In celebration of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace's 25th anniversary, fans get to rewatch the classic 1999 flick on the big screens this May.
One of the most memorable moments Star Wars fans seem to remember was the hilarious The Phantom Menace review that left quite an impression on how fans take in the franchise. Here's a throwback to that hilarious commentary.
Brutal Phantom Menace Review: Where to Listen to Mr. Plinkett's Commentary
While Star Wars: The Phantom Menace remains one of the classics from the 90s of the franchise timeline, the flick still received mixed reviews from its own fans and the critics who watched it on the big screens.
Commentaries, no matter how critical or silly they may be, are some of what can offer insight yet at the same time provide a different source of entertainment for fans.
In this case, The Phantom Menace is making its way back to the big screens on May 3, 2024, the day before Star Wars Day.
As fans reminisce about the feeling of seeing it for the first time, one fan couldn't help but bring up Mr. Plinkett's commentary, jokingly suggesting that first-time-goers ought to listen to it while watching the big screens:
For those uninitiated, Mr. Plinkett's The Phantom Menace review poked fun at the entire film, not as a way of discouraging fans from watching it but rather the camp method of critiquing the flick altogether.
As fans said, it was among the first "long-form" reviews past the one-hour runtime that made it all the more entertaining.
Star Wars fans who haven't heard the entire clip yet can purchase the digital track on Red Letter Media, where they can listen to their rambles about The Phantom Menace.
READ MORE: Star Wars The Phantom Menace: Where Are They Now in 2024 on Film's 25th Anniversary?
Bringing Back 1999 Critic Reviews of The Phantom Menace
Many critics had similarly mixed commentaries on Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Considering that prequels and sequels were still a huge hit-and-miss, telling the story before Luke Skywalker's time was tricky.
As Variety wrote back in 1999: Although George Lucas' three-part prequel to the original Star Wars trilogy was always "visually diverting", The Phantom Menace "disappointed many" for it was "neither captivating nor transporting" as it "lacked any emotional pull and sense of wonder."
The majority of the mixed commentaries usually stem from how the actors and jokes landed on the big screens.
As The Rolling Stone described, "The actors are wallpaper, the jokes are juvenile, there's no romance, and the dialogue lands with the thud of a computer-instruction manual."
It is worth mentioning, however, that despite the disappointed reviews after its theatrical premiere, the continuously growing franchise would have ceased to exist had they stopped making prequels and sequels to expand the Star Wars universe.
READ NEXT: Star Wars: Tales of the Empire Trailer Features Darth Vader's Return
Star Wars: The Phantom Menace premieres on the big screens on May 3, 2024.
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