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Star Wars Episode I: the Phantom Menace (1999)
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No matter how hard George Lucas has tried to recapture the magic of the original films, that vital sense of wonder is missing from this first prequel to the original Star Wars films. Instead, Lucas provides a welter of incident, cosmic dilemmas, cryptic forebodings and idiotic dialogue. It's absolutely phenomenal on the visual front, but completely mindless in the story department as characters are placed in position to explain what we already know. Forget the overworked plot about Queen Amidala (Natalie Portman) trying to stop the Trade Federation invading her peaceful planet with help from Jedi Knights Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) and Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor). Marvel instead at the state-of-the-art technical wizardry and fizzing action that's just enough to keep nostalgic wistfulness at bay. AJ
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Tell us what you think
Email us at rtfilmcomments@bbc.co.uk to tell us what you think of this film. Your comments may appear in Radio Times magazine.
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Running time
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132min
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Country of origin
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US
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Genre
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Science-fiction Epic Adventure
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Alternate title
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Star Wars: Episode I,
The Phantom Menace
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Original language
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English
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Screenplay
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George Lucas
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Theatrical distributor
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20th Century Fox Film Co. Ltd
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UK cinema certificate
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U
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UK cinema release date
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July 1999
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Film certification logos reproduced by kind permission of BBFC |
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