and it addresses some very interesting issues about the film. I'd like to post the first few paragraphs in case any one who might happen to enjoy Star Wars is reading-
1999 stands as an important year in film, if for no other reason than for the historic return of three of American cinema’s biggest icons to their respective director’s chairs. It was the year that Terrence Malick came back from his decades-long sojourn into the wilderness of French academia after his celebrated couplet of 70’s filmmaking—Badlands and Days of Heaven—to finally offer a third effort with the World War II drama The Thin Red Line. It was the year that Eyes Wide Shut opened in theaters, a movie which proved to be not only Stanley Kubrick's return to filmmaking after twelve long years, but his swan song, as well. Finally, it was the year that George Lucas returned to hands-on directing with Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, a movie which enjoyed far more popular success than either director’s combined filmography, but still remains unaccepted by followers of cinema at large.
Unlike Kubrick and Malick, Lucas remained an active filmmaker in the twenty-two years following the original Star Wars, since retitled A New Hope. While nominally delegating on-set duties to men like Irvin Kershner and Richard Marquand, seasoned veterans with steadier hands in the delicate art of actor-wrangling, Lucas’ eagle-eye vision for panoramic tableaux, crisply cut montage and dynamic compositions remained intact. In The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, Lucas proved himself a modern-day Alexander Korda, the kind of man who involves himself so heavily in his productions that he holds a legitimate claim to be called auteur over his directors. Like a somewhat less maverick, somewhat more sane version of Howard Hughes, he successfully orchestrated his movies as a backstage mastermind, calling the shots through storyboards and occasional set-visits, even manning the cameras himself for scenes he deemed too important to let fall into the wrong hands. Every frame of both films is so deeply ingrained with Lucas’ visual stamp, it hardly seems to matter how much time he spent in the office while strangers minded the making of his movies—he could be every bit the director over the phone without ever phoning it in.
Therefore, when the time came for The Phantom Menace to begin shooting, it struck many as surprising that Lucas would decide to direct another film by himself, especially after having repeatedly sworn that he’d never do it again, following the nightmare that A New Hope’s production became in the face of an indifferent British crew. Thanks to the rapid advancements of 90’s CGI technology, however, Lucas felt confident that his attention could successfully remain engaged on-set for the duration of shooting, free from the obligations of tending to the minutia of his army of special-effects artists which kept him so preoccupied in the past. Like Kubrick and Malick, his work was criticized, accused of having lost some of its touch in the time he’d spent away from directing. Yet while Eyes Wide Shut and The Thin Red Line have gained appreciative followings over the years, The Phantom Menace has yet to find a home outside of mainstream popularity and the cult of fans the previous Star Wars movies built, of whom a vocal many were about as happy with the film as most serious-minded critics were.
Those who write off Episode I, however, do so at the risk of overlooking a vibrant, if occasionally shaky enterprise in strong, assertive movie storytelling. Throughout the picture, and the rest of the Prequel Trilogy, Lucas displays the same sharp filmmaking instincts that for better or worse shaped the cinematic zeitgeist for the better part of the last 25 years of the 20th century. Crafted with an expressive sequence of visionary set-pieces and cliffhanger driven storylines, The Phantom Menace succeeded in capturing both the imaginations and attention-spans of audiences worldwide, despite the loads of aesthetic baggage that its detractors remain unable to overcome. While the film’s critics have rightly pointed out a number of drawbacks it suffers from, it’s important to note that many if not most of these faults arrive not due to any lack of talent on its director’s part, but rather from the fact that with the Prequels, Lucas attempts to tell a set of stories significantly different from those of the Original Trilogy.
Very interesting read for a Star Wars fan. Also, I must add that 'Duel of the Fates', or the theme for Darth Maul composed by John Williams is one of the most brilliant pieces of music used in any film, ever.
