Every “Star Wars” movie is somebody’s favorite, and every “Star Wars” movie has things to love — but rarely does a film challenge that philosophy like 1999’s “The Phantom Menace.”
Something of a famous fiasco, “The Phantom Menace”‘s release was preceded by almost unprecedented hype at the return of new “Star Wars” movies to the big screen, and for the definitive origin of Darth Vader.
But what made it to cinemas was a somewhat stilted, often boring fable that tried to parse an origin for not just Darth Vader as a once-lovable young boy but for the Force as a chemical reaction among New Agey-microbeings.
Couched in a byzantine plot about trade differences manipulated by the Sith, “The Phantom Menace” saddled the best parts of its meandering story with the worst parts — including endless comic relief characters, unrelatable dialogue, and a sense that the “magic” of “Star Wars” just wasn’t there in the way fans hoped.
That said, some folks do love “The Phantom Menace” down to its faults, and viewers who were younger when the film arrived, or who have seen it in the intervening years, it remains an endearing experience bolstered by the coolness of characters such as Darth Maul and the young Obi-Wan Kenobi, both of whom wound up better served by later media.
Let’s block ads! (Why?)