PT Is there enough action in episode 1

I love episode 1, but I've been wondering, compared to the original trilogy, particularly A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back as they had less action then RotJ, did the Phantom Menace have enough action? I remember from the last time I watched it (about a year and a half ago) that there were 5 action scenes:

-The multiple scenes where Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon fought droids

-The podrace

-The lightsaber duel between Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon, and Darth Maul

-The battle between Naboo starfighters at the end and the blowing up of the Trade Federation control ship

-Lastly, to a lesser extent in terms of amount of action but still central to the plot, Padme taking back Naboo

The thing is, however, I'm not sure if there is enough action in episode I because I wonder if the scene with the Gungans versus the droids was intended to be action or just comedic relief. Which do you think was the case?

 

There's plenty of action, but the main problem with the film is that it comes to a bit of a crawl once everyone gets to Coruscant. I love that particular sequence visually, and I love the political aspects, but I can see where a six year old might lose interest. But everything prior and after that is great. The Jedi being chased by the droidekas, the pod race, the first fight with Maul, the space battle, the Gungan battle, the Duel of the Fates. Hell, what's not to love?

 

Around 80% of the movie is action, I'd say that's more than enough.

 

I agree there is enough action. I think the problem with the pacing is sequences like their time on Tatooine. I think they are there way too long. I enjoy the pod race and the first Maul fight. But the rest lasts way too drawn out.


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I think the slow scenes are necessary in their forms to convey the backstory. On Tatooine, we learn about Anakin's earlier life, and we see him tinker with droids and Pods. On Coruscant, we can see how galactic politics work, and just how close to the Clone War we are at that point. As Simmons said in Transformers 2, "Beginning, middle end, facts, details, condense, plot, tell it!" I like a complete story told; I want to know why events are playing out as we see them at their current stage, whether in movies, books, whatever.

 

I think it has the right amount of it.

 

Well action wise it's overwhelming compared to IV and V which are really slow by comparison.

Really the action get's larger in each movie but is nicely counterbalanced by other scenes.

The thing is that due in part to nostalgia people overlook how slow the first movie actually is because they remember how it was so impossible to take everything in from the story to the visuals, music, sound etc so that they needed to watch multiple times to take it all in. By even the next film that process wasn't near as necessary so actually more needed to be added to try to replicate that feeling of being overwhelmed to some degree.

By 1999 that was very hard to do so no matter how packed TPM is with sights and sounds to many they took that all so for granted that they focused on the story more intently which of course made it seem slower no matter how much faster it actually is then the first movie.

I mean look at the same thing even by Jedi where the reaction of some people was that the whole Jabba's palace was too long and got too silly with all the creatures etc. Comedy bits that would have delighted them 6 years earlier now were annoying and intrusive to the story.

I've just seen all the films again recently and really there is little comparison between the overall pace and action of TPM and ANH. It's TPM by a mile but some people feel a greater engagement to the slower but more personalized single story of Luke in the X-Wing. I love that as well but it is actually slower paced and less action than the finale of every other film save ESB which again has an even more personal focus story with Luke and Vader plus side bits with the escape from Cloud City.

 

The Gungan_Droid battle, in correlation to other such instances in the film, was likely more geared towards relieving the severity of other situations within the context of the movie, as Jar Jar was throughout as well, but I would consider it a joint-effort... a marriage of both situational comedy and that denoting the painstaking effort put into the Republic overcoming their adversaries. Thing about events such as the Ewoks in Return of the Jedi_Gungans in The Phantom Menace battles is that they were based around what some refer to as 'silly' characters, but that made it even more disconcerting when they were killed, in my opinion. Throughout the course of said battles there was comic relief, yes, but that lent even more emotional gravitas to seeing them downtrodden, and subject to ruin.

As for if, whether or not, the film has enough action? Honestly, I am more of a fan of story. In particular, stories with substance whereby action serves as the means to an end/beginning justifying its' existence within the context of the story, and not presenting itself as just filler. In that respect, I think The Phantom Menace, in particular, is practically perfect as is.

 

the action sequence in the finale has four different action set pieces threaded together at the same time. the ground battle, the space battle, the queen and her soldiers and the jedi duel. more than had ever (has ever?) been done at once. i'd say that's a ton of action and that's just the ending.

 

There is plenty of action in "TPM", but it does come to a crawl in the early Tatooine scenes and the Coruscant sequence.

 

This

 

There is plenty of action in TPM. In fact, one could argue too much action. From the opening to Pod racing, to the finale that includes a ground battle between Gungans and Droids, Padme and Naboo Officers laying siege to the Palace, the Space Battle involving Anakin, and the Duel of Fates featuring Darth Maul, Obi-Wan, and Qui-Gon.. you have plenty action and then some!

 

The movie comes to a dead stop once they arrive at Coruscant. It's been along time since the movie, but what was their reason for stopping there? I thought at some point they could've beamed a message to the Senate that the planet was under attack. You'd think the Jedi and Amidala would try to get reinforcements. I also thought Darth Maul should've met them there for some extra action. I mean from the time they escape from Maul on Tatooine and their final showdown with him on Naboo, a large chunk of the movie goes by without any Maul. It's almost like he is forgotten.

 

There's more than enough action. The problem is that the time in between them wasn't paced as well as it should, and didn't spend it's time on stuff that was relevant to the PT as a whole.

 

My issue with Phantom is that it is a four part act movie Naboo, Tatooine, Courscant, Naboo. Star Wars (TAtoonie, Death Star, Space Battle), Empire (Hoth, Chase/training, Bespin) and Jedi (Tatooine, Endor, Battle) are three act films. So Phantom has always seemed longer than it should have been.

I would have started Phantom Menace with The Royal Ship escaping Naboo. For me this would cut straight to some action and set up some mystery as to why and from they are running from. George mentioned in a documentary that too many film makers show the world's they have designed rather than tell the story. I think he broke his own rule with Phantom. The first act is a lot of back story that isn't really necessary.

I have always thought that Phantom it is the best crafted of the PT if a little bloated. I do like them clock in at about 2hrs rather than the 2hr15/30 that the prequels reached. As much as I love them I think editing down to 2 hrs would really improve each film significantly.

The Coruscant act could do with some action. Maybe even a section in which Anakin is tested by the Jedi in use of the lightsaber or his piloting skills.

But it isn't my film it's George's, so what do I know.

 

I think each film could certainly have used some editing, and rejiggering of scenes. Ironically enough, even though I think RotS should be trimmed, I'd still love to see the extended cut. According to the commentary they had over an hour of footage for the Courscant rescue alone! Not to mention additional Kashyyk, Utapu and more. I'd just like to see a full cut of the film. Even if it'd be bloated beyond belief.

 

Decent range of opinions so far.

yodasbum's -- ack! LOL! -- observation that TPM is a four-act movie, in contrast to the OT films, which he asserts are three-act films (well-delineated, by the way), is a sharp one. Yes, in a sense, I agree. However, the opening act on Naboo is relatively brief, if still quite memorable (Jedi! Amidala! Jar Jar!), and Coruscant doesn't occupy a great chunk of time, and is more muted than any of the portions listed in the OT structural breakdown: "Star Wars (Tatoonie, Death Star, Space Battle), Empire (Hoth, Chase/training, Bespin) and Jedi (Tatooine, Endor, Battle)". This, in my reckoning, allows TPM to still be claimed as a three-act movie, though it's certainly not as "clean" a claim as the OT films, in my opinion. Where TPM deviates, I believe it earns the right to do so, and I further find it satisfying to note that it forms something of a "circle" with respect to itself, by starting and ending (climaxing) on Naboo.

I don't find TPM to really be bloated, either, even though it might lack the brio of the OT films and be a little indigestible in some senses. Things happen in TPM; and they happen at speed. The central metaphor of podracing -- such as I see it -- even suggests a universe racing to its doom (but in a cyclical, regenerative way, perhaps). TPM is a busy film, and if anything, overly concise, though I certainly don't mind it unfurling at a pace. If there's a key problem, for me, with any and all of the prequel films, then it's that some scenes, as terrific as they are, can come across as a bit perfunctory, particularly when layered one after the other. My own personal desire would be for some scenes to be opened up a bit, so that we could spend a little more time with the characters in given situations, and drink up more of the world without it passing us by so much of the time in dizzying, kaleidoscopic form. However, paradoxically, this also forms part of the appeal of these films, for me, so I don't mind too much that some scenes are a little on the short side -- not when there's so much going on and so many new angles to approach the films from on repeat viewings (full and partial).

I don't hold to the notion that Coruscant should have more action or be any "louder" than it is. It's a more meditative, almost mournful, stretch of the film, and I think the film is well-served by some quiet time, personally. Plus, it sets up more of a contrast with the second and third episodes, where Coruscant plays host to assassination attempts, a high-speed air chase, and a rollicking space battle, respectively. Not to mention two precarious lightsaber duels in the bowels of power and a sob-inducing galactic purge. The slow, stately, bucolic innocence of TPM that permeates the entire film, even the Coruscant passage, is very longed-for when taken away, I think, and this speaks to the importance of keeping Coruscant a place of brooding calm in the opening installment. It's a place we're gonna spend a lot of time at and its illusory restful quality will soon be exposed as the Empire emerges from the death throes of the Republic. I find it very operatic and cathartic -- the entire structure.

What was the question, again? Oh, action. Well, I think TPM is generously stocked with action, and I find it nice that not too much is thrown out at once -- until the pandemonium of the last thirty minutes or so, anyway. If action is your man, then TPM rewards patience. And the action of the last film, the mighty ROTS, almost the "dark twin" of TPM, is very nearly action-overdrive. Compared to the OT films, all three PT films are very action-packed, actually. The execution is pretty bold and pretty terrific.

IMO.

 

I have to agree with those who say it has plenty of action.
If anything, I think the opening act is a bit overstuffed (it's like a variation on that classic Old Spice commercial: "I'm on a ship... I'm in a forest... Wait, I'm in an underwater city. I'm on a submarine! I'm rescuing you from a palace.") But, yeah, lack of action has never been a problem for me in any of the prequels.

I do agree with some people here that things come to a bit of a crawl by the time we get to Coruscant, but considering the frenetic pace of much of what's come before, I kind of welcome it.

Somewhat related, I worry that the Episodes 7-9 might have TOO much action. Star Wars movies have always had powerful quiet moments that sometimes resonate even more strongly than the action scenes. I hope the new films keep that tradition.

 

Actually, one can say the same about A NEW HOPE. Like TPM, it has a great deal of action, but most of its Tatooine sequences also drag the film.

But I don't agree that TPM has too much action. There are too many dramatic sequences for me to buy that criticism.

 

LOL! It is a bit like that, yeah.

If you're Qui-Gon Jinn, though, I think it's allowed.

Me, either.

This, as articulated above, is my opinion, too.

In fact, Jar Jar's rather loud exclamation of, "wesa goin home!" nicely punctuates the end of that passage, and even shocks you by reminding you that Coruscant has had so little shouting or typical movie-histrionics of any kind.

100% agreed.

 

Let's see:

1. Opening Federation ship sequence when Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan fighting droids and Qui-Gon cutting into the blast door
2. Bongo scene is technically an action scene as they are chased by gigantic underwater creatures, more of a chase/escape sequence
3. Escape from Naboo (from the moment when the droid says "you're under arrest until the Nubian escapes the Federation ships and R2 saves the day)
4. The pod race
5. Qui-Gon vs. Maul on Tatooine
6. 20 minute long end battle consisting of 4 simultaneous sequences happening at once and intercut

I would say this is more than enough action. And there is plenty of time they leave in to develop the story and the politics and the characters.

I think of the PT AOTC is the slowest and has the least amount of action of all 6 films. In that one there is only the chase through Coruscant, Jango vs. Obi-Wan, The asteroid chase, the droid factory sequence and the end battle (from the arena sequence until the Yoda vs. Dooku duel. But even here there is enough action, there are just the largest time gaps in this movie between action sequences of all six films in this one.