A Conversation for Attack of the Clones (Spoilers)
Like I said....
Blues Shark - For people who like this sort of thing, then this is just the sort of thing they'll like Started conversation Jun 8, 2002
'George Lucas in new movie not completely sh*t triumph.'
Let's look at it a little closer...
>The opening, where Obi-Wan and Anakin pursue an assassin through the flyways of Coruscant has interesting echoes - Blade Runner and The Fifth Element in turns.<
Well, frankly, it *was* the Fifth Element, with different costumes. Proved George doesn't have any real idea how to direct fast moving action movie sequences.
>convincing<
By the standards of a Star Trek movie, yes. By the standards of Blade Runner and even 12 Monkeys, no.
>these are very young people, and teen romance always strikes me as a little unreal. However, both were engaging, and I think pulled it off fine.<
Amidala is at least 25 (by my and other people's reckoning), which doesn't fit my definition of *very* young. I take it you've never seen either Zeffirelli's or Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet? *that's* convincing teen romance. Frankly the love scenes played somehow like 'Anakin Skywalker's Mandolin'. Not assisted by either the bit of 2'x4' that was playing Anakin or George's clunking dialogue.
>Anakin's return to Tattoine was inevitable<
Regrettably, yes it was. How's George going to get round the awkward point that Obi-Wan is now going to look a senile old fool in Episode IV for recognizing neither of the droids? Or that 3PO doesn't recognize 'The Maker'?
>Briefly, the movie becomes John Ford's The Searchers<
I must have blinked and missed the similarity to an all time cinema classic, I'd guess.
>Gladiator is almost Lucas saying 'You thought that was good? How about this?'<
Yes, I did think Gladiator was good. This looked forced and strained by comparison to a movie that had what this one lacked badly-human interest.
>The battle that immediately follows is, once again, superb...the scale of the battle ramps up to eleven.<
The battle that follows didn't even live up to Laurence Olivier's cash strapped WWII production of Henry V, to be honest. Though it was a huge improvement on the ludicrous 'Command and Conquer' battle scenes of Phantom Menace. Compared to something like Kubrick's Spartacus, it's laughable.
>OK, so Lucas dialogue isn't Tarantino, but, frankly, it doesn't matter. Lucas himself admits that his films are almost better as silent movies.<
Except he makes them 2 3/4 hours long and *with* dialogue. He *could* get someone else to write it for him, you know
. Nobody would care and it might be better...
>C-3PO's comic relief in the final battle<
The Simpson's crack about 'the two gay robots from Star wars' becomes prophecy. Less irritating than Jar Jar Binks, but that's like saying mouldy bread tastes better than camel dung.
This was a huge step forward from Phantom Menace (which may have beaten out Speilberg's Lost World II as the worst ever film from a major talent of cinema), but it's still a deeply flawed picture. Lee and Jackson are great, McGregor looks more comfortable (mostly because he has stopped trying to *be* Alec Guiness, the decor and the the sfx are superb (but for what is, after all, the debt of a large African nation, they damn well better be). Kung Fu Muppets we like. A lot.
But George needs to remember why Empire is a dark movie, and it wasn't just because he turned all the lights out-I thought the lighting was *tragically* bad in most scenes, and didn't have the intended effect at all. It just made them confusing. And, interestingly, we know George *can* write dialogue. Go watch American Graffitti again, if you don't believe me. I also think he would have done better to *not* be so hung up on linking up every little detail with the earlier films-Continuity is the hobgoblin of small minds, as I think Stan Lee once pointed out.
Way better than Episode I, probably better than Episode VI, not a patch on IV or V though. 
Like I said....
Jim Lynn Posted Jun 8, 2002
"And, interestingly, we know George *can* write dialogue. Go watch American Graffitti again, if you don't believe me."
Screenplay by Willard Hyuck and Gloria Katz.
As I think I said in my review, mine is a totally visceral reaction. Maybe my next viewing will be more pragmatic. But for now, I stand by my total and utter enjoyment of this movie. I think it's the 14-year old in me.
Like I said....
Mina Posted Jun 8, 2002
I went by my son's reaction (7) - fidgeting in the quiet bits, rapt attention in the fighting and flying bits. 
Like I said....
Blues Shark - For people who like this sort of thing, then this is just the sort of thing they'll like Posted Jun 9, 2002
I stand corrected about AG, but of course that just proves the point that once upon a time George knew to get someone else to write the words...
Like I said....
Wattyweb Posted Jun 9, 2002
Well i liked it but i am a sad muppet.........Agree about the dialog though............phew!! bad!
Still, If i was a typical 10year old im sure it would have had the magic that i remember from the first 3.....................maybe?
Key: Complain about this post
Like I said....
- 1: Blues Shark - For people who like this sort of thing, then this is just the sort of thing they'll like (Jun 8, 2002)
- 2: Jim Lynn (Jun 8, 2002)
- 3: Mina (Jun 8, 2002)
- 4: Blues Shark - For people who like this sort of thing, then this is just the sort of thing they'll like (Jun 9, 2002)
- 5: Wattyweb (Jun 9, 2002)
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