Rating: 
Summary: There's Some Improvement
Review: In the ego-inflated documentary available with Episode I of the Star Wars saga, one of the technical perpetrators of the film looked squarely at the camera's lens and told what he supposed to be an adoring audience that he just about cried when he saw all the CGI effects at work in the finished product. He ought to have cried more about the vapidness, emptiness, and shallowness of the characterizations and plot, the annoyingly affected 'alien' accents that were just about impossible to understand (or even want to), and the wooden performances produced by more wooden directing.
'The Attack of the Clones,' gorgeous on CD is something of an improvement, although I must admit that seeing it in the theatre is a distinct advantage. The plotting is somewhat better, the characters a little more developed. But the film's centerpiece persona, Anakin Skywalker, was atrociously acted (or directed?) by Hayden Christensen. Natalie Portman's Princess was far better conceived; Ewan McGregor's young Obi-Wan did not evince enough conflict to establish him as a real character. Still, he managed his screen time well. I think I appreciated the always marvelous Christopher Lee more than ever after his decades of fine work, his consummate professionalism devoted to his craft.
Still, in fine, this is one of those films that is overburdened by its reliance on computer generated imaging. It reminds me of that wonderful line from 'Jurassic Park' when Ian Malcolm is talking to John Hammond about the efficacy and morality of anachronistically cloning of dinosaurs, to wit, 'You were so impressed with the fact that you could do it, you didn't stop to think whether you should.' Ditto, Mr. Lucas. Yes, the film is a tour de force of technological brilliance, but ought it be?
If George Lucas (who might seriously think about handing over the director's chair to a fresh visionary for the next (and hopefully last) instalment insists on predicating his films on layer upon layer of artificiality at the expense of the substantive elements of story telling, this reviewer would just as soon miss the forthcoming Episode III. In 'Clones,' the gladitorial scene was nothing short of preposterous as was the obligatory chase scene earlier on. Yoda, completely computerized now, chucked his cane and arthritic hobble to do battle with Count Dooku by leaping and bounding all over the place in a castle that might have served just as well in an Errol Flynn costume flick. All this is not to say that the film is not entertaining. It is. It is exciting in its way. But F/X are supposed to enhance a movie's purposes, not be its sole raison d'etre, and therein lies 'Attack of the Clones' greatest fault. One perhaps cannot blame Lucas for running out of narrative gas. After all, his mythic saga began in the 1970's. But to replace substance with appearance he can be faulted for. Let's hope that Anakin's transformation into Darth Vader will be worth the effort. My guess? He's got to kill off Princess Amadala. The trouble is, I can wait.
Rating: 
Summary: Flame Out
Review: STAR WARS FANS ... WE'VE BEEN HAD !!!
This film has a murkey storyline, a poor script, unbelieveably bad dialog and hopeless acting. I see no redeeming graces. I think Lucus has probably burnt out and no longer has the creativity or motivation to produce a believable story. And no, the digital age offers no magic in producing such.
This kind of film makes suspension of disbelief imperative. It is difficult to suspend disbelief when the film maker confronts us with such a shoddy job. The special effects, abundent here, must be especially well done. Lucus has this big problem of rooting his special effect in some aspect of current culture which jars you right out of the future back into the present. I noticed it in Phantom. In Attack, it was the diner scene with waitresses on wheels and four armed cooks. This was the point where I lost all interest in anything Lucus will make in the future. I resent the money I wasted on Phantom and Attack and only wish he would finish this confounded travesty so Episodes IV-VI can be issued on DVD.
Rating: 
Summary: Awesome Outstanding Terrific Cool
Review: Star Wars: Episode II - Attack Of The Clones was awesome, outstanding, terrific, and cool. The acting was good, the special effects were great, and Yoda was incredible! I love this movie and thought it was superbly put together. The only thing I did not like was how it kind of just left you hanging there at the end. It was very appropriate and I would have done the same thing but, being an impatient person, I did not like seeing the movie end right as the war begun. Other than that, George Lucas did a superior job. I can't wait for Episode III!
Rating:
Summary: Can't belive I saw this.
Review: This movie is an utter disgrace to the Star Wars name. I wasn't a big fan of the orginal Star Wars movies, but I went to go see this movie because the hype got to my head. Right from the get go, you discover that Lucas rushed the plot to the fullest and just spent all the rest of the time making the [wierd] looking aliens you see in the background for 3 seconds anyways and special effects. The Anakin character really confused me because all he does is cry about how much power he "should" have and how much he loves Padame (in the movie she looks like she hasn't even aged a day from Episode 1, which I found to be really wierd). ... Okay the bad guys have an army, shouldn't the Jedis (the most powerful warriors in the galaxy) fight them? (There are like 30 Jedis in this movie, most die from one lazer blast) Obi and Leiam had no problem in Episode 1 defeating the baddies' entire army and Darth Maul! In short, huge plot gaps, like mentioned above, and [bad] acting and confusing scenes ruined this could be great addition to the Star Wars collection. ...
Rating: 
Summary: OFF THE HOOK!!! (In a good way)
Review: ...This movie is 100 percent, completely and totally off the hook...I thought they forgot about the story. This one has everything and then some. With such a stupid title (I still think so, but it doesn't matter), I wasn't quite sure what I was going to get. This film not only blows Episode I out of the water, it blows ALL previous Star Wars films (and many other action/sci-fi/adventure) out the wate. Oh, this film will DEFINATELY get repeat viewings and will make a TON of money. I don't care about it breaking box office records, all I cared about is being personally entertain and I was. This one will be talked about for quite a long time. The story was there, the villany was there, the love interest was there, the special effects were over the top and STUNNING and the sound was also there. Let me be the first to say, do not be surprise to see this film get nominated for best picture. I am dead series. Hey if they nominated Lord of the Rings, they should nominate this picture. This movie is completely off the charts, off the meat wagon, off the hook. Buy it now.
Rating:
Summary: Why mess with a classic trilogy?
Review: I have a confession to make- I liked episode one. Maybe it was because I was only 14, or maybe it was because if I had never seen Ep.1, I would have never heard of Ewan Mcgregor, a personal favorite of mine. I wasn't even annoyed by JarJar, until the media started screaming 'We hate JarJar!' at the top of their lungs. It wasn't a movie that had to be made, but it was good enough. But then came Ep.2, attack of the clones (worst. title. ever.), a movie so bad, I was actually EMBARRASSED by what was on the screen. I assumed things would improve after the jaw-droppingly bad first 20 minutes (a murder mystery in Star Wars?), but it just went downhill from there. I had heard good things about Hadyn Christiansen (sp?) in "Life as a House", which I never saw, but he was ALMOST the worst actor on the screen. I could tell he was going for emotion, but everything sounded way off. But let's give credit where credit is due. Nothing was worse than Natalie Portman. Nothing. She didn't even try to show emotion. I can't blame them completely, the dialoge was laughably bad, but at least try!
I spent most of the movie looking foward to the Obi Wan sceens, not just to see Mcgregor, but to get the embarassingly bad romantic cleshays (no clue how to spell it, went for phoneticly)as far off the screen as possible. I actually thought that the Obi Wan scenes were pretty borring. Some of the action was fun, especially in a theatre full of Star Wars nuts, but it lacked the emotional undertones the action scenes in the other movies.Even Ep.1 had that moment when Obi wan attacked Darth Maul in a fit of rage, avenging the death of Qui-quan-gin, but in episode 2, Obi wan doesn't even seem phased when he sees Anikin's missing arm. Plus, the fights look like chorigraphed fights. Finally, on a lighter note, in the scene where Anikin has a nightmare, did anyone else MOMENTARALY think that something all together diferent was going on there? Come on, he's sweating, his hands are under the covers, he's tossing and turning. I actually turned to my sister and asked, 'Can they do that in a PG movie?' Judging by the laughter, I think the whole theatre agreed with me. PS- 2 minutes of Yoda with a lightsabre does not make up for 2 hours of BAD MOVIE!
Rating: 
Summary: The digital print is good, Anakin isn't
Review: Try as I might, I can not come up with a compelling reason to endorse this movie. I purchased the DVD with the expectation that because the film was shot digitally, the film would even look better than it did in theaters. While the film is a remarkable achievement in special effects, it is not much more. At the heart of this film is the complete one dimensional nature of Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen). The entire purpose of this trilogy was to tell the story of the transformation of Anakin Skywalker to Darth Vader. Episode I, while imperfect, showed promise. Young Anakin was a confident and charismatic figure. However, in Episode II we find a character who is completely unengaging. I expected to find a suave, handsome, swashbuckling Anakin whose outward charms hid a troubled psyche. Instead, from scene one we get a sniveling, spoiled adolescent whose narcissism makes me wonder why he wasn't booted from the Jedi order long before this movie takes place. As a result, there is no way I can believe the relationship with Padme Amidala, I feel no sympathy for him after the death of his mother and I am left with little mystery about how this character will make the transition to Darth Vader. I will wait with anticipation for Episode III, but clearly the bloom is off the rose of this story. What I will be excited about is the release of the original trilogy on DVD and will see to it that it becomes a center piece of my collection.
Rating:
Summary: If only I could give this TRASH zero stars....
Review: Well actually I guess the movie does deserve one star, the effects were great at least. But that's it. Sadly the Star Wars franchise has really been going down the toilet since Return of the Jedi (can we say Ewoks, Jar jar, and now, Hayden Christiansen??) This has to be one of the worst acted movies I have ever seen. Natalie Portman was a huge let down, she's usually such a great actress but here she made Jennifer Love Hewitt look like Meryl Streep. She's that bad. So is Hayden Christiansen, where did they find this guy? The romance scenes between the two are terrible, I've seen animals on the Discovery channel that generate more chemistry with each other. The movie is also terribly boring until the last half hour or so when the action begins to kick in. And then there is the famous Yoda fight. I am not sure what lucas wanted with this, but everyone in the theater was laughing hysterically when this happened. Not laughing because it was cool, but laughing because it was so stupid!! By the way, Lucas should be ashamed of himself, has anyone seen those "who da man?", "yoda da man" commercials?? ick. To sum it all up, this flick is killed by [lousy] dialogue, bad acting, and a horrendous plot line. Does Lucas think the audience is stupid?! Avoid at all costs, am thinking of suing to get my [money] back.
Rating:
Summary: Don't hate George...just feel better when he doesn't direct
Review: Mr. Lucas, character does matter. I'm not talkin Henry Jaglom here...but it's hard to sink your teeth into cardboard. Stop reading Joseph Campbell...and get to understanding the psychology of character ...A self conscious attempt at myth is junk, hence this film.
Rating:
Summary: Not a Lucas hater - just a bad film.
Review: Let's face it folks character development does matter. I'm not talkin Henry Jaglom here (Plot matters too Henry) but Lucas spends way too much time trying to create a self-consciously mythic narrative (A mistake! Joseph Campbell & Jung were wrong George!) while feeding us characters of cardboard. The characters need to be more personalized because, despite what some Star Wars fans think, these films ain't gospel.
|
