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Customer Reviews of The Phandom Menace

The force is weak in this one
The Star Wars Universe is an interesting place to visit, but eventually you have to return to reality. But don't tell the geeks of the Australian fan club STAR WALKING, that galaxy far, far away is their reality. That can be a problem. That is also the problem with this documentary film. It doesn't examine the Star Wars fan phenomenon, rather the ins and outs of one certain club as they await THE PHANTOM MENACE. Thus the Star Wars geek is seen as small and exclusive rather then the widespread menace that exists in the US. There are some nice moments. One worth sharing is the one-time STAR WALKING President's extremely apologetic defense of EPISODE 1. Months later he returns with an extremely negative attack on the same film. Either apologetic or negative, it's the "extremely" that makes this guy a geek. That universe was created for entertainment, come back to this one. Sadly, the good moments of this film could be edited together into a nice 5-10 minute piece on 60 MINUTES, but as an hour-long feature, it makes the bad mistake of being boring.

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Glimpse the Obsession
This documentary plots the lives of the guiding members of Star Walking, an Australian Star Wars fan club. Leading up to Australian release of Episode 1: The Phantom Menace, the appreciation society puts on two conventions, one before and after. Besides chronicling the heights of obsession and the lifelike costuming exhibited by these people, the film works as a study in the reaction of hardcore fans to Episode 1. The films message, which seems to echo in the administrative changes in Star Walking after viewing the film, is the 16-year wait for another Lucas chapter in the saga resulted in a build-up, euphoria on first viewing the film and subsequent deflation as that hardcore fan, the fan that lived through the releases of the first three films, analyzed Episode 1, and found it wanting.

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Essential viewing for Geoge Lucas
In the promotional poster for the Phandom Menace that I saw at my local video rental store, this Documentary billed itself as the "Australian Trekkies". If only this were the case.

The documentary tells the tale of several Australian "Star Wars" fan clubs and the events leading up to their first viewing of the long anticipated "Episode I" of the Star Wars saga. As in "Trekkies" many of the fans take their passion to extreme lengths (though the Australians seem a bit less quirky, and a bit less socially maladapted, than their American "trek" counterparts) and have often invested a great deal of money in purchasing Star Wars figurines, lunch boxes, posters, clothing, assorted promotional packaging, and actual artifacts from the first three films. It is clear that they love Lucas's universe.

As with the Trekkies, many Star Wars fans enjoy dressing up as favorite characters or alien races- sometimes earning a little money on the side by making promotional appearances at the local mall. Many of the costumes are astounding. And, just as the Trekkies do, nothing pleases Star Wars fans more than to obsess about the minutiae of their fantasy universe.

This subject matter would seem perfect for an amusing documentary on people pursuing their greatest passions- as several of the films of Errol Morris demonstrate. Sadly, however, this documentary is bland and largely without humor. What it does have is modern editing technique. It appears to have been edited by expert, but overly exuberant, students wanting to try all the features of their fresh new copy of Final Cut Pro. Too many MTV-like do-dads appearing on the screen during interviews and transitions distract from the humanity of the people who are the subject of the film. Watching it, one has the strange feeling that one is watching an extended promotion for an actual documentary yet to come. Moreover, many of interviews and video snippets seem to have been cut short just before things began to get interesting. For instance, a "Star Wars" trivia contest is talked about, and the opening ceremonies for it are shown, but, as soon as an actual and amusing question is asked the impatient editor cuts away. The worst omission occurs during the premiere of "Star Wars: The Phantom Menace". Jittery, anxious, exuberant fans are made to wait while various thank yous are given, but, when the lights dim, and the film is about to begin- at exactly the point where one would expect a orgiastic roar of approval to the immortal words "a long, long, time ago..."- the editors have decided that it would be more interesting to cut away. We never see the wild applause and cheering- though we do get a moon.

The one worthwhile element to this film is the last third. We follow the process of members of the fan club as they wait in line for tickets, then wait in line to enter the first midnight showing of "Episode I". It is a festival atmosphere. Many have pre-ordered tickets for 4 or 5 or 6 showings of the film on the very first day. Some announce that they plan to see it once a day for the next week. "I hope it's good" one says, because he's invested a great deal of money and time in pre-paid tickets. Of course it will be, others assure him, is the great George Lucas we're talking about, here.

After the showing, the filmmakers cleverly include the initial reaction to the movie- exuberant, positive, strangely a bit forced- and the reaction several weeks on- for most it is one of disappointment. "It lacks the soul of the earlier ones" the president of the fan club states. In follow up interviews we get the sense that part of the reason why this founder and president of the documented fan club- a man who lived, breathed and invested in Star Wars for the better part of 15 years-was pushed into final retirement by the monumental letdown that was "Episode I."

The "extra features" of the film are only mildly interesting. Much of the material in the is simply an unedited version of the same interviews we saw in the documentary itself. The commentary track is similarly redundant.

Sadly, this film was not released until recently. George Lucas, who seems oblivious to the fact the primary reason "TPM" was as successful as it was is that it rode on the coattails of the original three episodes, would have been well served to have watched this film. All Star Wars fans would have been well served. People were ready to like "TPM" and would have forgiven its many ills had it not been the soul-less snooze-fest that it was. As I write this, the opening day of "Attack of the Clones" is 3 days off and the initial critical review is in. It appears Lucas has not learned his lesson. If only this documentary had been released in late 1999...