Wednesday, May 19, 1999

'Phantom Menace' needs a heart

---

Awesome techno-wizardry has a hole where humans should be

BY MARGARET A. McGURK
The Cincinnati Enquirer

MOVIE REVIEW

Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace    (PG; sci-fi violence)    Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman. 132 minutes. Written and directed by George Lucas.     National Amusements, Danbarry Middletown, Princess Oxford, Showplace 8, Midway Bethel, Walnut Lawrenceburg, Colony Square.

        To make Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace writer-director-producer George Lucas spent the better part of four years creating the movie's special effects. With the human actors, he spent about four months.

        It is no wonder then that this breathlessly awaited film event is a stunning visual spectacle with not much more emotional heft than a video game.

        That's not to say it lacks entertainment value. On the contrary, all that loving attention to computer-generated illusions pays off with jaw-dropping results. Bizarre intergalactic creatures interact seamlessly with humans; space vehicles sleek and strange abound; a sprawling underwater city looks magical and utterly real at the same time.

        Among the brawniest set pieces in which Mr. Lucas and company kick out the computer-generated jams is a contest that looks like a faster, flying version of a chariot race crossed with the Indy 500. In it, Anakin Skywalker — an extremely gifted 8-year-old discovered by passing Jedi knights — pilots his homemade racing machine.

        That scene and other great action sequences make the scenes centered on humans seem weirdly flat, even perfunctory.

        Part of the reason may be the complexity of the plot, in which a pair of Jedi knights becomes embroiled in the fate of a peaceful planet called Naboo, which is threatened by an evil trade group. Along the way, they find little Anakin and take him off to make him one of their own. So many threads are spun that the climax of the movie involves no less than four simultaneous battles — some between armies, some hand-to-hand.

Special section, latest updates

        It is too bad that events so often crowd out the people, because the movie is terrifically cast.

        Young Jake Lloyd plays Anakin with fierce intensity — although at least some of his lines reportedly were dubbed by child actor Harley Adams, now appearing in Les Miserables at the Aronoff Center.

        Liam Neeson, with more screen time than his co-stars, turns his Jedi knight, Qui-Gon Jinn, into a smashing mythic hero. All sci-fi fantasies should inspire such confidence.

        Ewan McGregor is Qui-Gon's apprentice, Obi-Wan Kenobi — the same character played in the original trilogy by Alec Guinness. Mr. McGregor cunningly models his accent and tone of voice on Sir Alec. Otherwise, one of the movie's harshest disappointments is how little he is given to do. Aside from a furious, balletic final fight scene, we see nothing of Mr. McGregor's dazzling energy or wickedly appealing personality.

        Natalie Portman is marvelously self-assured as the girl-queen of Naboo, a role for which her dazzling costumes should get equal billing. Unencumbered by the queen's fancy gear, she shows glimmers of deep compassion in her scenes with young Anakin. But again, the movie hurries along so quickly these scenes mostly serve to hint at what's to come in the next two films, rather than to develop the characters.

        Ahmed Best supplies the voice and body of Jar-Jar Binks, the amphibious guide who sticks with the Jedi for most of the movie. Technically, this is a fascinating character to watch, part live actor, part computer animation, speaking in a strange, strangled voice.

        As the movie's chief comic figure, however, Jar-Jar is a let-down. The movie strives hard to sell him as a lovable clown, and the effort shows — which of course, is the kiss of death to comedy.

        The first Star Wars was, by today's standards, cheaply made. Even school kids can outdo its special effects on their home computers. But its characters connected. You could feel something for them, and believe they felt something for one another.

        In this case, the imbalance is reversed. It seems Mr. Lucas was so busy making his movie look fantastic that he forgot to give it a heart.

Tell us what you think
Don't force 'Star Wars' on me Cliff Radel column
Fans flock to 'Phantom Menace'
Movie mania strikes stores

---

Short Vine may charge for Sunday night entry
Casinos could need luck in Covington
City hopes to break new ground by selling convention center
Heritage, tradition clash in nickname dispute
Reward for suspect reaches $6,000
Grandpa's grief over dying boy turns to good
Kids petition: Don't ban ice cream man
Rescued pilot insists peace is worth risks
UC is taking hospital workers' parking spots
Utility reform bill goes to House
County, city fret about losing frequencies
Repairs led to kid porn material
Child-sex case may grow, police say
GET TO IT
'Love! Valour!' funny, spirited
Uterine fibroids procedure offers hysterectomy option
Crossing guard solution sought
Fired worker criticizes DHL in suit
Five Lebanon teen-agers hurt in wreck
HMO plan may bar lawsuits
Jail opponents rattle cages
Land battle may land in court
Lebanon picks manager
Man held in beating death at bar
Mason schools squeezed
Ohio House to reconsider lemon law
OU equipping dorms with computers
School-levy triumph repeated
School overflows to local church
Six-day peace walk ends
Stolen money catalyst for student's winning essay
Striking worker hit by truck
TRISTATE DIGEST
Twelve injured in 10-vehicle pileup
Visit to Balkans calms Voinovich