. hand.) MttSna to tie aaterotd worth afuilaai. Han, what that ametlf am your tether." Man; "Uugh It up, luabaiir a kKkMki i wtait. Km aueav had just seen, only later kicking themaelyel for hot having bought shares of Fo stock.

As It wss, the price of shares In 10th Century Fox more than doubted in the month after "Star Wars" was released, and sales of "Star Wurs" merchandise soared. At schools, kids with hard-to-get "Star Wars" T-shirts became the talk of the playgrounds. Fans eon! worst "titi NMnVnektiakHlheU i and as soon as that (imperial destroyer) first appeared, everybody broke Into a cheer, yelling and Screaming and )ust Jolng nuts," she said. "And We were Ira students. We thought We knew it all.

Then here comes this thing over our heads with this sound that really shook us." Afterward, the college students spent hours talking about what they fiction films) were gleaming, white, pure flying saucers." Lellani Mcllugh of Pasadena, who with her husband attended the University of Southern California film school at the time, recalled how she and her classmates reacted during an advance screening of "Star Wars" held on the Fox lot. "We were sitting in the theater,.