Though there will always be those who defend the film, most of us felt pretty well burned by George Lucas’ return to the Star Wars universe with The Phantom Menace. Some of us disliked it right away. For others, it took time and multiple viewings for the disappointment to appear. Now, years later, the idea of liking it at all seems impossible. It’s a blight.
But The Phantom Menace is so much more than just a movie. To judge it solely on cinematic terms, while certainly valid since it IS a movie, ignores the film’s true value as this massive shared cultural event the likes of which probably won’t ever be repeated. When viewed through that lens, The Phantom Menace feels almost glorious.
In 1998, the anticipation for a new Star Wars film was something that defies explanation. Those too young to have experienced it first hand can’t fully understand what it felt like. It is similar, yet not quite analogous to our current anticipation for The Force Awakens. We didn’t also have a slate of Marvel movies to distract us. There was no big fight between Batman and Superman on the horizon. The big, milestone sci-fi movie to actually win our hearts the following year, The Matrix, was a film we didn’t even know about. Star Wars was it. The trilogy had just been rereleased into theaters, and a new trilogy was on the way. We had the fever.
Every new thing we learned, every photo or new detail, was like an explosion. The Internet, especially the movie corners of the Internet, was in its infancy, and The Phantom Menace played a big part in shaping it into the beast it is today. When the trailer finally came out, I waited something like three hours to download it on a dial-up connection. I’m sure many others have similar stories.
We would still do that today if we had to. But we don’t! And while a new Star Wars trailer will certainly command our interest, the thrill simply cannot last as long when there are so many other high profile news items nipping at its heels.
Yesterday we got a bunch of new Force Awakens photos courtesy of Vanity Fair. The photos were exciting and looked good, but they also feel a bit like old news already. Meanwhile, the Vanity Fair spread for The Phantom Menace’s Vanity Fair still seems monumental, almost iconic:
Look at all the promise. We can see aspects of what sunk that film all over the place in hindsight, but at the time, this was going to be the greatest movie ever. Liam Neeson! Darth Maul! C-3PO is all wires and shit!
As the film drew closer, the fervor only grew. People started camping out. Photos of toys, news of the novelization, rampant rumors… all this stuff that we now see on an almost daily basis landed with substantial impact and excitement. It was a wonderful, singular experience building toward something that got closer with each passing day.
Ultimately, it was all in service of a film we now easily dismiss as awful, so much so that the memory of our collective excitement has become almost regretful. Some of us had hopes for the next two films, and they certainly enjoyed bright spotlights as well, but it wasn’t quite the same. There was a sort of innocence about the lead-up to The Phantom Menace. The film’s ultimate disappointment in the face of such amazing promise taught us skepticism.
But it was fun. However the film turned out, nothing can take away the excitement of that year before release. Instead of focusing on all the film got wrong, my brain just kind of skips the movie entirely and recalls seeing the new toys for the first time or collecting the Star Wars Pepsi cans or going to Taco Bell way more than normal to find those big Phantom Menace character cup toppers. If it took a bad movie to have all that fun and excitement, so be it.