Obviously he didnt deserve the harassment he got regardless. Like even if he was dogshit he wouldnt have deserved that. But I just rewatched Phantom Menace for the first time in awhile. Young friend of mine are going through the star wars movies because she was a sheltered homeschooled kid and hadnt seen them. Already did the OT, starting on the prequels.

Other than the obvious “oh wow, the racial stereotypes of literally three different alien species in this movie is insane”, the main takeaway my rewatch gave me is “wow ok, Jake LLoyd is average at worst”. He was just like, a regular kid actor? Nothing to write home about like say, young Maise Williams or something. But absolutely fine?

  • autismdragon [he/him, they/them]@hexbear.netOP
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    26 days ago

    The pod race is genuinely a blast. As are some parts of the final battle. Jar Jar is mostly annoying and definitely a racial stereotype, but some of his lines got a chuckle out of me even today.

      • autismdragon [he/him, they/them]@hexbear.netOP
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        26 days ago

        As a kid it was my favorite part for sure. But I was pretty into the whole thing. I liked a lot of little things like the design of the Naboo starfighters, the stunning ball weapons the Gungans used, I actually did find Jar Jar funny as a kid, Darth Maul as another person mentioned was super cool. Ect.

        • UlyssesT [he/him]@hexbear.net
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          26 days ago

          Naboo starfighters looked amazing. When The Mandalorian got one in a later season it felt like fanservice specifically targeting me.

            • Z_Poster365 [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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              26 days ago

              I agree there were a couple interesting parts. I just was struck when I rewatched it how dry and boring the vast majority of the movie is. The cool stuff is in like 20 minutes of the run time

              • UlyssesT [he/him]@hexbear.net
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                26 days ago

                Lucas went so far into demonstrating the banality of evil and how decaying liberal governments slide into fascism that he forgot that the banality of evil is banal and hard to watch for too long.

                • Z_Poster365 [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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                  26 days ago

                  He also couldn’t commit to an actual political intrigue plot line with specifics for whatever reason, something complex and philosophical that would please the adults at the very least, even if it bored the children. “Boring” politics can be interesting in the right hands, see The Wire or Deadwood.

                  If you are going to spend 60% of your run time talking about trade agreements and diplomatic treaties and the like, shouldn’t we have some idea of the specifics involved? The separatists and trade federation are so unexplored, we don’t know anything about them except they are bad. Show their economies, their internal politics, their crises that drive them to following the Sith’s leadership, some backstabbing and jockeying, etc.

                  Instead we don’t know anything about the trade of this confederation! Or the grievances of the separatists. The topic of slavery is shown but never addressed.

      • Smeagolicious [they/them]@hexbear.net
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        26 days ago

        Heyy lets not forget, kids (me included) loved Darth Maul. People complain about the choreography being “impractical” and “unrealistic” now but the final battle is so damn hype with Duel of the Fates blasting…

        • Z_Poster365 [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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          26 days ago

          Darth Maul looks sick as fuck, but it’s weird how he pops out of nowhere and is basically not a character but a plot device. We don’t know his motivations or story or anything. Pretty weird for the main antagonist of a film to just appear at the end for the final battle without actually doing anything villainous throughout the plot of the film

          As a kid I was just pretty confused. Who is this guy? It’d be like if Darth Vader came on screen for the first time in the 6th film right before throwing the emperor down the hole

          The mystery around him was pretty intriguing but it never paid off in the movies. We never get any reveal about who he was or his race of people or faction or anything like that. No consequences or plot further on involve Maul. It’s like he came and went without any relation to the overall story. Qui-gon needed to die, and the movie needed an interesting end fight scene so he exists, but for no other reason really.

          • Smeagolicious [they/them]@hexbear.net
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            26 days ago

            Oh he’s 100% a wasted character and an underwhelming plot device - wish he had more compelling ties to the story and characters, but purely from an aesthetic and action perspective he’s very well done IMO. Kid me was already on the shit that I currently love doing with fiction: I assumed he was just “some new dark jedi” that surely must have been doing evil somewhere in the huge expansive universe, and that his story had only started intersecting with the main characters’ now. Obviously it didn’t turn out anything like this lol.

            We never get any reveal about who he was or his race of people or faction or anything like that.

            On the one hand I love expanding the scope and feel of a setting by making it detailed and fleshed out but having a bit of mystery is key, otherwise you end up like a lot of new star wars, mcu, trek, etc. media that just has to explain every little thing you’ve ever seen on screen