Starring: Mike Myers, Heather Graham, Rob Lowe, Robert Wagner
Directed by Jar Roach
I really wanted to enjoy this film, I really did. I was expecting a film as witty and inventive as the first film. But sadly it's more of a rehash of the first, with many of the same jokes simply expanded upon till the point that they're no longer funny. A clear example of this is the opening credits where objects are placed in front of Austin to cover his nudity. Funny in the first film, tedious in this.
This clearly is Myers film, even more than the first. He's constantly on screen, playing three separate characters, but all seem so desperate to raise laughs that the discerning viewer can't help feel that their expected to laugh, rather than simply made to. The rest of the cast has little to do other than make sure they don't get in Myer's way and smile and look sexy when expected.
In the original film Powers was cheesy and charming, and it worked because of the 'fish out of water' context, but here the film desparately lacks Elizabeth Hurley's straight foil - everyone laughs with Austin in this film, instead of at him.
That's not to say that there aren't some great moments in the film, and there are five or six 'laugh out loud' moments, but the film feels like a less funny, muted version of The Simpsons - a sure sign that they should never make a live action version of the series. For example, the scene where Scott Evil and Dr. Evil appear on Jerry Springer is very funny, but not as funny as the last Simpsons Halloween special where Maggie, Kang and Kudos (the space aliens) kill him.
Out of the cast, Heather Graham, who I've always held a special place in my heart for every since she played Dale Cooper's girlfriend in Twin Peaks, fares the best, stealing the occasional funny scene away from Myers, and she does look utterly beautiful. Other than that, the rest of the cast have little to do. Rob Lowe turns in a passable impression of Robert Wagner, but his cameo in the first film was far funnier, and this is hardly going to give him the much needed career boost he deserves. And everyone else is simply passable. Indeed it was moments like Lowe's cameo in the first film that made it so funny, you never knew what might happen next, but here what you see is what you get. Their's no originality, no freshness. The scenes where people stare at Dr. Evil's phallus shaped spacecraft is the perfect example. It's a joke which has been done a thousand times before. And it's a joke which thinks it's far funnier than it actually is.
Myers wishes to turn Austin Powers in to a franchise, ala James Bond, but if he does he must change the formula, because I can't imagaine anyone wanting to sit through the same jokes a third time
Dir: George Lucas. Starring: Jake Lloyd, Ewan McGregor, Liam Neeson, Samuel L. Jackson, Natalie Portman.
It all depends on what you're expecting from this movie. If you've been waiting all your life for this movie then you're bound to be disappointed. Plot, acting, script are all pretty much below par - but then we all know that George Lucas is hardly the greatest writer/director of all time. Ethan Coen, David Lynch, Woody Allen and Orson Welles are all contenders, but Lucas? Nah, I don't think so, somehow. But what he is good at is producing enjoyable big budget spectacles. And that's all the Phantom Menace is. Cause the acting are all one note affairs (as most of the cast have testified), the script is cheesy and at times painful, and the plot, well, it hardly matters nowadays, it seems.
But for pure spectacle, Lucas delivers in spades. Breathtaking computer animation, superbly choreographed fight scenes, a genuinely frightening enemy in Darth Maul, the film, taken at its most simple level, is enjoyable. And that's all it was ever meant to be. if critics are being honest then it'll make no top 10 lists at the end of the year, but as a Summer blockbuster, well, it's far better than most of the recent years' efforts. Popcorn fluff. But tasty popcorn fluff.
Now, if we're going to be picky, some of the film is a disaster. The explanations of the origins of the force, the Medichlorions is painful, and desperately unneeded, as is the suggestion of Anakins 'virgin' birth. The film lacks a Han Solo 'esque' character, and Jar Jar Binks, whilst not quite as irritating as early reviews of the film suggested, gets far too much screen time.
But no one really ever thought that this movie was going to be a life changing event (well, at least, I hope not) and there's enough here to create interest in the next two movies. Which is all Lucas needed to do, really.
There's no point in going in to too much detail in a review of Star Wars Episode One. You'll have already made up your mind whether you'll see it or not. But go with an open mind, expecting to be entertained but not anything much more, and you'll enjoy it far more....
Alex Finch.
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