Why The Phantom Menace Is The Most Ambitious Star Wars Movie
The Star Wars prequels are a divisive series of films, even more so at release. Although some fans defend them, many of whom grew up with the prequels and hold great nostalgic feelings for them, this trilogy was not received that well upon release. This is especially true of The Phantom Menace, the first of the three films.
The hype and excitement for The Phantom Menace prior to its release has seldom been matched in the history of film, with only a select few movies like The Force Awakens and Avengers: Endgame coming anywhere close. Writer and director George Lucas was coming off not only the beloved Star Wars original trilogy, but the Indiana Jones films as well, meaning that expectations were also very high. After its release, many fans were disappointed with this film, saying it didn’t feel like the Star Wars they knew and other complaints along those lines. Ultimately, George Lucas went in an extremely bold direction with The Phantom Menace, making it by far the most ambitious Star Wars film to date.
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Looking back at the original trilogy, there was only so much introduced in those films. There were just a handful of planets, all of which were practical as special effects weren’t at the level required to produce a planet like Mustafar, for example. Lightsaber battles improved greatly with each film, climaxing with the brilliant and incredibly emotional duel between Luke and his father, Darth Vader, in Return of the Jedi. However, the lightsaber battles and many Jedi and Sith fighting skills weren’t introduced here either.
Much of the lore of Star Wars also arrived later, with the expansion of the idea of the Force coming in The Phantom Menace. Even the
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