Title: Star Wars, episode 1: ‘The Phantom Menace’
Genre: Fantasy
Director: George Lucas
Description:
‘The Phantom Menace’, made in 1999, was the first episode released of the ‘Star Wars’ franchise. However, it was not the first movie made in the ‘Star Wars’ franchise. It talks about an invasion on Naboo, and Naboo attempting to take its planet back from Darth Sidious. The invasion is illegal, unless a contract is signed. Therefore, the viceroy must make the queen sign the contract, making the invasion legal and thus, owning the planet. It also reveals an interesting slave-boy known as “Anakin Skywalker”, or “Ani”, with an unusual characteristic of having more midichlorians than any other human ever recorded. Thus, Gui Gon, one of the protagonists, attempts to convince the Jedi council to train him as a young apprentice.
Main Actors:
- Liam Neeson
- Ewan McGregor
- Natalia Portman
- Jake Lloyd
- Frank Oz
- Ian Mcdiarmid
Characters List:
Jar Jar Binks:
A gungan, Jar Jar, was kicked out of his home due to his clumsy behaviour. He had then encountered Qui Gon Jinn. During the invasion, he was made a general of the army heading up to fight the droids.
Anakin Skywalker:
Although born a free boy, Anakin’s mother soon went heavily into debt. In order to pay their debt, she had made Anakin and herself slaves of Watto for a time. Soon after two jedi crashed into Tatooine, it was discovered that he had over 20,000 midichlorians, which was higher than the highest ever recorded. After a quick race, in which Qui Gon Jinn bet on freeing the boy, Anakin was soon pulled under the wings of the jedi, in order to train to become one of the jedi.
Chancellor Palpatine:
Secretly a sith lord, Chancellor Palpatine is the senator of Naboo. He is secretly the one who plotted for the invasion of Naboo, hoping the queen would be forced to accept the deal. Later known as ‘Emperor Palpatine’, Chancelor hopes to rebirth the sith, and is the master of Darth Maul.
Darth Maul:
The apprentice of Chancellor Palpatine, he was sent to kill Obi Wan and Qui Gon Jinn within this movie. He is a dathomirian, and is dedicated to the dark side. He was the hypothetical apprentice, and was only killed after Obi Wan Kenobi stabbed him in the back with a lightsaber. He is red in color, as the picture below shows.
Obi Wan Kenobi:
During this movie, Obi Wan Kenobi is a young jedi padawan, who is the apprentice of Qui Gon Jinn. He helps his master; Acting as an ambassador in order to stop the illegal invasion of Naboo. As they nearly get killed fighting the droids, they manage to escape, in one of the many cool fighting scenes. As they crashed into Tatooine, Obi Wan takes a sample of Anakin’s hair from Qui Gon Jinn, in which the scanner reads that Anakin has over 20,000 midichlorians. When Qui Gon Jinn died, Obi Wan decided to train the boy himself, following his master’s wishes.
Qui Gon Jinn:
The master of Obi Wan Kenobi, Qui Gon Jinn was the other person sent in to negotiate with the trade federation. After getting forced off the ship by gas, Qui Gon Jinn and his apprentice, Obi Wan, set off to try to force the trade federation to leave Naboo.
And More!
My Take on the movie:
When watching this movie, I genuinely liked the film, as well as the story behind it. I liked the fight scenes, showing the droids fighting the gungans, and the very cool lightsaber battles. While it’s not the best movie out of the bunch, I would watch it again, and would still be as interested in it as I was the very first time. However, there are a few flaws with the story, especially for somebody who hasn’t watched all of the Star Wars saga. Those mistakes are in the form of storytelling. While I could understand most of it, I had not understood some important, relevant information sometimes. Overall, a good movie, and one to watch whenever you’re bored.
Rating: 8/10
