‘Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace’
Way back in 1999, there was a little movie by George Lucas that kicked off a global phenomenon called Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. It was a complicated tale of trade wars, featuring an incredible metaphor about fish and the catchphrase we all use to this day: “That’s so wizard.” And who could forget midi-chlorians, a neat, scientific explanation for the movie’s confusingly mystical seeming “Force.” It’s science fiction, folks, get your magic stuff out of here! Eventually the movie would spawn a trilogy, and a second one years later. Lucas even managed to tease some connections to an earlier series of movies he had created starring Harrison Ford. You know, the Indiana Jones movies. But when we look back, we all know that The Phantom Menace is the movie that started it all. Because it’s Episode I, so what else could possibly come first?
(But seriously, the podracing scenes and the final battle to “Duel of the Fates” still kill it, even if the rest of the movie isn’t great).