![]() The latter of which is excellently scored by John Williams and features top notch choreography. The pod race, a souped up extension to Return of the Jedi's speed-biker pursuits, is one of the series' highlights, as is the showdown between Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan and Darth Maul (Ray Park), a superbly cool villain with an even cooler double ended light sabre. So yes, full of flaws (many others exist for different people of course), but the whizz bangery of the action and set pieces keep it, to my mind, far away from stinker status. While of course the writing is borderline tepid, full of a need to explain things and prove itself as a reason to exist. Lucas? Really?), close to the knuckle racial stereotyping and the absence of a Hans Solo type to stir the blood of both sexes. Sure the old problems still exist, dodgy acting (why is McGregor playing it so fey?), Binks (aargh), fart gags (really Mr. Watching it sparkle in HD and disassociating it with those golden memories of 77, 80 and 83, it has much to enjoy. Their argument was that free of hype and expectation, "Menace" can really be enjoyed as a sort of popcorn and beer sci-fi blockbuster. After the prequel trilogy had run its course, I was often asked by some film loving friends to give "Menace" another go. So whilst I wasn't one of the "fans" who at the time accused Lucas of ruining childhood memories, I was suitably annoyed to stay away from the film for over ten years. ![]() On a personal note, I was one of the fans who came out of the cinema after watching it the first time and hated it. Mistakes were made, for sure, but for action and intrigue the film scores points well enough. It's not a great film by any stretch of the imagination, but it is a fun movie experience, and in retrospect it can be said that Lucas and co learnt from the film to make the next two film's in the series better. But that's not to say the film deserved such rich financial rewards, because all told it didn't. That the film in box office receipts alone made almost $930 million, has, tended to be forgotten. Perhaps unsurprisingly? The Phantom Menace failed to meet the expectation of Star Wars fans and critics alike. The most anticipated movie of all time arrived in 1999, hyped into the stratosphere, the fanfare and bunting stretched from Hollywood to the far corners of the cinema loving world. Meanwhile, as hostilities escalate in the galaxy, the mysterious Sith is moving into the equation. The Jedi feel the force is strong with young Skywalker and enlist him into the group with the intention of training him to become a Jedi Knight. During the journey the party stops over at Tatooine and encounter a young boy named Anakin Skywalker. Plot basically follows Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn (Neeson) and his apprentice padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi (McGregor), who escort and protect Queen Amidala (Portman) from Naboo to Coruscant in the hope of finding peace as an interplanetary trade dispute starts to boil over. The fourth film released in the Star Wars franchise, it is, however, the first of three prequels that lead up to Star Wars that was released in 1977. ![]() Submit the additions you don't think we should be without at the bottom, after voting for your top Star Wars characters.Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace is written, produced and directed by George Lucas and stars Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Jake Lloyd and Ian McDiarmid. After much Force-focusing, here are the 30 most iconic Star Wars characters to inspire the imaginations of audiences across this little blue planet.īut don't just take our word for it. With such a Death Star-sized catalogue of films and countless other properties, each full of quirky creatures, narrowing this list down was tougher than a Storm Trooper’s rubber boot. It was tough to whittle it down to that number, given how much the Star Wars world has expanded of late but hopefully you find your pick on the list. UPDATE: We have hit 30 in our list of best Star Wars characters. So many, in fact, we must issue an apology to the unfortunately maligned characters who didn’t make this list – Wicket, Sabine Wren, Qui-Gon Jinn, Grand Moff Tarkin we love you, promise. That's because the Star Wars universe (or, more accurately, the galaxy far, far away) has given us some of the biggest stars in space itself, and the most instantly recognisable characters, ever.īecause there were already many awesome characters in the core movies, but there have been plenty more in the wider Star Wars canon, like in the comics, TV shows and animated series. Picking the best Star Wars characters is more of a challenge than making the Kessel Run in 12 parsecs.
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