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(6-18-67, American Graffiti, Anyone Lived in a Pretty How Town, The Emperor, Filmmaker, Star Wars Episodes I-IV, THX 1138)
Producer:
Rick McCallum
Screenplay:
George Lucas and Jonathan Hales
Music :
John Williams
Cast :
Obi-Wan Kenobi: Ewan McGregor
Senator Padme Amidala: Natalie Portman
Anakin Skywalker: Hayden Christensen
Count Dooku/Darth Tyranus: Christopher Lee
Mace Windu: Samuel L Jackson
Yoda: Frank Oz
Supreme Chancellor Palpatine/Darth Sidious: Ian McDiarmid
Shmi Skywalker: Pernilla August
Jango Fett: Temeura Morrison
Senator Bail Organa: Jimmy Smits
Jar Jar Binks: Ahmed Best
C-3PO: Anthony Daniels
R2-D2: Kenny Baker
Boba Fett: Daniel Logan
Episode II: Attack Of The Clones
"There is unrest in the Galactic Senate. Several thousand solar systems have
declared their intentions to leave the Republic.
This separatist movement, under the leadership of the mysterious Count Dooku,
has made it difficult for the limited number of Jedi Knights to maintain peace
and order in the galaxy.
Senator Amidala, the former Queen of Naboo, is returning to the Galactic
Senate to vote on the critical issue of creating an Army of the Republic
to assist the overwhelmed Jedi..."
I was prepared to wait for this eventual DVD release
given my disappointment of
Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace,
but a suggestion to see this installment on the big screen was made and while
it disappointed, it also didn't disappoint, because I was expecting the disappointment,
if you see what I mean.
The democratic Republic is on the verge of becoming the evil Empire we know
and love in episodes 4-6 and it's all courtesy of Count Dooku (Christopher Lee),
the main baddie this time round and making a decent job of his performance, but
you get the feeling that it's not particularly taxing for such an established
actor and you yearn for a return to the Dracula films.
Back to the plot though and Dooku wants to start up a war against the good
guys, who are awaiting the completion of a clone army apparently ordered by
someone on their side who Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) isn't sure
whether they died before or after the order was placed.
Also, Senator Padme Amidala (Natalie Portman), formerly Queen Amidala,
starts the film heading to see the Supreme Chancellor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid),
Jedi Master Mace Windu (Samuel L Jackson), Yoda (Frank Oz) and
others to place a vote on what to do next, but security is tighter than
September 11th and Padme is escorted back to Naboo with the grown-up
Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen), who is the only actor to have
changed since the last film since this one is set ten years on, yet all the
rest look identical to the last time round, except for McGregor attempting to
look more and more like Kenneth Branagh with each scene.
In Attack of the Clones we're introduced to Jango Fett (Temeura Morrison)
and his soon-to-be-bounty hunter son Boba Fett (Daniel Logan), the former
zipping around on a cool jet-pack in order to make a monkey out of Obi-Wan.
Still with me?
Only the baddest mutha gets a purple lightsaber.
An overly-complex plot is made worse by the inclusion of an endless romantic
plot between Padme and Anakin which just adds to the tedium during the first
90 minutes, because very little happens to keep you interested, even though
it is possible to follow the plot if you're an adult. Children, on the other
hand, will have no chance and for them there's a lot less of Jar Jar Binks
(hooray, say the adults!) so it's less of a kiddie film and the increased
violence has garnered the movie the first ever PG-certificate in the series.
On the plus side, there's more of C-3PO and R2-D2 this time round, with
a few good one-liners that I won't spoil as they're deftly dropped in. I also
spotted an early classic from Obi-Wan to Anakin as the former quips
"you'll be the death of me".
However, quite often the film does feel like a lot of unlinked set pieces
as they lurch from one location with a long and complex name to another one,
with a couple of decent action scenes in the last hour, during which Samuel
L Jackson finally gets to wield a lightsaber around, as do Dooku and Yoda in
a fight between those two. Given that Yoda immediately before was hobbling
around on a stick, how come he can leap about straight after? That just doesn't
ring true compared to how we've seen him in the rest of the series to date.
There's some dodgy dialogue along the way, a lot to do with the blossoming
romance between the two young lovebirds, plus a few scenes that make for
entirely predictable outcomes. I won't divulge who pops their clogs in one
particular scene, but they've been gone for a long time and when someone they
know goes over in an attempt to rescue them, it's an age-old case of the
near-corpse staying barely alive just a few moments more to utter a few words
to their potential rescuer just before they shuffle off their mortal coil.
I mean, come on George Lucas, just how ridiculous is that?
The film also climaxes with a very unsatisfying feeling because it's gearing
up for a major war and... that'll come next time. It's like the story in
Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
coming to a close, but going the same way because you know the rest of the
storyline will continue and the audience must be kept waiting.
For the last time I am NOT "Django" !
To close the review of the film itself, the question begs to be asked - is it worth
watching? Well, no. The first 90 minutes drags like there's no tomorrow and the
last hour is average and goes a short way to restore the balance from the
initial disappointment, despite containing a complete lack of suspense, but as
soon as it gets going... it ends.
At the cinema, for most of the paying audience, this was the fifth Star Wars
outing they would've seen on the big screen and so they'll have made the trip
one way or another if only to see how the story progresses, or rather stagnates
for a time on its way to Episode III.
It really didn't need to be 2½ hours long though. Did George think it
was his turn to do a James Cameron ?
Obi Wan feels uneasy next to New Labour's latest Prime Minister.
I dread to think how anyone could watch the fullscreen VHS tape and there
doesn't seem to be a widescreen version which indicates that widescreen videos
are on their way out (there's hardly any around for other big films either)
and, perhaps, VHS in general.
While the anamorphic widescreen transfer of the first film suffered some
problems, this one appears to be crystal clear. It's a little soft-focused at
times but that's in the film itself. Of course, the ratio is 2.35:1.
At first you'd ask while the cinema saw a Dolby Digital 6.1 Surround EX soundtrack,
why do we appear to only have the 5.1 equivalent. Dolby are now saying that
they'd prefer to call the cinema version 5.1 Surround EX because of the
following reason I'm about to give, hence I presume that the sound format on the
DVD is the same.
The advantage for this is that in addition to the usual Dolby Digital 5.1 affair
with have an extra centre speaker at the rear, but instead of being a discrete,
separate audio channel, it's an amalgamation of the other two rear channels,
so not the great extra big deal we expected from having an extra speaker being
placed in the cinema, but when big sound is called for in a big room, it's
certainly not unwelcome.
Sonically, the usual Dolby Digital 5.1 sound rocks big time in all manner of
scenes from John Williams's classic opener, through the rest of the
score and all of the sound FX inbetween. The whole thing's a triumph and
never lets you down.
Also on disc one is an audio commentary from director Lucas, producer Rick
McCallum, editor and sound designer Ben Burtt, animation supervisor
Rob Coleman and visual effects supervisors Pablo Helman, John Knoll
and Ben Snow, as well as a THX audio and video optimiser.
Mine's bigger than yours.
The extras disc is divided into six sections:
Theatrical Trailers and TV Spots:
The first contains three Teaser Trailers (anamorphic 2.35:1), the first
two, "Breathing" and "Mystery" being a minute each and the third, "Forbidden
Love", clocking in at 2 minutes. Also here is the "Clone War" Theatrical
Trailer (anamorphic 2.35:1, 2½ minutes)
and the Music Video for the theme tune, "Across The Stars" (anamorphic
2.35:1, 4½ minutes), mixing in clips from the film.
There are also twelve
TV Spots, eight concentrating on the main characters with one apiece,
including a "Clones" one which includes footage that wasn't in Episode II and
looks like it'll be in the third, plus four for action scenes, one, "Biggest
Action Hero", being a bit of a piss-take on the Spider-Man trailer. All last
30 seconds and are in non-anamorphic 16:9.
Documentaries:
There are two featured here, both in anamorphic 16:9. The first, From Puppets
to Pixels: Digital Characters in Episode II (52 mins) is split into five
chapters and looks at the transformation from taking what looks like a muppet
and bring them into the 21st Century - see the CGI Yoda, who's a world away
from how he appeared in the original Star Wars trilogy.
State of the Art: The Pre-visualization of Episode II (23 mins)
looks at the way the crew could finally get onscreen what they wanted in terms
of digital special effects, as storyboards have been replaced with the same
thing that a computer can do.
Deleted Scenes:
Eight extra scenes, each with the option of an introduction from Lucas and
others, and also a commentary track. All the scenes don't really need to be
put back into the film and make it even longer, but a branching option would've
been welcome. Since they're all in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen and with DD5.1
sound, they're still crying out for a branching option, so you could choose
to watch the extended version with these in place.
Featurettes:
Story, Love, Action. Three featurettes totalling 26 minutes, all in 16:9
anamorphic widescreen, mixing in clips with chat from the cast and crew.
Web Documentaries:
Those who logged into
Star Wars.com
preceeding the film's cinema release would've seen twelve brief documentaries,
added to the site one at a time. It's more behind-the-scenes material, but for
completeness, they're all here.
Dex's Kitchen and Stills Galleries:
The galleries are split into three sections: Exclusive Production Photos,
One-Sheet Posters and International Outdoor Campaign. There's more pictures
and posters than you can shake a stick at.
In Dex's Kitchen there's three featurettes: Films Are Not Released: They
Escape (26 mins), a look, or rather a listen, about the sounds created for the film;
Episode II Visual Effects Breakdown Montage (3½ mins), a look at various
scenes before and after the CGI effects were applied; and R2-D2: Beneath the
Dome (6 mins), a spoof featurette about the real star of the film.
There's also an easter egg that's easy to find for the Star Wars: Want-Ads:
The College Campaign, including links to websites, accessible if you're
playing it direct through a DVD-ROM drive.
Those with a DVD-ROM drive can also use the direct weblink to
Star Wars.com,
although typing it in will have the same effect.
Like the Episode I DVD, a DTS soundtrack was created but has been overshadowed
by the new Dolby Digital 5.1.
The film contains a massive 50 chapters, like the first one, the menus are
brilliantly animated and scored throughout, with more than one choice available
and the subtitles come in English for the hard of hearing.
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Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
