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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: 4 stars
Summary: More Than Worthy Entry to the Jedi Saga
Review: Nothing will quite equal the amazing experience of seeing the opening scenes of "Star Wars A New Hope" on opening night in 1977. Sadly, far too many fans and critics who had that joyous experience long, long, ago still hope that one of the newer episodes will repeat that feeling...none of them will, or can. And that was the beauty of that film and the challenge for the others. Oddly enough, while the original experience cannot be recreated there have been wonderful developments in the Star Wars series; indeed, several of the later episodes have actually been better films than the original. Perhaps the best of the series was "The Empire Strikes Back," but much more than "New Hope" it demanded other films to continue the story. This brings us to Episode II, "Attack of the Clones." Much as I hoped to repeat the rush of 1977, and again hoped that "Empire" might be equaled, Episode II was not quite up to the task...but that would be asking quite a bit. Sadly, none of the later episodes, "Attack" included will ever be judged on their own merits, (this was especially true with Episode I, "Phantam Menace")and that is too bad. In terms of film making, "Attack" is a marvel to look at. George Lucas contiues to take great risks in this capacity. New special effects, new digital systems, all to go with earlier contributions in visual and sound effects that have revolutionized the industry. "Attack" certainly continues this tradition in technical aspects to an extent that should not disappoint anyone. This film is a feast for special effects. The story picks up as expected. There is no mystery here. We know what will happen...the Republic is doomed. The fun is in watching the events unfold. The romance of Anakin and Padme is something of a necessary distraction and is handled well enough in this episode, in fact, it must be said that it works through some deft editing, without slowing the fun too much. John Williams' score again warrants high marks. His new love theme is wonderful and is used in various ways in the film. But what is most interesting is Williams' use of older themes to create a growing musical tapestry. These themes are so familiar that they now help in the story telling. When this series is finished, Williams'"Star Wars" score will be an achievement in and of itself. Again, the familiar characters are joined by new ones, and here there is an interesting development. A new Sith apprentice appears with Count Dooku (Darth Tyranus)as portrayed by Christopher Lee, who appears to be having the professional time of his life (Darth Tyranus and Saruman in "Lord of the Rings," all at the same time. There have been criticisms of the acting, and the script, but one should remember an old addage about films in this general genre...relax in your seat and don't ask too many questions. This is a significant film and will, most probably be ranked third in this series, possibly tied with "New Hope" but just behind "Empire" and that is no small achievement. Most of all, this entry will hardly dampen expectations for Episode III, indeed, the stage is now well set.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Enjoyable
Review: First off I have to say that this movie was much better than episode 1. I did not like the first movie but this one I would see again. The romantic scences bog the storyline at times, just because it sounds so dumb. Also I found that a lot of the characters acted very woodenly, in one scene Anakin is all angry after his mother's death and Amidala is standing there asking what's wrong, there was no emotion in her voice. It made the entire scene very jarring.

Nevertheless, I gave the movie 5 stars because at no point was I bored in it and because it was good enough that I would go see it again.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Disapointed-I expected much much much better!
Review: I can't put it any other way but to say I was truly disappointed by this movie. I loved the Phantom Menace and I was really looking forward to the sequel. But after watching Attack of the Clones, the first thing which came to my mind was "Is this it"

First of all the movies biggest problem was Anakin Skywalker played by Hayden Christensen. If you thought Jake Lloyd was obnoxious and irritating in TPM, then multiply the factor by 10 for Hayden Christensen in ATC. In TPM Anakin seemed to be a man in a child's body. In ATC Anakin seems to be a boy in a mans body. ....

And the romance. Oh my goodness, It is vrais fromage (true cheese) if I ever saw it. Never mind that the lines were silly and over the top. Christesen and Portman have no chemistry whatsoever. The romance is not believable. Are we supposed to believe that a strong, dignified and smart young woman like Padme Amidala would really fall in love with (or put up with) immature Anakin? Another instance is their scene after Anakins mothers death. Portman's behaviour towards him is totally out of character. Most of their lines to each other in the movie made me cringe. Ten year old Lloyds lines to Portman (Are you an Angel?) had more resonance than Christensens.

During a great portion of the movie I was bored to tears primarily during that battle scene inside the Roman like Coliseum. It simply seemed to be violence and mayhem for violence and mayhem sake. Yes and I agree with another reviewer, the Yoda fighting scene looked like a sight gag.

I can not bash the movie entirely. Natalie Portman was excellent once again as was Ewan McGregor and Samuel L. Jackson. The political intrigue was interesting and I thought it was really neat the way the delved into the workings of the society including The Jedi order. I also liked the sets, the artwork and the cinematography.

I was going to see this movie again just to pick up on the political intrigue but now that I've thought about it I've decided that there is no way I can sit through this travesty again. ...

I can only recommend this film to hardcore Star Wars fans. ...

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: What Episode I should have been
Review: I admit: I really wanted to like The Phantom Menace. Even after I had seen it a couple of times, and I had read all those bad reviews pointing out all the kiddie dialogue and humor in it (was there really any point of having that scene where the animal in front of Jar Jar on Tatooine farts?), I still couldn't come to terms with how disappointing the movie was. I walked into Episode II with the dreaded feeling that this was going to be Episode I all over again. However, as the end credits rolled, I felt satisfied.

In case you don't know, Episode II depicts the beginning of the Clone Wars, and young Anakin Skywalker's descent into evil/the Dark Side. Thankfully though, both the former and the latter are pulled off quite well. The love scenes between Anakin and Padme are not as terrible as everyone had made them out to be, and although when I saw Anakin's temper tantrum on Tatooine in the 'Clone War' trailer, I felt like laughing, when I saw it in the theater, the scene works much better when put into its context.

Hayden Christensen is great as Anakin; it's no wonder why the people over at Lucasfilm saw something special in him. I can't wait to see how he does in Episode III. Meanwhile, Natalie Portman looks absolutely exquisite in this movie. She is quite possibly the hottest girl in sci-fi. Oh yeah, her acting is good too. Seriously. As for other characters, Christopher Lee uses what little lines he has to the fullest extent. Ewan McGregor finally gets the attention he deserves after how little of a role he had in Episode I; and although I sort of missed the old puppet Yoda, the lightsaber battle between him and Count Dooku was the coolest thing I've seen in a long while.

Bottom line, if you haven't seen this yet, what are you waiting for? I can't wait until Episode III... the excitement is building up.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Stop the insanity!
Review: This movie redefines bad. Hear me out.

I remember seeing "Star Wars" as a kid and being excited. Then "Empire Strikes Back", which was great. Then "Return of the Jedi" which was so-so. But between "Phantom Menace" and now "Attack of the Clones", George Lucas has clearly proven he has no idea what made hsi first films so popular.

Anakin? His acting was abysmal. Even by teen-drama standards. His romance with Padme seemed like some of the most bizarre dialogue ever written. At no point do either characters ever seem in love. Horrid romance.

Shmi--Anakin's mother--dying. That was the WORST on-screen death I have ever seen. I "Episode II" at a packed after-work showing of the movie in NYC at the Ziegfeld, and boy. His mother's death brought the WHOLE theater into uproarious laughter. It was THAT bad.

The fight between Jango Fett and Obi Wan was hyped as being better than anything in the Matrix. Not even close. Heck, the preview for "Matrix: Reloaded "and "Matrix: Revolution" reenforced the point that the battle was pedestrian at best.

The dialgue in general. We all know action films aren't literary masterpieces, but at least have some lines that sound like someone with a high school degree wrote them. Some choice lines like--"We must get the starships into space"--were sub pathetic. It took George Lucas years and years to write such hackneyed prose? Ugggh.

That said, the most interesting part of the film was Obi Wan subplot. His spy-liek activity was very enjoyable and had eveyone rivitted. But if the core of the prequels is to make people better understand Anakin and how he becomes Darth Vader, this series is clearly a failure. Nobody I know had any interest in Anakin and the abysmal "romance" Lucas created. More people I know were interested in Obi Wan and his adventures.

Which I guess is cool, becauseee Obi Wan is a great character. But Anakin. Who cares. Han & Leia? That was romance. Anakin & Padme? That was/is a joke.

The best thing George Lucas can do is to hand over teh reitgns of "Episode III" to someone else. And considering he hired another writer to work with him on this one, I'm hoping he has the courage to realize that while he has vision, his ability to convincibly pull it off is clearly gone.

...

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: StarWars is Alive and Well!!!!
Review: From all the ** star reviews I read I didn't expect much but after I saw Attack of the Clones I've come to realize that their must be a lot of boring people out there because this movie rocks! Sure it has it's flaws, some bad dialogue being pretty slow and sort of uneven, other than that I really liked it. I found that Hayden Christopher and Natalie Portman's chemstry wasn't as bad as I heard either, it's not as good as the chemestry Tobey Maguire and Kirstin Dunst had in Spiderman but still it was ok. I admit their lines to each other were hard to sit through at first but I got into the whole romance thing by the end. Some people had a problem with Yoda fighting as well, saying it was out of character but who cares, it's entertaining. Plus I'm sure a lot of StarWars fans such as myself have been wanting see Yoda wielding a Lightsaber.

None those reasons it has been given so many 2 star reviews are good ones. I think it's an awesome movie and a StarWars fans dream come true. You got some insight into Boba Fett's past, mystery and intrigue, a lot of Jedi lightsaber action, cool creatures and not a lot of Jar-Jar. I am baffled that Clones has been called better than Phantom Menace yet it has gotten undeserved lower reviews than it. It's the best StarWars movie since The Empire Strikes Back in my book. It has all the needed StarWars qualities that Episode 1 was lacking, even has a lot of the original trilogy musical score by John Williams that the first was missing as well. Also I must mention that I enjoyed Samuel Jackson as Mace Windu this time around mostly because he gets to kick some butt at the end, he's no Yoda but he's cool, lol. Chrstopher Lee as Count Dooku is very good as well, yes even better than Darth Maul.

All in all I must say I was blown away and can't wait for Episode 3 but for now at least we have The Two Towers and The Return of the King to look foward to till then.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: THE BEST MOVIE EVER
Review: Alright, critics, you can all kiss my honey buns, cause you don't know the half of it. To call this movie bad is to insult truly bad movies, like Battlefield Earth. Calling this movie bad is considered sacrilege in some places. In fact, calling this movie anything is sacrilege. Heck, seeing this movie should be an exercise in torture. They could call it Chinese Clone Torture or something.

How did George go so horribly wrong? From Worst to Worse? Every part of this movie was awful, from the casting to the acting to the dialgoue. Even the movies much hyped fight scenes weren't up to Phantom Menace standards (if only because Chris "Count Dooku" Lee is a dinosaur...ironically, his movie Sith name was Darth Tyranus). Sure, Yoda did get to fight. Or did he? All I saw was some sort of furry creature on acid, a scene much reminescient of the Monty Python scene with the Killer Rabbit. Thats right. Awful. As I was in a jovial mood when I saw this [junk], I was able to laugh at it. And laugh I did. Whenever Anakin opened his mouth to spew some new drivel, (You've grown to, grown more beautful I mean) I just had to burst out. Whenever Padme did anything that was not a deliberate sexual act ("Are you okay?" Im fine, lets find a ship"), out with the giggles. Never before have I seen such horror in the movies. Never. Not even Samuel L. Jackson could save this sinking ship.

I reccomend Star Wars Episode II to anyone who is depressed with comedies today, as this movie will make you laugh for hours. I'm sitting here typing this, and I'm snickering, almost five days since I saw the movie. Yes rush out to see this, give George Lucas your money, buy his toys, obey my dog. Like George Lucas always

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Worst of all, except the action scenes. Flat. Unemotional.
Review: I had hoped from other reviews, that this would be better than Episode1. I was disappointed.

While the action scenes were indeed extremely (visually) impressive, and much better paced, (even though the Coruscant scenes were blatantly stolen from Blade Runner and 5th Element), the whole movie did not make any sense.

The editing was poor, jumping from scene to scene abruptly; the dialog and acting was totally flat and unemotional, except Anakin; wise jedi masters acted clueless, or even worse, like soldiers; nothing made sense.

Several "loose" ends were tied up, but mostly things that related to Ep.IV (not 1) and seemed just thrown-in, as a lame cameo/forced coincidence, and did not make sense vs EpIV. It felt like Lucas broke his own canon/world rules, and just ignored all continuity.

At least it gave some nice justifications for Anakin's frustrations/dark side...these were the only parts that made sense. However, those scenes were not played very well; for what should have been an immense emotional impact, for the turning point of the whole series & major character, it all felt flat.

And what the heck with Kung-Fu General Yoda?!?

What is George smoking? Has he been replaced with a bad clone?

Please, Lucas, skip the prequels, and just release Ep4-6 on DVD, so we can enjoy the old, good magic... and throw in Raiders as well.
Or, is he scared to let us see how far he's faltered, and how pale his current imitations are?

...BR>Lucas could learn a thing or two.
Please, let me see Troops again instead of another sequel...

sigh.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Nowhere near as good as RETURN OF THE JEDI
Review: Ewoks and all, it's still far better than this Episode. GL abandoned what worked for STAR WARS when he made this, he made it romantic to get more demographics in like Titanic and Gone With The Wind. He simplified Anakin's character, who just seems to be an idiot teen with problems, rather than conflicted considering what he has to gain from an appealing 'dark side', it's all very shallow and black and white and it's the BASIS of what is supposed to be this great story (3 feature-length films). The aliens are all boring/pretentious/ridiculous or old characters brought back. It's not dark at all, beyond the short scene where Anakin slaughters families of 'Tusken's. It looks gorgeous on the big screen, it will look less on the small screen, then we will concentrate more on the plot. It steals from films outright and repeats itself but certainly doesn't improve on these scenes, it was a nice concept but wasn't exciting, there are too few character moments. McGregor is spectacular, (as is Lee), but talks too softly at times. It looks so good with CGI and fight scenes, it almost makes it a good film. Dialogue should've been rewritten, lines like 'I don't think so' can't cut it, "I truly, madly (deeply?) love you", etc. I disliked Williams score, because it sounded 'off' when Anakin is pointed out by a Jawa, the music drops off when the scene is the same, when Anakin and Padme are half-way through kissing and abruptly stop, so does the music, but comically, also he throws out bursts of sound constantly (during fights, flying, etc.) -even during scene changes he does the same thing, like he doesn't address it and that gets old FAST. There wasn't much of a unique score for this film, it was centered around music composed for the original SW trilogy, he includes bits of nearly all of them and this film could've used a few themes all it's own. I saw a 10 year old crippled kid w/crutches speak to his dad about the Yoda scene, the one everyone laughs at, where he drops his crutches and uses the force to be upright long enough to fight 'Count Dooku', he said he "really liked that movie" and that reminded me of what GL is doing right.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Jedi Master Lucas
Review: OK, kids, first of all, forget all the junk you've ever heard from movie critics. Clear your mind from those reviews written by the same people who vote on the Oscars and have never given Star Wars more than a special effects award.
Attack of the Clones seriously ROCKS! The effects are wonderful. Personally, I thought the script was great. If you're a Star Wars fan, you'll get a lot of double-entendres that made the 12:01 AM crowd roll in the aisles. The love story is beautifully tragic--John Williams' theme gives me goosebumps every time I hear it.
This makes Phantom Menace a better movie and starts to tie the story together. The plot moves along quickly. No one should be bored at this movie unless they have no attention span whatsoever.
In my recent experience, the reviewers who pan the film as illogical or the love story as too regretful don't understand the Star Wars saga completely or haven't watched the movie carefully. It sounds biased, but in a sense, you really do have to love and know about SW to appreciate what Master Lucas has done with this one.
Hayden Christensen and Ewan McGregor stood out for me as far as acting. Anakin is just how he should be: dangerously violent, attractive and vulnerable. Obi-Wan, as the too-trusting mentor who can't see tragedy approaching adds another element of pathos to the story.
It's almost too dark for its PG rating, however. The MPAA is pushing the envelope here, especially since certain scenes eerily recall what happened on September 11, 2001.
Please don't listen to the sticks in the mud. This isn't Moulin Rouge, for which I am profoundly grateful, and so of course it's going to get burned critically. Be independent! See it yourself! 'Cause I, personally, can hardly wait the three years for Epi III.


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