Anakin says "Yo chickie baby! You!! Me!!! My bedroom!!!! Let's get it on!!!!!
Written: May 22 '02
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Product Rating:
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Pros: It's fun
Cons: It's silly
The Bottom Line: It's not as good as the first two "Star Wars" films but better than the last two.
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| Josh_G's Full Review: Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones |
The Jedi are back and it’s a pleasure to see them again but it’s also a shame that they’ve changed.
For many of us who grew up watching the “Star Wars” saga evolve before our eyes, it’s not just a movie. For some it's a fixation, for others it’s a part of their adolescence. Instead of playing cowboys and indians, my friends and I would play Star Wars and fight over who would get to be Han Solo. Unfortunately, I remember having to be an Ewok more times than not.
The original “Star Wars” films changed filmmaking and helped create the modern blockbuster. It placed terms like 'Jedi', 'dark side' and 'the force' into our familiar lexicons.
With expert imagery, and a homage to classic serials and classic mythology they helped a legion of followers worldwide enter complicated world more intriguing than their own. The story had to go on.
1999 was the year creator George Lucas released the first prequel. “The Phantom Menace” had millions of devotees anxious. We were excited until we realized all of the magic was completely lost. I’ve never felt my movie loving heart get so broken than on that dreadful Wednesday morning.
The second of three prequels, “Star Wars Episode II: The Attack Of The Clones,” is now in theaters. Sitting down fair-minded but with lower expectations, I waited patiently for the celebrated theme music to start. The heart starts pounding once it does.
“Clones” didn’t have to be a cinematic landmark. Heck, it didn’t even have to be faultless. All it had to be was fun, something “Phantom Menace” never was. No need to worry folks. There are certainly negative aspects to the film, but is does deliver the goods.
The prequels continue the path to set up the stories of the original trilogy and “Clones” is much more successful at this than the predictable and boorish “Menace.” George Lucas drops a lot of the silly preachiness that held the last film down and goes back to what worked in the earlier films, political and galactic struggle, romance and action.
Lucas still proves that his filmmaking skills are rusty, but “Clones” seems to demonstrate that he realized his weaknesses and at least made an attempt to correct them. Lucas realized that he’s not a good scriptwriter and brought in a co-writer, Jonathan Hales. Lucas’ complete lack of ability to create realistic dialogue is still prevalent.
One of the joys of this film is watching Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christiansen), 10 years older and a little wiser, as he continues his path to the dark side, eventually becoming Darth Vader in the third and final prequel to be released in 2005. Here, Anakin has a cocky swagger and talks about how he admires a dictatorship. There is also a well crafted scene where he completely looses it and we can see that Anakin does have a violent nature.
There’s a love story here between Anakin and Senator Padme Amidala (Natalie Portman). There is unrest in the Republic and Jedi apprentice Anakin and his master Obi-wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) have been assigned to protect Amidala.
The pickup lines that Anakin gives Amidala seem to be straight out of a failed Ladies Man script on “SNL.” Anakin's "Sand is rough. Not like you...you're soft” is probably the worst of these lines. I was waiting for Anakin to turn to her and yell, “YO CHICKIE BABY! YOU!! ME!!! MY BEDROOM!!!! LET’S GET IT ON!!!!!” We wait patiently for the action to start.
A war is starting as the separatists plan to defeat the Republic and their army of clones. This marks the beginning of the Clone War and gives us a chance to enjoy some good villains like Count Dooku (Christopher Lee) and bounty hunter Jango Fett (Temuera Morrison), father of the original films great villain Bobba Fett.
The characters are more believable here than they were in the last film. Heroes like Mace Windo (Samuel L. Jackson) and the classic Yoda relish increased screen time. Yoda is even completely computer generated this time instead of being a puppet. This allows him to have the ability to do more, like kick some major butt. The problem here is that it’s the same Yoda at heart but not in a visual sense. I miss the way the old Yoda looked. His fight scene, where we discover that Yoda is most powerful with a lightsaber, seems like it was lifted from one of the three “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle” movies. It’s still a fun scene, although a short one.
There are a few good action sequences in this film. The drawback is that since the prequels are supposed to take place decades before the original films it’s not always a great idea to use advanced imagery. Everything looks flashier and more advanced here while the future depicted in the earlier films obviously looks less advanced.
The special effects in the film don’t help matters. This is another in a long list of films that think they are advancing cinema with CGI, yet it sometimes comes across as completely fake and annoying. A film that needs to rely on effects to tell a story already faces numerous stumbling blocks.
I could go on about the bad acting too, but even that’s a step above “Phantom Menace.” In reality, the entire series has never focused on acting skills. The only “Star Wars” film with a great script was “Empire Strikes Back,” the only one which Lucas had nothing to do with writing.
All I was really concerned about is whether I would have fun watching the film. I did and so I walked away satisfied.
In the end, “Clones” ranks in the middle of the classic series, raising expectations for the next and final segment of the saga. I’d like to saga to end as intelligently and fresh as it began. That would require George Lucas to step down as both writer and director and that’s something he refuses to do. Some say that George Lucas tripped and hit his head around the year 1981 and has never been the same since. In reality, he’s just another Hollywood player with a massive ego and a blind-eye to his own imperfections.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
Josh_G
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Member: Josh Gilchrist
Location: Montana
Reviews written: 82
Trusted by: 118 members
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