George Lucas: horrendous writer, mediocre director, legend of filmmaking – A Star Wars II review
Written: May 16 '02 (Updated May 16 '02)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Breathtaking visuals. Stunning Action. Story. Politics. Quotes. Yoda.
Cons: Writing, Dialogue, Characters, Cliches.
The Bottom Line: A worthy addition to the Star Wars universe. A computer game brought to life. Unrivalled special effects. This is what Lucas is all about.
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| benho's Full Review: Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones |
So I thought this might finally break my epinions retirement. But alas, to do a proper review still takes precious time and energy I do not have. However, given that I braved opening night to make it to the theater at 12:01 am open day, to a theater showing it on 19 screens! I thought it would be nice to record some thoughts.
I personally loved it.
But first, let’s talk about George Lucas. Without a doubt, George Lucas will go down as one of the most important filmmakers of all time. But not for the reasons most filmmakers are recognized, but instead for his part in the revolution in how movies are made. Star Wars was revolutionary for one reason: the visual effects, and immortal for another reason: the storytelling. It brought moviemaking to a new level. As the trilogy progressed, Lucas quickly dropped his roles as writer and director, and the movies improved, but his role as storyteller and visual effects maestro remained. Lucas later went on to play crucial roles in the Indiana Jones series (as storyteller, not writer), and goes on to found THX, Skywalker Sound, Industrial Light and Magic, Lucas Arts, cornerstones of every advance in visual effects technology from the first use of computer graphics (CGI) in a movie in Star Trek II, to the first computer generated live action images in The Abyss (which Lucas quotes in Attack of the Clones by reprising the aliens), to many of the effects in the recent ground breaker, The Matrix.
The problem with all this success is that it has led to the trait responsible for the downfall of all mythic figures: hubris. The Star Wars prequels had tremendous potential. Lucas’ story was sound, and the full force of the Lucas technical magic was on call. But instead of stepping aside, and letting once more others more capable to write and direct, Lucas insisted on doing it himself. What results is a two hour twenty minute video game interspersed with a laughably woeful love story and loses what could be a great story amidst movie clichés and pathetic dialogue.
Like a video game or Jackie Chan movie, Attack of the Clones is primarily a series of action sequences, set in wonderfully exotic locale filled with wonderful devices that make the action exciting. What makes the movie good is the breathtaking visual beauty of each scene, from the aerial car chase through the cyberpunk city, to the awesome landscapes of foreign worlds, to the gorgeous backdrops (evoking at times Venetian canals and other times rolling Scottish hills) of the cheesy love scenes, Lucas provides amazing candy for the eyes.
As for story, the Star Wars franchise has always run the border between the trite and the iconic, and Attack of the Clones skirts this line rather closely. However, what it lacks in exploration of character, it partially makes up for in exploration of politics. Seeing despotism as the natural dialectical successor of democracy, Lucas explores the fall of the Roman republic, and questions of political economy like: once you’ve raise an army and won a war, what do you do with the army? For the inquiring viewer, deeper questions on human governance are put forward (see my Gladiator review). Not to mention ideas on the fall of man and the betrayal by woman. Admittedly, these ideas are often loss amidst flat dialogue (that also destroyed any chance of decent acting) and a flurry of laser beams and light sabers. But the ideas are there for the taking.
Most importantly, the technical mastery is unrivalled. Though it will surely be topped before long, Lucas has raised the bar with the technical master of the visual effects. The use of computers to generate the beautiful backgrounds, as well as animating the various aliens was top notch. While still not perfect, Yoda is just a bit too shiny for example, this movie definitely represents the state of the art, and likely will not be topped until the next project out of Lucas’ laboratories.
Other strong points are for one, no glaring holes in the plot like those seen in earlier films (Why didn’t the rebels post the plans to the Death Star on the Internet? Why was it so bloody hard for Qui Gon Jin, Jedi Master, to buy a spare part for his ship? Couldn’t he just call someone?). For a change, communication technology was well used. Also, hard science fiction lovers will appreciate the nifty future-tech on display, for example the clever ship designs.
Earth motifs are still displayed with full force, though with a bit less ethnic stereotyping. Venetian canals further emphasize the Rome theme that Naboo is built on. Fifty’s style diners are cute, though somewhat distracting.
For true fans, they will appreciate the constant references to the earlier films, with numerous quotes of the nature: “I’ve got a bad feeling about this” to bad puns and dramatic irony. We get a better view of the hanger the Millennium Falcon shoots its way out of in Mos Eisley, as well as get to meet Uncle Owen and his “girlfriend” Aunt Maru. A slightly informed viewer might have noted that Phantom Menace ended with scenes that perfectly parallel the end of Star Wars: Episode IV. Attack of the Clones continues this with a near perfect reprise of the ending scenes of Empire Strikes Back.
The bottom line: This movie kept me thoroughly engaged through clever action, was pleasingly attractive to the eyes, and had a few interesting ideas about humanity. While it would have been much better with a different writer and a different director, Attack of the Clones deserves credit for being the most technically visually advanced movie to be released, as well as one rollicking good time.
Finally, one more reason to like it… Yoda. Ahhh… Yoda... My response can only be expressed in the eloquent words of Apolo Anton Ono: “No words, No Words”
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See also:
George Lucas, Mythmaker: a retrospective
http://www.epinions.com/content_28822113924
Gladiator is UNDERrated?! [Underappreciated film W/O]
http://www.epinions.com/content_31873142404
I actually thought the review that would signal my return to epinions would be on some economics text, perhaps Keynes General Theory or something, that I feel people should know about. Perhaps one day still.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
benho
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Member: Ben Ho
Location: New York, NY, USA
Reviews written: 65
Trusted by: 52 members
About Me:
The end (of grad school) is near... off now to teach in cold Ithaca.
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