Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
Directed by: George Lucas
Screenplay by: George Lucas and Jonathan Hales
Story by: George Lucas
Starring: Ewan McGregor (Obi-Wan Kenobi), Natalie Portman (Padmè Amidala),
Hayden Christensen (Anakin Skywalker), Samuel L. Jackson (Mace Windu),
Christopher Lee (Count Dooku), Temuera Morrison (Jango Fett), Ian McDiarmid
(Chancellor Palpatine), Frank Oz (Yoda), Anthony Daniels (C-3P0), Kenny
Baker (R2-D2)
Release date (US & Australia): May 16th 2002
Episode I was widely criticized both by critics and, more importantly, the fans, and as such, expectations and hype for the second episode of the prequel trilogy were much reduced. After seeing the trailer, though, I’ll admit I was very optimistic and hopeful that this film could capture some of the magic of the originals. Thankfully, it does and thankfully Lucas has not turned a totally deaf ear to the complaints lodged at Episode I .
Although being billed as a ‘love story’ by Lucas, Episode II is just a plain good action/adventure movie, if not a great one. Lucas has said it was his intent to create something that captures the essence of those Saturday morning serials, and in that respect he has succeeded admirably. The love story itself, that between the now Senator Padmè Amidala and Anakin, is what is to be expected. Not terribly deep, and not that very well written, but there are moments when it works. Although obviously not original, the ‘forbidden love’ aspect of it I found interesting, especially the fact that Jedi are officially not allowed to love. The Jedi and the whole concept of the ‘Force’ is very religious in nature, as is much of the Star Wars mythology, and there exist obvious analogies between the Jedi (who are “keepers of the peace, not soldiers”) and Priests. The moment in the love story that particularly worked for me was just as they were being wheeled out in to the centre of the arena. Sure, it’s stereotypical, and sure it’s clichéd, but dammit, I thought it worked well. Still, some of the dialogue was painfully average. It strikes me as not so much of a coincidence that the two best Star Wars movies in my mind: The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, were not written by Lucas. Although I don’t know who is responsible for what dialogue (and in Hollywood’s scripts, you rarely know), I am just thankful that Lucas had some help in Jonathan Hales, although they both should have done a better job. Some of the clichés worked well though, after all we’ve come to expect this from Star Wars, the ‘I’ve got a bad feeling about this’ from Anakin in the arena, particularly, is included for laughs from both the actors and the audience; you could tell Hayden was having fun with that line.
While containing plenty of action, the story doesn’t move that fast, and not until the last forty minutes does the action really pick up and continue non-stop towards a great conclusion. The story itself is actually quite decent, especially in relation to the Republic, its slide into a dictatorship and its eventual transformation into the Empire. This story line has plenty of basis in real life (the Roman Empire, for one), and it is these similarities to reality, whether it be events or the emotional centre of the story, that make Science Fiction or Fantasy stories work. By the end of the movie, the metamorphosis into the Empire is already well underway, whether it be the fact that Palpatine now has power, the spaceships which are eerily similar to Star Destroyers or the ‘clone’ army which are obviously prototype Stormtroopers, and it sets things up nicely for Episode III.
The actors here all do well, but no one in particular does something resembling their best work. The quality of talent here is extremely high, and they probably would have done a better job had the material been of higher quality. Ewan McGregor steals the show as the precursor to Alec Guinness’ Obi-Wan Kenobi, and I think he is really now the heart and soul of this series. I love Natalie Portman, and she is great here as the conflicted Padmè. I also especially liked that they deliberately drew many similarities with her and Leia (after all, she is her mother), such as her rather nice white outfit at the end, and her hairstyle, and her use of a chain in the Arena (a’la Leia strangling Jabba). Even more troubled is Anakin, and while I was skeptical of Hayden Christensen upon seeing him on the poster (sorry, don’t want to offend anyone, but he looked like a bit of a pratt), my preconceptions were unfounded, and thought he did a great job as the soon to be Darth Vader. Temuera Morrison was okay as Jango Fett, but his accent was a bit disconcerting. I also think it reduces some of the mystery about the Fetts. In Empire and Jedi, we never saw Boba Fett’s face, and his voice had a really intimidating quality to it. Here, he is just some guy in some fancy (and very cool, mind you) armour, and I think it reduces some of the effect. Still, the fight scene with he and Obi-Wan at the clone facility on the water-planet was expertly put together, and it is one of the highlights of the first half of the film. Christopher Lee was a brilliant choice as the evil Count Dooku. Thankfully we get a villain with some charisma and screen presence, unlike say, Darth Maul, who mostly stood around giving everyone looks and not saying anything. Dooku’s scene with the shackled Obi-Wan was a wonderful throw back to Empire, particularly his ‘Join me Obi-Wan, and together we will destroy the Sith’, which gave me flashbacks (not unwanted, mind you) of Darth Vader and Luke. Other notables performances are the always impressive Samuel L. Jackson as Mace Windu, regulars Anthony Daniels as C-3PO and Kenny Baker as R2-D2, and, of course, Frank Oz as Yoda, but we’ll get to him in a minute.
The final battle in Attack of the Clones is one of the best of the whole series, staring with the huge battle in the Arena with around thirty hopelessly outnumbered Jedi battling for the lives, then heading towards the mammoth clash between Dooku’s forces and the clone army (complete with dropships! Yeah!), interspersed with the battle with Count Dooku. The battle with Dooku is just great stuff; they included just about everything they could have. First we have an impetuous Anakin being dealt the emperor’s lightning treatment (muuuhahahaha!), then Obi-Wan going one-on-one, Anakin with two light sabers and losing his arm a’la Luke’s hand in Empire, and then the moment we’ve all been waiting for. I know I got a big stupid grin on my face when I saw that shadow hobbling around the corner, and it didn’t let up that whole scene. And yes, there were cheers from the crowd. Honestly, the star of this movie Yoda is. Whether it be the trademark way of saying everything out of order, the prolific use of the Force in his fight scene, including the lightning duel, and then finally his quite silly but nonetheless awe-inspiring light-saber display. All of this would have been quite impossible with the puppet, and despite my initial skepticism, I thought the CGI Yoda was very well done, and a nice tribute to the Frank Oz Yoda from Empire. And if anyone complains that Yoda goes back to leaning on his stick after performing all those aerobatics, it was because he was using the Force. Sorry to insult those crazy Star Wars fans, but point that out I had to.
The music has already been widely discussed given its release two weeks prior to that of the film, and thus there will be little discussion of it here. Still, I must say I think ‘Across the Stars’ is now even more gobsmackingly beautiful now that it has images to accompany it, and I still love that theme. It is notable, though, that there are more occurrences of familiar themes in the film than on the initial CD release. Not only is the Star Wars theme included a couple of times, but there are more statements of the Imperial March in various forms, and most importantly, the Emperor’s theme is in the movie, but for some reason was left of the CD. Obviously, the mass of this material will be present on the inevitable 2-CD set.
Things that I don’t like about Episode II that I haven’t already mentioned are few, but still important. Thankfully we didn’t have to put up with him for long, but for most of the film I was wondering why the child Boba Fett was included at all (aside from trying to please the kiddies).He existed mainly to annoy me, and come up with ridiculous and obvious remarks where they were definitely not needed (especially during the chase sequence in the asteroid belt around the planet). At the end, though, when Windu kills Jango, we see the young Fett staring at he deceased father’s helmet, and we see that there was a point after all; I wouldn’t be surprised if Boba Fett gets his revenge in Episode III upon Windu. As to the other kiddie aspects that were nauseatingly present in Episode I, there was thankfully little of Jar-Jar Binks (who I didn’t totally hate in this movie because he actually served a purpose in the story), and aside from the Yoda and the Younglings scene (did they have to use so many little kids?) most of the film was thankfully kid-lite.
The only other problem is that Episode II continues a rather annoying tendency of movies lately in that it is so special effects laden, finding the scenes filmed on sets as opposed to in front of a blue screen is becoming that much harder. The majority of the effects in Episode II are breathtaking and very meticulously created, but much of it still obviously computer generated, especially with regards to the CGI characters. Yes, they look impressive for computer graphics, but they still don’t look real, and if it were possible I would still choose the puppet Yoda over the CGI Yoda. But then, we may not be able to have seen him fight. So maybe I retract that complaint.
I thought the main problem with Episode I (aside from Jar-Jar Binks) was that I did not care. These powerful people were dealing with what came across as a pretty small situation that seemed (even though it wasn’t totally) irrelevant to the original trilogy. I realise the story needed to start somewhere and Episode I did an adequate job as setup, but an enthralling movie it was not. Episode II on the other hand, definitely is. It has direct relevance to the original trilogy and contains many references aside from the fact that most the characters here play a major role in the other movies, and I did care about what happened. Star Wars Episode II isn’t a classic of cinema, a deep character study or a match for the original films. However, I don’t think it ever tried to be any of those things. Yes, the script could have been better, but overall it is exactly what it was meant to be: a great big fun adventure movie, with all the quirks and thrills of those old serials and the original films Lucas is trying to emulate. And because of that, I can give it my heartfelt recommendation. Roll on Episode III.
Review by Joshua Blackman
Random Musings:
- The first thing I thought of when the creatures were released in the Arena was special effects legend Ray Harryhausen and his groundbreaking stop-go animation work on such things as the Sinbad movies, Jason & the Argonauts and Clash of the Titans. Okay, so they were jerky, but the Skeletons in Jason especially, are just classic. The CGI monsters in Episode II are pretty good, but like much of the computer animated effects, they still look like computer effects. I still think Jurassic Park has some of the most believable special effects in any movie. From what I can remember, I don’t think there was one shot in that movie where I didn’t think it was real. Everyone keeps saying each new movie, the special effects have advanced by leaps and bounds since the last, and while that may be true behind the scenes, I can only comment on what I see on screen, and honestly the creatures in Episode II don’t look any better (if at all) than the T-Rex from Jurassic Park.
- ‘Count Dooku’. Now I don’t have a problem with the name, but why did they choose that name knowing that Christopher Lee would play the role, who is famous for his role as another ‘Count’ (Dracula, obviously). A bit self-referential, no?
- How amazing was the music at the end? It doesn’t let up once the Imperial March kicks in when the stormtroopers (oh, sorry, ‘clones’) and star destroyers (mk.1) are on screen. Then we go straight into a mammoth performance of the love theme as we see Padmè & Anakin in front of the lake and then straight into the credits. Whoa! I’d say that musical/visual climax is a match for the final moments of The Empire Strikes Back.
- In amongst so much abysmal dialogue, there were a few gems (both
in the same scene).
Obi-Wan (to Anakin): I have a feeling you’ll be the death of me.
and
Death Stick Man: You want to buy some death sticks?
Obi-Wan: You don’t want to sell me death sticks.
Death Stick Man: I don’t want to sell you death sticks.
Obi-Wan: You want to go home and rethink your life.
Death Stick Man: I want to go home and rethink my life.
- Lucas seems obsessed with making everything digital, with no more evidence needed than the fact that this ‘film’ was shot using digital cameras. Nice for the cinemas with digital projectors, and nice in the long term for DVDs and such (apparently it looks much nicer), but the vast majority of people will see it transferred to film for their cinema screenings. Despite the advent of all these special effects and digital technology, I still think that the original trilogy has a better look about. It looks real. There’s something about the textures that make it feel less manufactured. Yes, I know they’re models, but they have a physical presence that just looks more real than something generated in the computer. The computer technology is really still in it’s infancy, and I’ve no doubt that in the future (5-6 years perhaps?) we may have something that is indeterminate from the real thing. Still, the movie looked mighty pretty, though.
- Does Anakin’s behaviour seem like that of Darth Vader? Vader is cool, calm, calculating, and very evil, of course, but is very different from Anakin at the moment. I know some big ‘changes’ are in store for him, so maybe that will explain it better.
- The part when Anakin is fighting Dooku with two sabres at the end in the dark with the flashing images of the swords and their faces was really atmospheric (and damn cool!).
- Overall, Star Wars is just a combination of many classic stories/legends in a glossy framework, and isn’t really that original. In Episode 2, I’ve already mentioned the Roman influence, not just with the Republic/Empire transformation, but also (obviously) the Arena. The monsters are just recycled Greek mythological creatures just like the ones in the old movies like Sinbad and the like. The‘Chase through Coruscant’ is most definitely not original at all and draws inspiration from many places. For starters the city is just a fancy Metropolis,with a healthy dose of Blade Runner and many, many more science fiction stories(Amazing Stories...etc). If anything, that city is generic imagination of a futuristic city, one that has been used countless times. Still, I’m not really complaining here, though; I thought this one was put together very skillfully (and the CGI artists did a great job on this one).
- One dramatic scene that I thought actually worked was the moment when Anakin tells Padmè that he killed all the Tuskans, and the Imperial March was beating ominously and quietly underneath. That was creepy.
- I love my swordfights. No, I love my swordfights. Sure, The Matrix has raised the bar as far as martial arts action and exquisite choreographing is concerned in Hollywood action films, but the classic swordfight duel will always be with us. May I mention the Skeleton swordfight in Jason and the Argonauts again? Oh yeah! In Star Wars they call them light-sabres, and you can do cool things with them like block blaster fire (and lightning, apparently),and superheat metals with them. But really, they are jazzed up old-fashioned swords that glow pretty colours. The point of this is that I got a kick out of seeing thirty lightsabre-wielding Jedi in the Arena fighting for their lives and especially the fight with Dooku at the end (especially Anakin & Obi-Wan), an even greater kick than I got out of the fight scenes in The Matrix. (The Matrix is a much better written and made film that AOTC, though, I wasn’t suggesting otherwise).
- There is a LOT of territory to be covered in Episode III to bridge the gap between II and IV, which could have been less since there is some wasted time in AOTC. Episode III has the potential to be totally amazing; let’s hope they do it right. And George, can you please hire a real screenwriter to work with you? PLEASE!
- Padmè kissing Anakin on the cheek as she hopped on to that bull type thing with him in the Arena was really cute (and dare I say it, sweet? Oh, I’m a sucker).
- And did I mention Yoda?
That was the freaking long way to say: HELL YES!
Joshua Blackman
Ok, many people will not agree with me but to tell the truth I really didn’t like this film.
I found this film to be very frustrating on many levels because I believed that it could have been so much better.
The most frustrating detail in the whole film was the way that cliché after cliché was used as if the script writer and director just couldn’t be bothered to think of anything original. If I could single out anything, this would be my biggest annoyance of the whole film. Is it to much to ask for some originality. It has been said to me that Star Wars is meant to be a cliché, but I really don’t believe that. The thing that made us fall in love with the movies in the first place was the originality. And is it to much to ask that they DON’T regurgitate lines from their own movies. It really made me groan when Dooku spouts "Join with me Obi-Wan and together..." Jesus, it really made me angry.
I wont go into every cliché in detail, save the fact that I find it insulting to the fans that Lucas (be it Lucas Arts or the man himself) had CGI fruit. I mean for me that was what made the trilogy amazing. The way that he had implemented the props. Lucas hunted down all the crazy, long haired, freaks that no one wanted to work with, because they could really do things that no one else could. The ATAT’s crushing the snow and the speeders actually flying. And Jabba the Hut just doesn’t have the same impact as an expensive cartoon.
I believe that the film could have been much better. If I hadn’t seen a Star Wars film before I would have loved this one, but it really did fall far short of where it could have been. There are talented people out there waiting for a break; look what some of the fans have created with out the budget of LucasArts behind them. There are some truly original and funny, and good action short films that fans have created just cos they wanted to, not because they were expecting a multi-billion return.
Gareth Suter
I just saw Ep. 2. I think even Phantom Menace may have been better than this one.
In the foreground you had 2 or 3 big spaceships/monsters, then in the mid-ground were 50 or so medium sized spaceships/monsters and in the background were 50,000 tiny little insect-like spaceships/monsters, all colliding with and shooting at one another; the thing felt less like a movie and more like a giant computer game (upon the completion of each level of which one is rewarded with a love scene).
Star Wars (I mean "A New Hope") worked because it was relatively sparse. E.g. C3PO and R2D2 wander through the desert for a bit before coming across the Jawas (?). The sparsity of their prior wanderings makes that big rhombus shaped Jawa vehicle all the more impressive, instead of being just one CGI blob among zillions.
The boy-chasing-girl-across-green-pastures-and-pinning-her-down scenes and the I-used-to-come-to-this-place-as-a-schoolgirl scenes might at least have offered some respite from the CGI bombardment; but then they couldn’t even find a real waterfall.
OK, Yoda fighting was a laugh. They should have made a whole movie out of Yoda fighting and it would have been better than this joke of a film.
Matt H
Exactly! That’s what’s wrong with these two prequels, they’re so over the top and extravagant that you can’t appreciate each costume/character/background whatever, even though some animator and designer probably spent months over each little detail! The first 3 gave you enough time and room to appreciate the uniqueness and coolness of some of the ideas.
You know the other problems with this whole trilogy (so far)?
1. It’s all about the politics and not about a classic struggle between
good and evil. It’s more like a history to the old 3 movies, than 3
new movies that work by themselves. And
2. ALL the history to the first 3 movies that you could ever want to
know, is conveniently contained (crammed) in these 3 movies! I mean,
there should have been hundreds of years between some of the histories
explored in these movies, BUT we get to see the background and reason
for EVERYTHING!
One of the things that worked so well in "A New Hope" was restraint. And everyone thought it was Lucas’ genius but now we can all see it was only his budget. When they let him loose he went wild and now no-one can stop him. :(
J. Rossiter
I don’t know, you (and others on this list) seem to have forgotten how FUN these movies can be. Sure, a lot of the complaints lodged here I agree with and think are valid, but basically none harmed my enjoyment of the film. Yes it could have been better, but I think evaluating it for what it is rather than what it isn’t is a better way to go.
And what was wrong with the Battle of Geonosis? It was like an huge scale ancient battle between the Greeks and Persians. It’s the first real war-scale Battle in the series; the others were mostly skirmishes (i.e. Hoth), and the scale of it was awe-inspiring.
As as to suggesting TPM is better than AOTC — Well! Firing squad at the ready!
> It’s more like a history to the old 3 movies
But it IS the history to those movies!!! That is the whole point, and I think they’re pretty well contained individual movies too. A New Hope and TPM are more contained admittedly, with Empire being a lead in to Jedi and AOTC to Ep III.
Joshua Blackman
Yes, that IS the point apparently and that’s the problem.
If Lucas wanted to show the history to the movies, it could have been a book. There’s no reason to make 3 movies whose only purpose is to lead up to the next 3.
It just results in 3 bad movies that don’t stand up by themselves.
I’m saying that the core of these movies is the prehistory to the original trilogy — the movies themselves are inconsequential. The story and action and everything else are secondary. That makes them bad movies.
Would the series have been at all successful if he started from Ep. 1?? NO because these first 3 suck.
Jonathan Rossiter
>There’s no reason to make 3 movies whose only purpose is to
>lead up to the next 3.
Well, of course there is. It enriches the original films. Stuff like Palpatine and, of course, Vader, now just have much more depth now we know more details about where they came from. And, of course, I now view the showdown in A New Hope with Obi-Wan and Vader completely differently, as we now know Obi-Wan (and Anakin) much better. (You’ll be the death of me...) When you think about it, it is actually quite powerful. As is the ultimate redemption (at least a little bit) of Anakin/Vader in Jedi.
> The movies themselves are inconsequential.
Aw...pffffhht.
>NO because these first 3 suck.
There’s no way you’ll like Episode 3 with that attitude —
aren’t you
at least going to wait until you’ve seen it? I won’t argue that TPM
sucked, but I think AOTC makes it a better movie, still not a very good
one, though. **************************************************
"Does it get easy?"
"What do you want me to say?"
"Lie to me."
"Yes, it’s terribly simple. The good guys are always stalwart and true,
the bad guys are easily distinguished by their pointy horns and black
hats, and we always defeat them and save the day. No one ever dies,
and we all live happily ever after."
"Liar."
-- Buffy & Giles. "Lie to Me" Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Joshua Blackman
>>There’s no reason to make 3 movies whose only purpose is to
>lead up to the
>next 3.
> >Well, of course there is. It enriches the original films. Stuff like
Palpatine
>and, of course, Vader, now just have much more depth now we know more
details
>about where they came from.
That’s debatable. The process is to take an idea — a suggestion, an allusion, a theme, an image — and pin it in the concrete. Once you’ve represented this in a concrete situation it’s rather difficult to go any further. Infinitely more possibilities and levels of meaning are cut off than are opened up. Of course, this is inevitable and I’m not suggesting that no-one should try. However, there are few things more disheartening than having an indefinable impression destroyed by a representation that is clumsy, facile and banal. You don’t realise how cherished an impression is until it’s gone.
Guy
> However,
> there are few things more disheartening than having an indefinable
impression
> destroyed by a representation that is clumsy, facile and banal. You
don’t realise
> how cherished an impression is until it’s gone.
>
Yes! And that’s why I have sworn eternal vengeance against Lucas, that pandering prince of evil. All that was good and proper about the first trilogy has been stolen, yes I say STOLEN by Lucas. It’s like he’s taking what he gave the world with the first ones, and we have to cough up all our cherished impressions as the price for the new shiny plastic. Well I say no! Not sold! The goods are worthless pieces of plastic that will break the moment the dog/rug-monkey gets their jaws on it. The paint chips off if you drop it on the driveway on your way to work in the morning, and it’s not resistant to coffee spills. I don’t want it. But that’s not acceptable. Oh no. I have to return-to-sender all my "indefinable impressions" (whatever they are), and if I don’t like it, tough, they are gonna be ripped from my psyche with the ectoscopic monkey-wrench of modern mass media culture. And that, dear friends, is precisely why I’m gonna bottle Lucas if I ever meet him in person. No pleasantries, just "Oi LUCAS!" and WHAM a Pale Ale over his noggin "That’s for you!" and as his bodyguards proceed to beat the shit out me I’ll die a happy man. Enjoy!
Matt Lowry
