Revisiting The Phantom Menace: Star Wars Nostalgia vs. Reality By None of these FX-heavy sequences carry any weight because we have no idea why anyone is fighting. Even after all these years, I still can’t explain the story.
As far as I can tell, Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) orchestrates a blockade on Naboo to gain power in the Senate, and that’s about it. Most of the film focuses on Qui-Gon (Liam Neeson) trying to free Anakin Skywalker (Jake Lloyd) from his slave master, even though the kid seems to have it pretty good on Tatooine. The sluggish and drawn-out midsection relies on absurd twists and turns to deliver the famed Pod Race, which Qui-Gon orchestrates without much urgency, despite the film’s repeated emphasis that “they are running out of time” to save Naboo.
Then there’s another boring interlude on Coruscant before the all-out action finale. Admittedly, the Pod Race still looks great, despite an abundance of slapstick and childish humor that undermines the intensity. Yes, Darth Maul is still a cool villain, despite appearing in less than seven minutes of screen time: Ultimately, nothing in The Phantom Menace is necessary to the overarching story.
Instead, this first chapter plays like one of those tie-in books that delivers a few nuggets of backstory for fans to explore before the main event. Sure, it’s kind of fun to see Anakin’s origins, but also not essential, especially since he’s a completely different person at the start of Episode II. Fans want.
