The odds were really stacked against this film from the outset.  How could it live up to the expectations of diehard fans like myself?  The fact that 20^th Century Fox were unable to achieve the desired simultaneous global release and the unprecedented media hype surrounding the film meant that most cinema goers were already overly familiar with the characters and storyline.

One criticism leveled against this movie is that nothing really happens.  This is true to a certain extent because in this episode Mr. Lucas really only intends to introduce us to the main protagonists.  Some of the films set pieces such as the Podrace sequence are included to further emphasise the character's personal traits.  We learn that Anakin is the only human able to compete in the podraces and that he is able to do so because he can see what is going to happen before it does.  It is therefore Anakin's untutored and perhaps unintentional use of the force that has kept him out of trouble on the podrace circuit.  We all already know what happens to the excitable boy who when not racing or working in his master's shop he is building an automated butler / housekeeper to help his mother with her chores.  How much tension can you create when so much of the outcome is already known to the audience.

CONCENTRATE HERE'S THE SCIENCE BIT

The audience is introduced to a new aspect of the force, midiclorians.  In the seventies we just accepted the force as "hokey religion" but know we are told of the midiclorian level.  The more midiclorians (force sensitive bacteria) present in someone’s blood cells the more open they are to the Force.  This attempt to explain the hitherto mysterious force reduces it to the level of unfathomable nonsense usually found in other science fiction realms.  The creator of the force has long argued that his films are a space opera, the telling of one man's fall from grace.  Quite why he attempts to explain away the "spirituality" of the force is beyond this reviewer.  I can only assume that it is a reflection on the film's target audience who are perhaps both younger and less likely to blindly accept anything that can not be proven or explained in definitive terms, than the audience of the original trilogy.

Before the release of the film many column inches and much web server space was devoted to one new character in particular, the tattooed, horned Sith Lord who added the name Maul to the big screen's coolest villains when he added a second blade to his lightsaber.  The names Darth Maul and Darth Sidious had been bandied about the Internet for at least three years before hitting the screen.

Until the Phantom Menace, comedy had never been a big part of the Star Wars ethos but this time out we are introduced to the inimitable Jar Jar Binks. (I say inimitable but my three-year-old daughter has him pretty much nailed.) Whilst in the original trilogy C3P0 and R2D2 often provided comic relief in their guise as mechanical "fools" in the Shakespearian tradition there were no overtly comical scenes (with the possible exception of Chewbacca roaring at the "mouse droid") the latest installment features many attempt at amusing the audience. Jar Jar, we learn, is a clumsy creature banished from his home because of the many accidents he has caused. His clumsiness and somewhat basic nature becomes the butt of many of the film’s jokes. No doubt the "South Park" generation thought it was absolutely hilarious when the Gungan stepped in some Ronto droppings and no doubt his tongue out expression is being mimicked in nursery schools around the world. By the time he almost single headedly wipes out the Trade Federations droid army due to a series of clumsy escapes most viewers over the age of six have had quite enough of Mr. Binks.

At the end of the day The Phantom Menace does what it sets out to do. It introduces us to the main players in the saga and it manages to do so without losing the viewer’s interest (although there were a few dodgy times during the Senate scene).

We are rewarded with the breathtaking Podrace sequence and an enthralling three-way lightsaber battle, which may bring merit to the film in the form of Technical awards.

As an adventure film The Phantom Menace succeeds in entertaining the viewer for most of it’s two and a half hours although it looks as if many hard core fans will have to wait until 2002 for an epiphany.

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