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Re: Just watched "Phantom Menace" DVD and I'm blown away...

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"A set of actors going through the motions with a script so limp that a cereal box is a more emotionally satisfying read."

Yes! It says a lot about Lucas that he can take an an actor like Liam Neeson and drain him of life to the point that he looks embalmed. That the actor's performances were uninvolving is clear to anyone looking at the actors. However, it seems Lucas was incapable of actually focussing on the actors; of ignoring for a moment the periphery of scenic details in which he was placing them.

For someone with previous acting experience Natalie Portman's performance was so callow and limpid I couldn't believe she was put in a such a central role. She looked like some young high-school girl who was asked "Wanna be in a movie?" - "Yeah, sure, I uh, guess..."
I swear most of my college films contain performances by my non-acting friends that are more gripping.

Also, I was shocked at how bad the sound was for some of Liam's dialogue. He delivers his lines with so little life that it sounds off-mic, like bad "production set" sound that we typically replace in post production. Yet they kept the takes in the movie. For what? The performance? Yikes.

What makes TPM so unsightly is that the viewer is aware of the targets the movie is aiming for (that Jar Jar is supposed to be amusing, that we are supposed to care about that cruddy Kid and his Mother..), yet over and over we have to watch it miss that target horribly. OR, the movie is sending signals so confusing, off in it's own little world concerning what it believes is dramatically important, that it has all the squeamish charm of watching your grandmother loose her marbles.

Whatever,

Rich H.



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