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

Rating:
Summary: Special Effects do not substitute for story and character
Review: I'll admit that I'm judging this movie as an adult, but my opinions of the original were formed as a child. I'll be interested to see how my own children think how the prequels stack up to the original movies when they are old enough to appreciate them. That being said, I think that Attack of the Clones is at best a mediocre movie with a handful of interesting scenes, and at worst just a bad one that I would have completely disregarded had it not had the name Star Wars attached to it. I think the biggest weakness is Lucas' obsession with his special effects (wonder if he ever hears the irony in the line "Don't be too proud of this technological terror you've constructed" from Episode IV). First of all, they don't carry a film- they're nothing more than eye candy and should only be used to further the overall story. Lucas seems to take the opposite approach- he hangs a slim, poorly written plot on the insubstantial fraamework of his special effects. He envisions an effect and then writes a story to go along with it. That might work for a video game, but not for a major movie. Second, the effects just aren't that good to begin with. To me, they look shimmery, lacking in depth, and quite often very cartoonish. The technology isn't as advanced as Lucas likes to believe, and the effects don't measure up when all the attention is put on them. Look at a movie like Spiderman- subpar effects at times, but an interesting story and likable characters hold your interest and help you suspend your disbelief with the effects. Lucas' effects would be more than adequate if he had an interesting movie in which to display them. Give it up, George- we know you have the technology, but most of us just don't really care about it enough to build a whole movie around it. You can't tell the Star Wars stories without spfx, but you also can't have spfx without a story

That leads to the movie itself. Much has been said about the poor acting, and I don't disagree. However, I place the blame on the director/writer rather than the performers. I've seen most of them in other movies and they are all good actors, and some even have the potential for greatness. But they have nothing with which to work here: wooden dialogue, flimsy story, uninteresting characterizations. Much has also been said that the original trilogy's stars weren't that great of performers either. That may be true, but they had chemistry, and they played interesting characters with corny but memorable dialogue. They had energy and emotions. Darth Vader, Chewbacca, Yoda, Han Solo, Luke, Leia, even Lando and the ewoks- all a huge part of American popular culture. My 4 year old daughter knows many of them without ever having seen the movie. She can tell you how Darth Vader breathes funny and how Chewie looks like a monkey and how R2 talks in beeps. Will Count Dooku and Jar Jar and Amidala and the Genoisians be the same for future generations? I don't think so...

Don't even get me started on the inconsistencies between these movies and the original trilogy. Yeah, maybe they'll be addressed in Ep. Three. Right. Whatever. Sure. We'll see.

This movie just has very little substance. It might offer some visual marvels which hold up over time, and it might be a lesser part in a stronger whole. But overall Lucas has sadly lost what he once had. I'll hold out for episode three, but my confidence in it is greatly reduced. And frankly, I just don't care that much anymore (Well, obviously I do or I wouldn't have spent the time to write a review. Hell, I loved these movies as a kid and even today at age 33. What a disappointment! I can't believe how bad this movie turned out to be. What a letdown, George. To paraphrase Bruce Springsteen, an artist who HASN'T let me down over the years, you had it once but you ain't got it anymore.)

Rating:
Summary: The worst Star Wars ever, but not bad...
Review: This is the worst, but not horrible at all. There is just something about this one that makes it not good! Is it the corny humor? Could it be the deprived action? Or could it be another version of the Empire Strikes Back? YES! It can be more entertaing to play Super Star Wars than to view this without doing something else! Episode II is cool to pop culture, but that's because they can't see a classic and this is not a classic.

Rating:
Summary: 2.5 Stars...
Review: Episode 2 is the worse Stars Wars movie to date. The plot was fine but the acting was terrible. John Lucas has a huge budget to work with and could have put together a better Skywalker. That guy fits perfect on the daily "Soaps"

Rating:
Summary: NO!
Review: The Star Wars triology was one of the best set of movies I've ever seen, but these two POS movies that were absolutly horrible! 99% digitial [junk] I like the old cheesy master peice with good plots and ACTORS. I like my charaters to live, not some cartoon! this is basically a cartoon, but even toy story was a way better cartoon then this!...

Rating:
Summary: Forced, not The Force
Review: The two stars are given to Yoda. He is the only redeeming part of the film. The entire movie was badly written, acted and it was forced. It was over the top even for sci-fi. I mean the part in the begining when Anakin jumps from the vehicle-come on! And Obi Wan is nervous about Anakin's piloting, I thought Jedi's were to control their fear. Duku was not all that exciting either. To tell you the truth I think The Phantom Menace was a better film. Darth Maul was awesome! Duku lacked the dred that Maul brought to the scren. No one can replace Darth Vader but, If Darth Maul had more screen time he would have been a close runner up. I will see the third film just to get some closure but, I don't have very hi hopes. I will probably wait for it to be released on DVD. I was born in 1972, so I am going to have to stick with the Star Wars that I grew up with.

Rating:
Summary: Utter Garbage
Review: After hating the film in the theater, I thought I'd give it another try on DVD. Listening to the directors comments where Lucas actually tries to justify and admits that he "really wanted" the scene where Anakin and Padme roll around in the grass and ride on a cow thing, I couldnt take any more. Stick to the original 3 movies, this new era is chock full of fantastic special effects, but the story, acting, plot, etc are all terrible.

Rating:
Summary: does the trick
Review: somewhere in the middle ninties when i was a pup someone i dont remember (...) showed me that lightsaber fight in the empire strikes back and i was instantly hooked. then back in the day ... i saw the phantom menace movie, it was an almost pointless affair ... to sum it up episode one would have been absolutly nothing without the lightsaber duels, the patches of intelegent dialouge and liam neeson... tyme sure flys, and i was energized and excited to go waste my money seeing Atack of the clones and maybe even buying some of those delightful lightsabers. To say the least i was expecting another jar jar-o-rama ... by the time obie was captured and we saw (and laughed at) anikans mothers cheap excuss of death i thought this was a decent movie, but by the time the full 2 hours had passed i was so impressed with this films recovery (more importantly jar jar was no where in sight) that i proclaim this a stand out chapter in the star wars 2 part trilogy. the movies writers should be shot for the dialouge, in parts the graphics seem corny and natalie portman did not show much skill acting but this movie had it where it counts (action, music, adventure, natalie portmans midrift). things are looking better than ever for episode 3.

Rating:
Summary: 5 stars for the trademark, -4 for the movie
Review: Everyone thats interested has already seen this thing, and everyone knows the storyline, so Ill just briefly state my opinion..

This movie never had a chanse to live up to its expectations, but this is *bad* thirdrate stuff...Storywise this isnt so much of a surprise, as the first three movies was packed with all the good points there was to the Star Wars universe, what really surprises me is the wooden acting wich even ILMs special effects couldnt make up for, McGregor and Yoda does an okayish job, but the rest of the crew problably have to spend a lot of time on the dole after this spectacle.

In addition, the setting and everything that surrounds it looks boring and unnatural, just threwn in there in a resembling style. The atmosphere of the universe is lost, and everything looks like a computergame on a bad trip.

I liked the first movie better, because it made a good promise for good sequels, but all hopes seems squashed now, and frankly, it has tainted the first three movies as well..Trekkies can celebrate though, because the Star Wars *epic* has been lowered to a soap standard..Sorry Lucas, this just doesnt make it Im afraid -- Im not even sure wether I bother seeing the last one.

Rating:
Summary: What have they done?!
Review: As someone who went to the theater to see the original Star Wars probably 10 times, I have grown up loving these movies. But this one I couldn't even sit through!!!

The plot is incredibly convoluted and while the effects are interesting, I couldn't get past how many of the characters were so obviously computer-generated. What was wrong with the good old days of intricate costumes? Give me the cantina scene in the original Star Wars over this stuff any day.

The kid who plays Anakin is a horrible actor and all of the scenes between him and Natalie Portman just seemed so stiff and uncomfortable. There is no chemistry between them at all.

Oh, and when R2-D2 turned on his jet packs and flew... I had to leave the room. Since when can R2-D2 fly? Ugh.

...

Rating:
Summary: THe problem isnt the character but the FX
Review: Every body chooses to focus on the character portrails and acting as the bad elements of these prequals but, I don't think thats the main factor of why these prequals fail to achieve the high standards set by the original Trilogies. The real problem are the computer generated special effects that end up looking to cartoonish as compared to the realistic special effects that the original star wars trilogy had. Thats probably the reason why the acting in these prequals suffer since these actors don't converse with percieved aliens but, to a green screen that is used to create the computer generated life forms. Thats also why there aren't any memorable creatures in these prequals unlike what the old star wars trilogy had such as Chubaka & Jaba the Hut. That aside, I thought the story was decent and the action sequences were done well however, as I said, the reliance on the computer generated effects takes away from the integrity of the star wars series. The original trilogies had man made sculpted models of the space ships & other futuristic facilities and elaborate costumes to simulate aliens which made the whole setting seem realistic. Unfortuantly, the computer generated models in these two prequals lack a good enough texture and detail to equal or surpass the the special effects standard set by the Original Trilogies whos special effects had amazing realism.
I think Lucas should go back to his old formula of putting human craftsmanship into creating realistic scenery & characters and infusing some computer effects along with that.