Furthermore, the major plot elements were intriguing in and of themselves. Moreover, there were many other involving events which we witnessed directly, such as the slaying of rebels at the beginning the capture and torture of the princess and the murder of Luke's foster parents. It's true that "A New Hope" never showed Alderaan's inhabitants, but we still could feel the tragedy of the planet's destruction through the horrified reactions of Princess Leia and Obi Wan. Somehow, Lucas manages to keep the emotional reactions of his characters to a minimum, which gives the film an almost mechanical feel. Whenever any of the characters do express emotion, as in the scene where Anakin and his mom part, it still seems awfully restrained. Think of Han Solo sweating in fear, then think of the emotional vacuums passing for characters in this film. The deadpan performances are a problem in themselves, but they only highlight our lack of involvement in the story. Numerous atrocities are supposedly being committed against the planet's inhabitants, but we only know about this because the characters on screen refer to the events, usually rather woodenly. Lucas makes a fatal error in not showing what's happening on Naboo, the small planet whose capture is the focus of the plot. If the story fails to be engaging, it is because we never see the important events. Our only reason for thinking he's special is that the plot requires it. There doesn't appear to be anything about this kid remotely out of the ordinary, even though the other characters keep talking like there is. Another good example of this problem is Anakin's portrayal as a potential Jedi. Because Lucas fails to make scenes like these believable, we can't help being conscious of how he's manipulating the plot in his effort to connect the two trilogies. Their developing friendship isn't portrayed that clearly, and their motivations for becoming close aren't explained. So Lucas has the two characters meet here and-surprise, surprise-they seem to like each other. For example, we know there will eventually be a romance between Anakin and Padme. It also encourages him to gloss over key events because their outcome is a foregone conclusion, he forgets to bring them to life. More importantly, however, this situation leaves Lucas with very little freedom as a storyteller. For one thing, this project is limited by the fact that anyone familiar with the first trilogy knows the story's outcome, and it therefore lacks some of the suspense associated with a gradually unfolding saga. And apparently he's just not a sophisticated enough filmmaker to pull it off. They are very difficult to make properly. It is no accident that prequels of this kind are rare. The film merely adds an introductory chapter to a story that has already been told, and stretches it out into a two-hour movie. The problem with "The Phantom Menace" is that he simply has no story to tell.
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