Star Wars: The Phantom Menace was recently re-released to theaters with a 3D makeover. Even though I am a fan of science fiction, including Star Wars, there was no way I was going to spend $7.50 to sit through over two hours of poorly written dialogue and story…was there a story? The only good things about this movie were Liam Neeson, Ewen Mcgreggor, Samuel L. Jackson, and the effects. Even though the afore mentioned actors have all been in some of my absolute favorite movies, and turned out excellent performances elsewhere, their appearances were not enough to save this worthless movie. I admit they did their best, but there is only so much one can do with bad writing and no leeway to tighten the script.
That leaves the special effects. The movie was first released in 1999, and at the time, computer generated imagery had been in use for less than 20 years (Star Trek II and the Last Starfighter were two of the first to use the technique,) and even at this point, scenes involving cgi were limited to a handful of shots per film. The Phantom Menace was one of the first films to incorporate cgi into nearly ever shot of the film. After its run in theaters, this abundance of cgi effects quickly became prevalent in science fiction and fantasy film, and like Phantom Menace, plot, story, and character development was being grossly neglected.
This is what I call The Phantom Menace Effect.
While the second and third entries to the prequel trilogy weren’t…quite…as bad, they still suffered from too much attention being paid to how the movie looked than how it played out and what was coming out of the character’s mouths. This effect would also be found in several comic book based movies such as “The Hulk,” “The Fantastic Four,” and “Ghost Rider.”
But, even as the prequel trilogy was shattering peoples’ faith in the future of sci-fi/fantasy, we were given Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter to show how effects can be used to enhance the story rather than take its place. The comic book movie enterprise soon caught on and we were given “Iron Man,” “The Incredible Hulk” and soon to be critiqued “The Avengers.” (The Batman movies and Captain America were awesome, but not many cgi effects were used, comparatively speaking.)
These are just a few examples of how cgi effects can be use and misused by filmmakers. The last Star Trek film made had the most cgi in the franchise, and it was one of the better entries to the series. And for the part, the Phantom Menace effect isn’t as pronounced as it once was, but it still happens.
But when I mention “the Phantom Menace effect,” this is what I’m talking about.
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