DVD Review HTF REVIEW: "Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones" (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED) (with screen (1 Viewer)

[Adam Lenhardt]

Exellent review, Ron. Once again, you don't fail us with what it perhaps the most in depth review for this disc online right now.
One note however:

A large group of systems have openly rebelled against the Republic, forming a Separatists movement within the Senate, all marshaled behind a man known only as Count Dooku (Christopher Lee)

While a really striking sentence in and of itself, Dooku's got a shitload of names. Count Dooku, Master Dooku, Darth Tyranus...
Forgive me for picking nits Great review, again

 

[Larry Sutliff]

I am sure you will enjoy the movie like I will enjoy spidey.

Some of us will enjoy both. It is possible to like more than one blockbuster movie franchise.


I saw AOTC on opening day, and I like it as much now as I did then; maybe more so. I can't wait for this DVD.

 

[Dalton]

As always Ron, great review. I agree with your assessment of the film for the most part. There are lots of scenes i really liked in this film that are well worth the purchase for me.

Take Care,
Dalton

 

[TheBat]

I grew up watching the flash gordon serials on tv.. I never really had a problem with them.. I watched them the same time around when episode 4 was released.. I never thought the acting was that bad.. even now I don;t. I have them on dvd. buster crabbe has better carama then hayden.. I do like natalie portman she was much better in leon.. I never had a problem with Sam. He is a good actor.. He was better in XXX..

Some people like episode 2 and spidey.. that is true.. I had forgotten about that.

so Ron.. when is the review for spidey?

JACOB

 

[Adam_WM]

Here's my take. I think Star Wars II was great. I can't wait for the DVD.

As for dialogue and the acting? My argument that I always use on people that think these new movies are ridiculously inferior to the originals...

HAVE YOU WATCHED THE ORIGINALS?

I love the original Star Wars movies, don't get me wrong. The lousy and acting and the bad dialogue of these new movies are the same bad acting and lousy dialogue that were in the old ones. Han Solo certainly provided for some clever banter that is not present in these new movies, but as for Anakin whining? LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON. Luke whines just as bad in Episode IV and screams like a girl "THAT'S IMPOSSSIBBBBLEEE!!!" in Episode V. Same whinos. It must run in the genes.

These movies are of the same vein that the old ones were. Campy-style serial-esque sci-fi movies with lousy dialogue and frankly, not too complex stories. They are some of the greatest movies ever made, but they are all "corny".

Regardless, I will have my copy as soon as they fly on the shelves! I can't wait to devour this DVD. Just think, only 3 years till Episode III comes out on DVD!

Thanks for the early look ahead Ron! Your review as well as those on the other sites have only helped reinforce the inevitable. THIS DVD WILL ROCK.

 

[David Von Pein]

Even worse, for nearly its entire length, we are subjected to the whining and grating of pre-Vader Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) who not only complains about everything, but has to deliver some of the most poorly written romantic dialogue...

Sounds fabulous!
Probably should have had Joe Pesci play Anakin!
The only whine missing is: "Those damn tele-marketers!"
Then again, I'd no doubt whine my backside off too, if I were to encounter a nice long shaft [of light] getting ready to plunge into my being.

 

[David Von Pein]

A separate full-frame edition
is available to those who prefer portions of their
picture lopped off.

A subtle, but truthful, jab at FF/P&S lovers.
Very nice!

 

[Luis A]

Ahh, 5 months later and Terrell is still defending all that is Star Wars.
Great review Ron. I hope to have this DVD in the next week or so. Can't wait.

 

[Dome Vongvises]

Great review. I'm definitely pumped up for this one.

 

[CaptDS9E]

As long as i have it i dont care anyone elses opinion of the movie

 

[Patrick Larkin]

During the chase scene when Kenobi is chasing Jango Fett (forgive me if the name is wrong) through the asteroid field. Jango (?) launches those depth charge things - I'm wondering how those things sounded. I was blown away in the theater by the sound of those things. I'm afraid I might lose a speaker.

 

[Rob Tomlin]

Excellent review!

Man, it will be nice to finally get a "reference" quality DVD of a movie by the man responsible for THX certification! Sounds like this will come closer to meeting those expectations than TPM did.

I definitely consider this a must buy despite the fact I have not seen the movie!

 

[Steve_Br]

Those who whine about acting and dialogue in a SW film should read the articles below, Lucas has said repeatedly that he makes the SW films like the old (Widely considered to be B-movies) serials of yesteryear with mythology mixed in. If I wanted great earthy realistic method acting I'll watch "The Godfather." I laugh everytime these films are criticized for the acting and dialogue. Did anyone in a SW film ever win an acting Oscar? (Only Alec Guinness was even nominated for ANH) These movies have lot of B-movie dialogue and that's A-OK with me. Romance dialogue between a couple to me is always sappy and mushy and makes a lot who hear it groan, which is often the way it seems in real life to a bystander, unless you're the one in the romance. We seem to watch the original trilogy largely through rosey glasses (Hey, I'm guilty of it too!), because we first watched it when we were very young and didn't put a microscope on acting and dialogue(What 7 year old analyzes that stuff? Hardly any.). We developed an attachment to the characters of the older SW films that will never be matched. To many of us it's just not SW without Luke, Han, Leia & Vader. The prequels are following a story arc we already know the ending of, so little will suprise us in these films. The world had never seen anything quite like the original trilogy in the 70s and 80s, now we live in a world where little awes us, we see tons of Special Effects films now. I have no doubt that if the old films were FIRST EVER (NOT re-released) released today you'd hear many of the same things, and yes there were several ANH scathing reviews whining about acting and dialogue back then, but critics came around when the lines kept coming (Read Gene Siskel's and Pauline Kael's original reviews to name a couple. Gene later changed his mind and gave it a good review.) With the advent of the internet there are far more reviews around now. I happen to love & highly enjoy the new SW films and look forward to when the full story arc is completed. Just keep an open mind people, it's all subjective opinion anyway if you like the movies or not, and how good or bad they are thought to be. I cannot make those who don't like them, like them. I just ask some to keep a more open mind. Anyway, please read below. Thank You.
CANNES, SOUTH OF FRANCE (ANS) -- George Lucas, creator of the phenomenal Star Wars movies, came to the 55th Cannes Film Festival, his first Cannes Film Festival in many years, to promote his new movie Star Wars, Episode II: Attack Of The Clones. I had the opportunity to interview him at the press conference.
When asked why he had come to the Cannes Film Festival, George Lucas replied, "I am here because I am having a global opening for Star Wars II because global piracy is becoming a bigger and bigger issue, especially for a big release like Star Wars." By opening the movie worldwide, George was hoping to capitalize on the movie's release before the pirated copies hit the streets.
"Thirty years ago," he added, "I was here with a little movie, THX 1138, and signed the deal with David Picker for Star Wars at the Charlton Hotel where I am now staying." David Picker ran Paramount Pictures at the time."
When asked why it took him so long to come back, Lucas said, "I took a 17-year hiatus from directing while I grew my company and raised my children. Now, I am back, directing the scripts I wrote years ago. I wrote all the Star Wars scripts at the same time before I made the first movie. I wrote the backstory 30 years ago. It was designed to be a Saturday afternoon cliffhanger. I started [production] in the middle, because I don't like to start in the beginning."
When asked about criticism that the acting in the current movie is a little wooden, he said, "The acting is a throwback to the 1930s because of the digital process. The actor is acting to a blue or green screen, just as in the 1930s actors acted in the artificial environment of stages. In the 1950s, realistic method acting became popular. This is a different form of acting, not better or worse. Americans don't know how to do this type of acting, but the British still do."
George Lucas said that he uses digital rather than film because, "Film has become too expensive. Film has to be transferred to digital to edit, so just eliminate the middle step. Also, digital allows you to do more."
Lucas added, "Digital gets rid of the gatekeeper inherent in the high cost of film. Digital opens the way for low budget filmmaking."
Being a great fan of movies, George Lucas noted, "I purposely used a couple of shots reminiscent of Ray Harryhausen [Clash Of The Titans and Mysterious Island], such as the monster attacking the Jedi with the spear."
Regarding the similar elements in every Star Wars movie, Lucas noted, "In each story, I re-visit the same themes. For instance, there is the loss of a parent and the issue of giving up."
Lucas stressed, "I am independent. I do not need to listen to the studios. I made this for myself, not money. I don't care about the commercial side of things. Therefore, Star Wars will open in less theaters than Spider-Man. I picked the theaters. I care about the quality of the projection, not just the box office return."
When asked what he is doing next, he said, "I have completed all six movies as part of the Star Wars series. There will be no more Star Wars! Now, I am writing some new scripts which are experimental, non-narrative and non-linear."
As his latest movie hits the cinemas, George Lucas shares his wisdom with the 'unsophisticated' Emma Brockes
Thursday May 16, 2002
The Guardian
With a beneficent wave of his hand, George Lucas declines to make a fuss. It is his 58th birthday and he's in a joyless hotel suite talking about work, but hey, he says with a shrug, that's the way it goes. The checked shirt and scraggly beard are his regular-guy camouflage. He talks in an affable drone. The billionaire creator of Star Wars is anticipating the premiere of Attack of the Clones with the unshakable good humour of a man who controls everything he sees. "I'm sure this one will do fine," he says, reclining contentedly.
If there is a tinge of defensiveness in his sunny tone, it is because the latest instalment of Star Wars will inevitably be hammered for failing to live up to its 20-year-old predecessors. Such was the fate of The Phantom Menace and, although this is a better film, it will be received by many Star Wars purists as laughable. There is one scene in which Anakin Skywalker thrashes camply about in his sleep, crying "No!" at his nightmares. It is such a terrible cliche that one assumes it was put in for parodic value; it certainly had the audience in hysterics when I saw it. Lucas doesn't smile. "It's not deliberately camp. I made the film in a 1930s style. It's based on a Saturday matinee serial from the 1930s, so the acting style is very 30s, very theatrical, very old-fashioned. Method acting came in in the 1950s and is very predominant today. I prefer to use the old style. People take it different ways, depending on their sophistication."
This hangs in the air for a few moments. The universe that Lucas created for Star Wars is vastly sophisticated, but the characters are for the most part folksy vehicles for the delivery of quaint moral lessons. This is key to the films' charm - the marriage of futuristic landscapes with old-fashioned values. It renders the dialogue starchy and ludicrous, and there seems no other way to receive it. Harrison Ford famously turned to Lucas after reading his Star Wars part and said, "George, you can type this shit, but you sure can't say it."
Lucas says he never claimed to be good at writing dialogue. "I've always been a follower of silent movies. I see film as a visual medium with a musical accompaniment, and dialogue is a raft that goes on with it. I create films that way - very visually - and the dialogue's not what's important. I'm one of those people who says, yes, cinema died when they invented sound. The talking-head era of movies is interesting and good, but I'd just like to go to the purer form.
"The problem is, the theatre aspect of it has sort of taken over, and the institutions that comment on film are very literary. They aren't cinematic; you don't have a lot of cinematic people talking about cinema, because visual people don't use words, they use pictures."
We seem to have swung round to blaming the unsophisticated critic again. There is a pause. "There's a little difficulty there, which I understand," he says indulgently, although his tone suggests that for "little difficulty" you should read "pig ignorance". "Cinema has only been around of 100 years or so - not long enough for people to really understand it."
In the hierarchy of people who understand film, Lucas naturally places himself at the top and meddling executives at the bottom. The impetus for making the first Star Wars films, he says, was in part to grow rich enough to buy his independence from the studios. He suffered at their hands over the making of his first film success, American Graffiti, which was almost never given a cinema release. It wound up making $120m, having cost $750,000 to make. Lucas learned a lot from that - most importantly to trust his own instincts.
"I'm stubborn and creative. Anybody who works in an artistic medium trying to create something does not like people looking over their shoulder going, 'No no no, make it blue! Make it green!' If you have a vision, you don't want a lot of outside influence. A director makes 100 decisions an hour. Students ask me how you know how to make the right decision, and I say to them, 'If you don't know how to make the right decision, you're not a director.' That's all there is to it. If you have to think about it, you can't direct something. There are directors out there who don't know how to make up their minds, but a true director has an idea in his head and can instantly weigh any decision against that and say, 'That's right, that's wrong.' You welcome feedback from talented people, not marketing people or executives who aren't creative."
After the success of the first Star Wars trilogy and the breakdown of his marriage to Marcia Griffin, Lucas retired to Skywalker Ranch in California and devoted himself to raising his adopted children, Amanda, 21, Katie, 13, and Jett, nine. Lucas himself grew up in a modest home in the American midwest, where his father owned a stationery shop and taught his son the value of good business sense. He tries not to spoil his own children, and the remoteness of the ranch offers some protection against their turning into Hollywood brats.
"I live a reasonably simple life, off the beaten track," he says. "Occasionally they'll come to a premiere and obviously I have friends who are famous, but they just know them as friends. My son doesn't know that Steven Spielberg is a big-time movie director - he just knows him as Steve. Its not until they get to 12 or 13 that it occurs to them who these people are. Like with Hayden Christensen(the actor who plays Anakin Skywalker), my daughter was around when we hired him and said, 'I like this one better than that one - he's cuter.' Now suddenly he's famous, where before he was just this actor coming in looking for a job."
He is a dad before being a director, he says; workaholism and parenthood don't mix. "I get up, I work out, I get my kids up, I take 'em to school and then I get to work at 8.30 or 9am. I always quit at six and I don't work weekends. I take my kids on set with me and we hang out as a family. One of the reasons I stopped directing was that I knew I couldn't really live a lifestyle like that and raise family. Before I had kids I was a workaholic. I was obsessed. Now movies are my second priority in life. If it doesn't get done today, it'll get done tomorrow.
"I'm independent, so I don't have crazy people saying they'll fire me if I don't come in to work on a certain day. I worked very hard to be able to be in a position to say, 'I'm sorry, I'm going home to have dinner with my kids now.' "
Lucas has grown up since he made the first Star Wars, but he wrote the story for the current trilogy when he was still in his 20s. He hopes that his youthful exuberance is preserved in it. In the 1970s he never imagined that the technology would exist for him to be able to film the back-story - he believed that at best it could be written as a book.
In his head, Lucas sees the nine films as a whole. He can't wait for the next generation of children to watch them in the right sequence. He gets enormously animated about it. "It'll be a very different experience, because when Darth Vader walks into that spaceship with the princess, they're going to think, 'Oh my God, that's Anakin!' and they're gonna see Luke and think, 'Oh my God, that's his son!' And rather than a surprise when he says, 'I am your father,' it'll be like, 'Oh my God, finally he's told him!"
I ask if the children will notice the disparity in special effects between the first and the middle three episodes. "I really don't think so, because it's about telling a story, not about special effects. The first series was written very carefully around the technology of the time and it pushed the effects as far as they could take it. That's why it all takes place on Death Stars, in the outreaches of the galaxy, in areas where there isn't much stuff going on. And the back-story was never written to be made into a movie because technically you couldn't do it - to get Yoda to actually have a swordfight would be impossible. I mean, I could barely get him to walk."
Lucas thought long and hard before returning to Star Wars. This would be a 10-year commitment. And whenever he saw a movie he liked, he thought how tedious it would be to be locked into doing Star Wars rather than following his fancy. "Even something like Black Hawk Down, I thought, 'Oh man, I want to make a movie like that.' "
In the end, though, it simply came down to the story. After 20 years in his head, he wanted to see it on screen. "And I was hoping," he says, with a sudden gust of little-boy modesty, "that everyone else would want to see it too."

 

[Tim Glover]

Enjoyed reading your review Ron. And great screenshots. I do wish the film held up for you more than it has during the past several months. I gained more appreciation for it the more I saw it.
This thread will no doubt end up debating the films impact-dialogue-love angle etc...instead of the dvd quality but since most of the dvd reviews also discuss film content; then debate is a given. It seems that when someone defends the dialogue or love story they are written off as "fan-boys, zealouts, lucaslovers , etc..." or the other extreme when the film is harshly critiqued, they are seen as, "thread trolls, lucashaters , etc..."
This all or none mentality didn't begin with Star Wars, nor will it end with Ep.III. I'm rambling to death here I know. I say all that because I truly believe that 98% of the time, the dialogue works in AOTC. Anakin's lines in the fireplace room & Padme's bedroom, are thick with emotion and obsession and that is THE POINT! Everything about his character is like that. "I wish I could wish away my feelings, but I can't" he tells Padme. He just can't deal with those feelings without acting on them. When he and Obi Wan confront Dooku, Obi Wan says, "We'll take him together...." Anakin impulsively and revengefully proclaims, "I'm taking him now!" The boy is dangerous, obsessive, whiny, and doesn't appear to know how to delay gratification. He's a flawed character, which to me is also the point.
Pardon the lengthy defense of this movie I love. After all, I'm just an over zealous fan-boy.

 

[Lou Sytsma]

Ron - nice review!

Glad to see that you have reconsidered your initial opinion of the movie as well.

It's hard to understand Lucas. He'll spend multi-millions on SFX but won't ante up for a top flight writer.

Shame really 'cause he could have made the 6 most awesome movies ever.

I really can't wait to see the video quality of this disc.

 

[Steve_Br]

That's because Lucas finds the old B-movie serial type dialogue just fine. So do I.

 

[Carlo_M]

EDIT : nah, forget it, not in this thread, and not again.

Thanks for the review, Ron!

 

[Lou Sytsma]

That's because Lucas finds the old B-movie serial type dialogue just fine. So do I.

So you prefer mediocrity? OK....

 

[Steve_Br]

It's the type he was going for, the old serials of yesteryear, read what I wrote & the articles/interviews with Lucas I put a few posts above.

 

[Richard Kim]

Even worse, for nearly its entire length, we are
subjected to the whining and grating of pre-Vader
Anakin Skywalker

You mean like the whining and grating of Luke Skywalker in ANH and ESB?
Like father, like son.
"But I wanted to go to Tosche Station to pick up some power converters!"
EDIT:
Come to think of it, Luke whines alot more than Anakin. The only time I could think of in AOTC when Annie whines is when he complains to Padme about how Obi-Wan treats him.