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

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

List Price: $19.98
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Really good
Review: I feel like I keep waiting for Lucas to be BRILLIANT though, and this just isn't. Keep in mind, I say this all with the absolute understanding that I'll take a weak Star Wars movie over 99% of the rest of the garbage out there, any day of the week.

1. George Lucas needs to hire someone to redraft his script in THE WORST POSSIBLE WAY. Although Lucas's imagination is second to none (in my opinion) and he can come up with a very creative story, he just simply, try as he might, cannot write dialogue. Everyone comes off almost tripping over his or her lines, none of it sounds natural and none of it flows.

2. I think that Lucas has become WAY too obsessed with visual effects. That said, his ILM team is STAGGERINGLY good at it, but I almost get the feeling that Lucas is trying too hard to fit the script into the story-board instead of taking his story-board from the script. There has to be a balance and I think it's way lop-sided here.

3. Hayden Christensen looks like a reject from Dawson's Creek and, frankly, doesn't seem to be a very good actor.

4. Speaking of which, Lucas is under-using Natile Portman to the point of it being criminal. She is an OUTSTANDING young actress, and yet the only close-ups she seems to earn are pleas for help in some way or another. I'm frustrated that we know VERY little about this young woman that Darth Vader had fallen for when there seems to be a ton of her back-story that's RIGHT THERE to be explored.

5. I also kind of get the impression Lucas is trying really hard to make these movies too kid-friendly. Not that I'm looking for flat out violence or gore, but there were a couple instances where I thought they might really be able to explore Anakin's moving to the dark-side and didn't take advantage of it. He seems to be forgetting that the audience knows that Anakin eventually winds up eventually decimating the Jedi order. It's a lot less important that we "like" him as it is we understand what he is going through.

That's about it; I did enjoy the movie, 3 stars out of 5. I now have all my hopes pinned to episode III. In order of the Republic to be in the state it's in by the time ep IV takes place, something really REALLY bad has to happen in the next movie.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: boring
Review: I was a Star Wars fan when I was child but these prequels are a waste of money.

I yawned quite a few times thoughout the screening.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: So amazingly bad it's hilarious!
Review: I found this film extremely entertaining just because I couldn't believe how completely awful it was! I was astounded that something with such amazingly stiff acting, bad special effects and incoherent scene structures could even make it out of the studio! When I saw this in the theater, I spent the whole time laughing myself to tears, along with the rest of the crowd. Granted, if you completely eliminated Darth Vader's storyline and just had Obi Wan's scenes (basically the rain planet and the final battle) you would have a very watchable sci-fi film with somewhat flat characters. But add in Darth Vader's plot, which is 3/4 of the film, and you get the most ridiculous collection of horribly acted scenes in front of over the top computer generated backgrounds which don't blend together at all. The scenes are so incoherent, the characters so unlikeable and the computer animation so fake looking that the film's practically avant garde. Four stars for all the wrong reasons! Hahahaha!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: I Wish I Got Paid To Do Something Unsupervised For 10 Years
Review: ...like the clone makers were. No questions asked, free hand and all that. No wonder they look so serene and plesant doing the work of the Dark Side.

You know the story; if you don't, there are plenty of folks who have written good synopsises of it. This is strictly for people who want my 2 cents:

Is this film better than Episode 1? Yes. We've taken care of all the introductions in the first film and can get down to business here. While I'm sure some liked the cutesy kids in the first film, I preferred all the main characters to be grown (the exception to this is of course Boba Fett; this kid has more talent than all the child actors in the first movie put together. I haven't seen such grim determination in a character since Omen 2).

One of the problems, as I see it, is that Lucas seems to have forgotten how to tie his films together. This was somewhat apparent in Return of the Jedi, and has continued to get worse in the prequels. I know you might say it's the editors, but nothing leaves Skywalker Ranch without George's stamp of approval.

The other is characters and the people hired to play them. When I took my wife to see the film, many of the audience laughed during the romance scenes. She wondered why. I explained that Christensen's acting was, to say the least, cheesy.

Add to that the continued existence of Jar-Jar and I can't in all honesty say I really enjoyed this film. Except for when Samuel L. Jackson de-headified Jango. That was very cool.

Finally, Mr. Lucas can explain away SW story/historical inconsistancies that he created saying it's not literal and that
things will be explained later, but why? Where's the benefit to the audience? Some say I should be less critical since it's HIS film and we should be grateful for such an imagination. To this I say ...!!! He doesn't make these films just for himself, or he'd be doing it with a Super 8 anf have them on his den shelves, bringing them out on holidays when he has guests. He wants us to see his vision, but let's face it: it's ours now as well. He needs to respect that to a certain extent.

3 stars is what I can honestly give this film. Hopefully, the third and last film will finally live up to my expectations (and others).

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: This movie shows George Lucas's ego has run amock...
Review: Attack of the Clones has none of the charm of the originals and is a truly awful movie, the one that will surely turn off many Star Wars fans to the whole series. Essentially, it is George Lucas's ego run amok, and shows how he has surrounded himself with a bunch of sycophants not willing to tell the billionaire that he's lost his art for storytelling. If you want to play a videogame, go ahead and play one. But this movie is nothing but a glorified videogame, where the special effects have taken over, and all human elements have been lost. Essentially, the empire has won: the machines rule this universe now. Fine actors like Ewan McGregor and Natalie Portman are completely wasted with ridiculous, stilted dialog. The romance is thrust into the movie with no buildup, and no logical or believable progression. "Oh, you just slaughtered a bunch of sand people? Well, that really makes me want to love you!" Don't waste your time on this film. Hopefully low sales will give Lucas the hint that the next movie needs to return to real acting and mythic storytelling, and lose the emphatuation with ILM. Make it dark and fun like Empire, and close it out. Please.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Attack of the Groans
Review: Can't anyone say NO to Lucas?

No one said NO to the contrived dialogue; can anyone stomach a line like ... he was an artist and I was in the youth legislative program... blah, blah, blah.

No one said NO to the continued (and dreadfully boring) political plotline; people don't pay attention to meetings in the US Senate, why would they care about the bland political bickering in ATOC (especially since we had to suffer through it in TPM).

No one said NO to the lame special effects allowed in the film; am I the only one who saw the CGI Anakin looking fake as ever as he rode the Naboo-cow in front of Padme'? <..I loved the holy-trilogy and Lucas has lifted hundreds from my wallet over the years. The Phantom Menace made me luke warm on the entire series. Attack of the Clones is a laughable movie liked only by the Lucas Lemurs (and just watch the lemurs attack me when the realize I have an opinion other than their own... such a sad group).

Save your money and watch some good popcorn movies this year; Lord of the Rings and Spiderman.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Star Wars isn't dead . . . just your inner child
Review: To everyone who is criticizing this movie, I have a few things to say. First of all, I have not been able to find a single person in person who didn't think this movie was excellent. People who were not Star Wars fans and who were unimpressed by the originals, like my wife, thought this movie was the best.
I, for one, who have always been a moderate fan, consider this the 2nd best of the series. And if this movie was so bad, why is it ranked 2nd among Amazon's DVD's? You can argue that the $300 million the film grossed was simply from hype and fans wanting the movie to be good, but after so many months where the initial excitement and hype wears off, people still want to own this movie so that they can watch it over and over. The sad truth isn't that this movie is bad and only geeky Star Wars fans disagree. It's the hardcore Star Wars fans that hate this movie because it doesn't live up to their 10+ years of expectations, which no movie possibly could have. Regular people like myself, who don't own every single Star Wars toy from the original series, thought this was great. Just admit it, if Attack of the Clones came out when you were 12, you wouldn't be whining about dialogue and acting. I seriously don't remember EVER discussing dialogue or acting when I was a kid. We talked about all the cool monsters and space ships and action scenes . . . and Episode II had plenty of those!!! Star Wars isn't dead. Just your inner child.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Better than "Episode I", but what does that really tell you?
Review: A couple of years ago, George Lucas continued his legendary "Star Wars" saga by releasing "Episode I: The Phantom Menace", the first of three prequels to the original trilogy. To almost everyone's disappointment, "Episode I" was nothing more than a tech demo showcasing amazing special-effects but very little plot, characterization, or acting. Because "Episode I" was so forgettable, Lucas knew he had to get "Episode II" right or else everyone would think "Star Wars" would be considered dead. So he made sure "Episode II: Attack of the Clones" had what "Phantom Menace" lacked: an interesting plot and action galore. Sadly, while "Episode II" is unquestionably better than "Episode I", "Attack of the Clones" is still nothing more than a tech demo.

Unlike "Episode I", which dealt with politics, "Episode II" deals with Anakin Skywalker's growth, his forbidden love for Queen Amidala, and how he grows ever closer to the Dark Side of the Force. While this is going on, there are mysterious things happening, including the build-up of a clone army and a possible threat to the Alliance. Sounds interesting, right? The question is: where did it go wrong?

First things first: Hayden Christensen cannot act to save his life! He speaks in such a monotonous and flat tone that you cannot help but grind your teeth in agony. Hearing him say things like, "I'm sorry, Master" and "I'm going to be the greatest Jedi" shows just how much effort he put into his character: none. Heck, even Mark Hamil acted better in "A New Hope" than Christensen did in "Attack of the Clones".

Other than Christensen, however, the other actors gave very convincing performances. Ewan McGregor, who sounded just like Christensen in "Phantom Menace", has actually managed to pull of a near-perfect Alec Guiness accent and has improved upon his character remarkably. Natalie Portman sounded bored in "Menace", but actually appears a lot more interested in "Clones" and gives a lot more depth to her character. And the ever-great Christopher Lee deserves high points as yet another great bad guy.

Still, even all of this talen won't do anyone any good if the script is as bad as the one found in "Clones"!

Seriously, the script in "Episode II" is horrendous. Nobody would ever say the things found in this movie. Phrases sound either completely out of place or are blatantly obvious ("A poison dart") that it's easy to tell that George Lucas marketed this movie to 12-year old boys (which is actually true). And another thing: Lucas cannot write a love story. All of the love scenes between Christensen and Portman were cheesy, ridiculous, and just plain irritating. And with Christensen's acting (or lack thereof), phrases like "I don't like sand" sound horrible. Simply put, the script was possibly the biggest downfall of "Clones" other than Christensen's acting.

As for the special-effects...well, what's to say? They look fantastic, as is expected with Lucas, who seems to care about the CGI more than the actors. Almost every scene in "Clones" is filmed with a blue-screen, and because of this there are many cases of emotionless acting from the characters. How can there be emotion when actors have no background other than a blue-screen? Lucas made this mistake in "Phantom Menace", and now "Clones" has to suffer because of it as well.

But was there anything memorable here? Surprisingly, yes. There's the famous scene where Yoda fights with a lightsaber, as well as a few scenes with Jango Fett and the arena with hundreds of Jedi. Unlike "Menace", Lucas actually managed to craft some memorable moments from "Clones".

Overall, "Attack of the Clones" can be seen as a checklist for all of the loose ends leading up to the first movie in the original trilogy. Everything felt so forced and contrived and the memorable moments were hardly enough to offset the terrible script and Christensen's sour acting. All Lucas had to do was make "Episode II" better than "Episode I", and he succeeded, but unfortunately he didn't do anything else.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Don't send in the clones
Review: If one word could describe the movie it would be: Forshadowing. You know what's gonna happen, so what's the point of watching the movie? However, it does have some nice special effects and action scenes. "Size Matters Not" is a line used by Yoda and he proves it by having a lightsaber duel with a sith lord (i forgot his name)
Anakin goes mad when his mother, captured by the Sand People, dies in his arms and he slaughters the sand people camp. This is the first showing that Anakin has inner demons. He gets married to Aimada (spelling?) at the end. Something is missing here, but i don't see what. It's better than the Phantom Menace, but only just so. Jar Jar Binks is also in it, although he's not as annoying as he was in espiode 1.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: OUTSTANDING!
Review: Not only is this chapter in the saga a huge improvement over Episode I, it compliments it enormously. The Phantom Menace was unfairly panned due to the overblown hype and expectation for the film. Sure it had flaws in both acting and plot, but so did the original Star Wars. Critics scoffed at that film in 1977 only to see it set box office records and attain pop culture immortality. And now, with the internet and sixteen years of waiting, every move George Lucas makes is under intense scrutiny. The man can do no right in most people's eyes. He's a victim of his own success. In Episode II, Lucas not only demonstrates are more apt hand in storytelling, but manages to deliver a dramatic punch along with all the eye-popping visuals. Anakin's first step towards the dark side is chilling and poignant. And the battle sequences are some of the finest in the Star Wars saga. Yes, the romantic storyline is clunky, and lacks the charm of Empire, but it's adequate. Overall, Clones is a fine addition to the saga and as I said before compliments Menace. A painting can't be judged solely on one portion of the canvas. Lucas is near completion of his space fantasy epic. Let's give him a chance to finish before final judgement is passed on his work.


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