Ask hardcore “Star Wars” fans which movie in the series they consider to be the worst, and you’ll likely hear one title over and over again: “The Phantom Menace”, the long-awaited but universally reviled 1999 movie that kicked off the prequel trilogy that continued with 2002’s “Attack of the Clones” and concluded with 2005’s “Revenge of the Sith”.
While that opinion is also supported by Rotten Tomatoes (where “The Phantom Menace” has a score of just 55 per cent, the lowest of any “Star Wars” film) it turns out the film’s director shared the same opinion, feeling the Force was not strong with this one.
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The Hollywood Reporter looks back at a behind-the-scenes featurette included as an extra in the DVD release of “The Phantom Menace”, which includes footage of George Lucas reacting to an early screening of the movie.
“It’s a little disjointed,” Lucas says after the screening. “It’s bold in terms of jerking people around. I may have gone too far in a few places.”
That view is shared by the film’s editor, Ben Burtt, who adds: “In a space of about 90 seconds, you go from lamenting the death of a hero to escape to slightly comedic with Jar Jar to Anakin returning… It’s a lot in a very short time.”
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“It boggles the mind, I have thought about this quite a bit, and the tricky part is you almost can’t take any of those pieces out of it now, because each one takes you to the next place. And you can’t jump because you don’t know where you are,” Lucas says.
“I do a particular kind of movie of which this is consistent,” adds the director. “But it is a very hard movie to follow.”