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The Phantom Menace 3D: A Commentary

Posted by Paul | February 12, 2012 at 08:30 PM ET

JTA reader Matthew F. sends us a great essay on his thoughts of The Phantom Menace 3D film. Click through to read his commentary!

It was 11:30 AM on a Sunday morning. It was unusually cold for the weather we'd been experiencing around these parts over the past couple of weeks. The wind was blowing, which added to the chill.

However, I had a warm spot in my gut for I was on my way to Cobb theater to experiece The Phantom Menace in full 3D glory. The ticket vendor was kind enough to give my ticket only a slight rip at the top as opposed to cleaving it in half, and then handed it back to me to keep as my own personal souvenier of the experience. Together with my 3D glasses, these would make a nice centerpiece on one of my ever expanding shelves of movie related Star Wars items.

I had arrived forty minutes early in anticipation of a crowd, so I was pleased to see that plenty of the seats which encompased theater room 11 were available. As I took my seat dead center in a row fairly close to the back, I watched the blank screen with eager anticipation while at the same time keeping an eye on the crowd around me. To my surprise it appeard that I was actually one of the last to arrive. While a few more movie goers trickled in, the previews and then movie began with less than half its seats filled.

I was quickly shuttled back to that galaxy far, far away, and was enjoying myself emensley. That is until the strangest thing started happening. People started getting up and leaving. Yes, between the 1/4 and 2/3 mark of the film it appeared that the crowd was slowly shifting out the door. While some patrons did come back, a good amount of them were never seen again. Could it be that people were bored? Had they never seen Episode I, and simply could not get into it? Or perhaps were these people who had seen it, didn't necessarily care for it, but yet thought it would be better in 3D? I unfortunately can't answer that. All I can say is that as the film was wrapping up, there were far less people in theater 11 than when it started. What was worse is that by the time the film wrapped up, several sections of the theater were having full blown (loud) conversations amongst themselves that didn't even pertain to the movie.

As a fan of Star Wars for the past (almost) 35 years, I can tell you I was no more or less impressed with the film than I was during its initial release in 1999. It serves its purpose as the leaping board for the Saga, but is by no means the strongest link in the chain.

Visually I didn't see where the 3D added anything to the movie. Yes, the characters were ever present in the foreground of the screen, and on occasion there were things that popped out in your face, but for the most part there was nothing spectacular to be gained by converting the film to 3D. This is mainly due to the angles that the film was original shot in. When you don't initially intend for things to pop out at the audience, you don't film things in a nature that they would. Therefore when you then convert said film to 3D, you cannot offer these elements to the viewers because they aren't there.

Suffice to say, if you want to see The Phantom Meance on the big screen one more time, then by all means, this is worth a viewing. However, if you're looking for the ultimate experience in 3D, sadly, this film does not deliver. Equally sad is that should the rest of the Saga be produced in 3D, they won't either.

Matt

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