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Star Wars - Episode II, Attack of the Clones (Widescreen Edition)

Star Wars - Episode II, Attack of the Clones (Widescreen Edition)

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Piece of Garbage
Review: Overall, this movie was one of the worst sequels or prequels I have ever seen.The romantic scenes were not at all believable and poorly written.Some of the acting and dialogue was just plain horrible.The first hour of this movie was too slow except for the openning and the chase sequence.There's a heavy reliance on CGI for the special effects, which made the movie look more like a cartoon at some points.In addition, this movie doesn't stand up well to A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back or Terminator 2.A more talented director like James Cameron or Steven Speilberg would have done justice to the series.In conclusion, I do not recommend this piece of garbage.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: This Joke's Gone Far Enough. Where's The Real Prequels?
Review: I realize this movie probably deserves more than 2 stars, but since it had so much to live up to and failed miserably, I could only with a clear conscience give it 2. Yes, it was much closer to the original Star Wars feel than TPM, but, then again, so was Spaceballs. Where the original trilogy could arguably be called the best three movies in the history of cinema, I don't think the prequels could crack the top 100. These films have none of the magic or good characterization that the originals had. Even the special effects are inferior, the puppets and animatrons looked far more realistic than the computer effects now being used. It seems that instead of doing away with the childish comedy scenes of TPM, which is what fans wanted, George Lucas mistakenly believed the fans just wanted Jar Jar gone, so he just replaced him with R2D2 and C3P0. The scenes in the droid factory are ridiculous, I felt like I was watching Bugs Bunny. And then the scenes in the arena are even worse, with awful one-liners like "This is such a drag!", and "I'm beside myself!" Ugh. The droids would NEVER have been used this way in the original trilogy, which contained more adult humor. And since when could R2D2 fly? As most of the other reviews on this film have stated, the relationship between Anakin and Padme was a complete joke. How could anybody take seriously lines like "You are in my very soul, tormenting me. I am haunted by the kiss you never should have given me." Or how about "I love you, deeply, truly." I can't believe these lines ever got off the drawing board, surely SOMEONE working for George Lucas should have said something. (Maybe they did, and just got fired.) Whatever happened to the simple "I Love You," "I Know" of Han and Leia? I coundn't care less about any of the actors in these two films, they are too wooden, unlike the actors in the originals. In the original trilogy, we were introduced to Luke as a young adult, so the same actor could play him in all three films, letting us get close to his character. Not so with Anakin. I still can't understand why Lucas chose to make him a child in TPM, instead of making him be around Luke's age. Maybe he could have grown on us a little by now. When Obi Wan refers to Anakin in A New Hope, it is obvious that he wasn't supposed to be a child when he met him. Speaking of continuity errors, has anyone else noticed that even though the droids don't know Owen or recognize Tatooine or Luke's last name in ANH, here they are in the prequels, one of them even being built by Anakin, no less? Even if Lucas tries to say they get their memories erased, why doesn't Owen or Obi Wan recognize C3P0 in ANH? The aliens in these films are also a joke. They have none of the character or menace of the aliens from the originals, they all look like cartoons that speak english(none of the aliens in the originals did), most of the time with ridiculous accents. The two headed announcer from TPM and the cook in the 50's cafe are especially bad. Even the menacing Jabba the Hutt was made into a complete joke in TPM. And I hated the subplot with Boba Fett, why do we have to see our favorite menacing characters from the originals running around as obnoxious children? Couldn't we just have assumed that Jango Fett was his father, and go from there? All these complaints aside, there are some great parts in this movie. The scene with Palpatine and Anakin is great, with foreshadowing of things to come. As with TPM, the villians are nothing short of perfect, Palpatine, Darth Maul and Count Dooku are all great. The lightsaber battles in these films are also great, outdoing anything Luke and Vader ever did. The scene with Yoda fighting seemed appropriate, it didn't bother me as bad as some others. He's supposed to be a great Jedi Knight, so why shouldn't he be able to handle a lightsaber? Ewan McGreggor did a much better job this time as Obi Wan, a true younger version of Alec Guiness. The scene with Anakin and his mother and the sandpeople slaughter is very well done, as is the battle between all the Jedi and Dooku's forces. Overall, the movie is very enjoyable, but it has far too many flaws to be considered up to par with the originals. I am really afraid that Lucas will make a ridiculous, different looking costume for Darth Vader that can fly or something in Episode 3. Of course, it really doesn't matter now if Lucas screws up Episode 3, because it would be stupid to watch the original trilogy and then have to watch these two failures to get to the great Episode 3. Personally, I don't think George will make us have to do that. The fact that he wanted to include N'Sync in this film confirms what we Phantom Menace haters already knew, that George has either gone senile or he just isn't cool enough anymore to make these films. Maybe someday a wealthy fan of the original trilogy will make some real prequels, then we can forget about these and someday show our grandchildren two great trilogies instead of just one.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: What happened between 1983 and 1999?
Review: What a waste of a perfectly good saga! I'm sorry, but I would rather have watched every single 'Never-ending story' movie than this horrid excuse of a film!

1) This "movie" has absolutely no Star Wars feel to it at all. It's just a bunch of flashy spaceships and robots (all CGI, of course!) flying around shooting bright red and green lasers at each other with a bunch of familiar characters thrown into
the middle of it all.

2) There's no freakin' plot for goodness sake! Wow, Obi-Wan goes hunting for some clones, and Anakin falls in love with Padme. Whoa, George! Slow down! You lost me way back when Jar-Jar was given some more screen time, what's going on again? Oh, yeah. Nothing worth remembering more than the 2 hours of torture the audience has to endure while the movie is still playing.

3) Count Dooku (whoa, George did u think of that name when watching Sesame Street or something? What kind of evil, villain name is that?) was not the menacing bad guy in the background of the plot making things harder for our heroes that every Star Wars movie so desperately needs! He just shows up half way through the movie and talks to Obi-Wan for a few seconds and chops off Anakin's arm at the end. If you're going to make a bad guy, George, give him some more life, and more things to do to disrupt the progress of the good guys!

4) George, when are you going to realize, you don't need 10 billion CGI shots in a movie to make it look real? I mean, the original dewbacks who couldn't move at all in the original Star Wars looked more real than those 'creatures' in the arena at the end of the movie!

5) The lines in this movie are quickly forgotten. Don't even get me started on the Anakin and Padme 'attraction' because there wasn't any accept in the director's head. Even the "skills" of the actors couldn't make the lines on the script more heartfelt. They were just horrible! Or how about when Anakin's mom dies?! PLEASE! Has there ever been a worse on-screen death in movie history? "Oh, you've grown so much, I'm so proud of you, I love..., I love..., uggggh"! I would rather have to memorize every single meaning of every word in the dictionary than watch this scene ever again!

6) To be completely honest, the only character I felt any sort of connection to was Watto when he had his brief 30-seconds of spotlight. He was a corny, delightful addition to the movie, and I don't really know why. He's not a hero, he's not a villain, he's a middle man. You feel this sense of pity on him since he can no longer even fix a simple droid any more. It's sad to see how memorable and well-written the characters in the first trilogy were and how the second one has only supplied me with one character I actually enjoyed seeing on-screen.

7) The only good thing about this movie was the score. I admit, John Williams did a good job in conveying the real feelings of what the characters should have portrayed on the screen. I really enjoy the "Across The Stars" song, and all the music for every action sequence was well-written! That's at least one thing I can find enjoyable about this movie. Frankly because George Lucas had little-to-no say in what the music sounded like. Cudos, John for a wonderful score. Maybe George will make a script to go along with it next time.

I'll be honest, I was truly a die-hard fan of Star Wars 'till Episode 1 hit theatres. I'm sorry to say it, but George, you've ruined a perfectly good saga and replaced it with two consecutive hyped-up, big money, all talk, no walk movies. I hope for the sake of the fans that you take a hint from your critics instead of your yes-men for once! Maybe you will still be able to salvage what dignity and respect is left in the Star Wars universe and put together a decent film for those of us who have been let down by the last two!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: For Those Who Are Not Still Sure: Slightly Above Avarage One
Review: Far, far away from the original "Star Wars" I saw 25 years ago, "Episode II" has now given a bigger scale about everything, and goes like an old 19th century novel such as "War and Peace" -- it's very long (exceeds 140 minutes), it has so many characters (more than 50), and it has double, or at times triple plots that go on at the same time. But what happens to major characters, we know already, as you see. Considering these things, "Episode II" did a fairly good job though it won't convert those who are not devoted fan, or who haven't experienced the sensation of the very original "Star Wars."

If you haven't seen or known anything about the saga (and some of you surely not), you will be just perplexed to watch part of large canvas of this epic. In such case, go to the "Star Wars" page and buy DVD of the original one, where you shoud start. Don't go to "Episode I," and don't jump into this film. I hate to say this, but Lucas fails to hold well the story about the Jedi Knights' attempt to protect Queen Amidara from assasination, and their war against insidious Count Dooku. I, after having seen all of the franchise at theater, couldn't see why the Jedi Knights are not allowed to love women. Did we know that before?

If you have seen only "Episode I" and were once dismayed at its inept direction, don't be worry. "Episode II" is much improved, probably after thorough research about audience's responce on the moviemaker's side. Jake Lloyd has grown up to become Hayden Christensen (good!), and notoriusly noisy Jar Jar whatever is put aside, so you see so little of him (thank Heaven!). Natalie Portman is given more substantial role, and so is Ewan McGregor. Veteran actors are not wasted -- Christopher Lee is fantastic as Count, showing real 'menace' that lacked in the previous entry of the series, and about Yoda, you can see his fighting, which is very cool (and strong too!) indeed. Even though the use of special effects are not original, it has been upgraded for this release, shot with 100 per-cent digital techinique.

Okay, but we got bad things, too. Beside the clumsy storytelling, the film gives us a love story between the young lead which is too corny, as if Lucas is making a parody of old melodrama. Some ideas should be removed from the final take, especially the unfunny one about R2D2's severed head, which inteds to be funny in vain, and Lucas again betrayed his loss of touch when he let a kid character involved in a fight scene (I mean Boba Fett), which ends up with an awkward result for family viewing.

AND for long-standing fans, what can I say? They like it anyway, and this time again Lucas introduced sub-liminal reference that might be appreciated by fans of the series. One exchange of dialogue predicts the fate of Obi-wan and Anakin, who gets hurt in the same way as his son would receive in "Episode 5." Or, Christopher Lee's Count Dooku, which naturally reminds us of another Count Dracula he played in and after 1959, also leads us to the memory of Peter Cushing, who played Doctor Van Helsing with him, and later, of course, Grand Mos Tarkin in "Episode 4." And so on, and on. Surely if you love this series, you can talk a lot about this film.

As a whole, then, this film's impression is greatly influenced by previous knowledge of the series. It is hard to evaluate this one per se, but as a fan of the series, this is a slightly above average one.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Few Key Points to Keep in Mind
Review: This is not a true review, only a few thoughts. As far as I'm concerned just John William's awesome soundtrack score alone is worth the admission price. Also, just the speacial effects alone portrayed in this movie is worth the admission price. And finally, just the being able to watch Yoda wield a lightsaber and kick some major ... is, by itself, worth the admission price. And I've deffinately seen it more than 3 times. Yeah, OK, I'm a huge Star Wars fan from my earliest childhood, but all you naysayers out there need to re-examine what it is you want in a movie. This film is fantasy set in a sci-fi atmosphere and it's for entertainment and enjoyment. As far as I'm concerned, It delivers -- big. Yeah, maybe the acting won't win oscars, but I thought it was fine and fit the story perfectly. George himself said that these movies almost play like silent movies set to music - It's true. There is a lot of artistic beauty and imagination to appreaciate in this film. And yes I stay in the theater until the last note of the end title score is finished. In summary I'm a musician and an artist who happens to love mythology and the classic stories of good verses evil displayed on a grand scale. This and all the other Star Wars movies appeal to me on these levels.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Not your...well....it isn't the original trilogy
Review: I wanted to love this movie. It was entertaining. But new films have lost the spirit and wonder of the first movies. The force is no longer something mystical and mysterious...it is something boiled down to science. This movie is more like a video game. I guess that is what most young audiences want today, more game, less character developement. I couldn't fall in love or care for any of these characters.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Better, But Still Not Up To His Original
Review: Sigh. Yes, AOTC is better than TPM. Unfortunately, that's not saying much. Both casts, even without the obvious repetition of returning characters/actors, are easy on the eyes, but Lucas flattens their performances. These actors are never allowed to live up to their potential; having seen at least some of them in other films, I know they can be MUCH better. It's a wonder they managed to perform this stuff at all. Lines are toneless, and the action moves rapid-fire from one thing to the next without a hint of why we should really care, or sometimes even any clue as to why anyone would choose to do what they do. Add to that the tennis-match editing that bounces us from Tatooine to Geonosis and back again so fast it's hard to keep up with who you're watching and where he is, and it is painfully obvious that Lucas means exactly what he says when he claims to care only about special effects (which, incidentally, were not all that great; the water was glaringly artificial, and Yoda's bouncing around like a rubber ball struck me as ridiculous, not impressive...a more complete analysis [by other pros] of 3D flaws can be found in Computer Graphics World's July 2002 issue).

The only scene that gripped me at all was Shmi's death; Lucas slipped up and allowed Hayden to emote. It was almost enough to make me cry. Almost...

A few moments of nostalgia when we see the exterior of Luke's future home and the characteristic bickering between R2D2 and C3PO were delightful, but the mass confusion and bad jokes in the arena scene take the joy right out of it. Honestly, now; "I'm beside myself"??? That was lame in elementary school.

I may get the DVD eventually, but I'm sure not going to the theater for that one again. There are too many other films out right now that I want to see, and a number of others coming soon. Lucas could definitely use some help from Spielberg and others on the directing and scripting; the only things selling this movie are the eye candy actors and the first two words of the title: Star Wars.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Never realized I was going to see a comedy
Review: But I actually laughed fairly consistently through this one. Let's see...where should I start? The plot, the dialogue, the actors, the computer graphics, the costumes? No, let's blame the DIRECTOR! This movie was just horrible. You know, as a frequent flier I usually see my movies in flight, where the sound and the picture are terrible and it is hard to concentrate. I think viewing Attack of the Clones on the plane might've improved my experience of it.

First, the plot was plodding and downright confusing for most of the movie. The actors seemed ill at ease with their lines and were reduced to rolling their eyes and making smirking faces to convey their message. Senator Palpatine, who looks suspciously like Senator Lieberman, was especially guilty of this. I suppose he's either a bad guy or his contacts are bothering him. Dunno which.

Oh, and can we give the foreshadowing a rest and just concentrate on telling a good story and making a good movie? Example - Obi-Wan says to Anakin, "You'll be the death of me." Perhaps worse than this were the inappropriate puns. Imagine a violent battle that involves our heroes facing overwhelming odds. C3PO's head has been severed, reassembled on another robot, and displaced again by R2D2. As R2 drags 3PO's head over to his body, 3PO says........this one will really kill you...."I'm beside myself."

OK, but WORSE than the sodden plot, the wooden acting, the overindulgence of computer-generated graphics, and the poor direction is the TERRIBLE chemistry between Amidala and Anakin - or should I say LACK o' chemistry? He was just awful. They made his character a spoiled brat and turned her into a ding dong and a tart. She tells him they can't have a relationship, yet dresses like a hussy and drapes herself all over him. Honestly, half the theatre laughed aloud when each declared their love for another (George, use an editor, for heaven's sake!)

I guess I'm glad I saw it, but I am sad for Mr. Lucas and even sadder for generations of Star Wars fans who will be obliged to purchase this lousy movie just so they can have a complete collection.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: What Return of the Jedi Was Great?
Review: The most rediculous thing to me, whether someone says this film stinks or is good, no one can see any flaws in any of the other films. Okay, Menace was almost entirely a flaw. I loved A New Hope since I was a child, yet if you take away the special effects the movie drags for a good half-hour as they're trying to escape the Death Star. C3PO would have been just as annoying in Empire as Jar-Jar is in Menace if his arms could flail around and his ears could flop around like Roger Rabbit. Finally Does Everyone forget how annoying and stupid the Ewoks were?! Personally I don't need to see midgets and kids dressed up to look like monkeys. No body wants to remember how bland that story was other than the conflict between Darth Vader and Luke with the witty taunting by the Emperor. People are saying that Clones is a bad installment of the Saga, sorry it is no longer a trilogy when there is going to be six. In this film the plot of the whole story takes a twist with the Storm Troopers actually being created as a clone army to assist the Jedis. Maybe I was left out of the loop before I saw this film, but it came as a shock to me. As a side note if anyone read the novalization or would care to check with IMDB there was a filmed deleted scene which makes the very unconvincing love story make more sense. To anyone who criticizes the acting, I agree that someone other than Christiansen should have played Anakin, yet Ewan McGregor is more believable as young Obi-Wan, not Alec Guiness, than he was in Menace. As far as Yoda fighting...finally! Just because he is short and green doesn't mean he can't be [tough] from time to time. Oh yeah, the cane. Wouldn't a Jedi use the force, as it flows through him/her, to duel?Honestly for those who were disapointed, I feel that the knowledge of what's to come has created a jaded view for all three prequills. And even though these stories come in linear order before A New Hope they have been made after the sequals, which isn't expected to beat the first, and after almost twenty years of hype. When one watches these movies as individual films, or as a sequal to the one before it they deliver at a much more promising rate than when one is expecting it to blow all the others in the series out of the water. To me Attack of the Clones was an exciting, revealing, action-adventure that asked an extremely prejudice and discriminating audience to suspend disbelief and leave reality to be in a galaxy far, far away for two hours and and twenty minutes. But for some fantasy is too much to ask in a theater close to home.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: I don't know what to say...
Review: Ok first let me say that I am a BIG fan of the Phantom Menace! I don't know how any Star Wars fan coulnd not like it, in some ways it was superior to the previous (technologically speaking). With that being said, I was a little disapointed with this installment. Perhaps I was sitting too close to the screen so I missed something and now I will have to wait until its released to see it again. There were no fight scenes like in Phantom Menace (even if you didn't like the movie, you must admit the scenes with Darth Maul, Qui Gon, and Obi Wan were very cool), the fight scene with Yoda was laughable, and there were too many jokes. This is a war we are talking about here! I didn't go to see a comedy. I did like the change you see in Anakin, as he moves toward the Dark Side, and it will be a treat to see in the final chapter of the saga. A word of advise? See it more than once. I am hoping that will spark my appreciation once again because after waiting so darn long for this one...well I'm not sure if it was worth the wait.


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