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| Star Wars Episode II : Attack of the Clones |
| Review |
| I don't think I'm ever going to forgive George Lucas for making "The Phantom Menace". I'm still firmly under the belief that that movie was the result of George making a bet with someone that he could make a shit movie, and still break box office records. However, bitching aside, I was still in line at the midnight premiere of Episode 2 with all the other geeks. I sure as hell wasn't as excited, but I was there, and that counts for something. Attack of the Clones is, I'm glad to say, an improvement on the last one. That's not saying a lot, but it is a lot more watchable. It's still badly acted, but at least the action is better. For those who haven't seen the movie and have somehow managed to avoid all promotional material, this film is set 10 years after Episode 1, Anakin is an apprentice Jedi, Amidala is a Senator, Obi-Wan has a beard, and Jar-Jar is still the most annoying film character in history. The only other thing you might need to know is that there's some kind of threat of the Republic being split in two, but it's all covered in the yellow writing anyway. Everyone knows where it's all going to end up, and if you don't, you shouldn't be watching the film. I'm not going to spend a lot of time pointing out AotC's faults, because basically there's a lot of them. I will however, try to point out it's good qualities, and you can assume from there that I had a problem with everything else, or I was too indifferent about it to mention. One thing I liked, was the action. George has somehow figured out how to make his action sequences a helluva lot more exciting, and it pays off. The last half hour in particular is stunning, and if you're a fan it'll make you glad you paid the price of admission. The lightsaber battles in particular are top notch, but for my mind the Anakin/Obi-Wan vs Dooku fight was way too short. In addition to this the fight between Obi-Wan and Jango Fett is pretty damn cool. Which leads me to my next point. The best acting in this film is mainly done by support characters: Jango Fett, Mace Windu, Boba Fett, etc. all outshined Christensen and then some. Hat off to Temuera Morrison for his bounty hunter portrayal, and thankyou George for not making him or Boba speak in an American accent. Cook the man some eggs, bro. Things I didn't like (just briefly): the romance. Average scripting, and horrible acting. Whatever happened to Natalie Portman, she was awesome in The Professional. I didn't like Yoda being CGI either. I don't care how big your budget is, Frank Oz should be allowed to do his job: puppetry. I actually think the voice of Yoda suffered as a result of Frank not being right into it too. Needless to say, I didn't like Jar-Jar, but who does really? This movie, like the last one, will not attract many new Star Wars fans. If I meet people who've never seen a Star Wars film, I tell them not to see the new ones, see the old ones first, so you have a chance of liking the series. However, if you do like the series, give this one a go, it's worth it just to see Yoda in action. *** |