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- Cert:
- Cat.no: 22545 DVD
- Running time: 137 minutes
- Year: 2002
- Pressing: 2002
- Region(s): 2, PAL
- Chapters: 50 plus extras
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround EX
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: English
- Widescreen: 2.35:1 (HDTV 1080p, 24fps)
- 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: 2 * DVD 9
- Price: £24.99
- Extras: Theatrical Trailers, TV Spots, 2 Documentaries, Deleted Scenes,3 Featurettes, 12 Web Documentaries, Dex’s Kitchen, Stills Galleries,Audio Commentaries, Weblinks
Director:
- George Lucas
(6-18-67, American Graffiti, Anyone Lived in a Pretty How Town, The Emperor, Filmmaker, Star Wars Episodes I-IV, THX 1138)
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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
Attack Of The Clones
This separatist movement, under the leadership of the mysterious Count Dooku,has made it difficult for the limited number of Jedi Knights to maintain peaceand order in the galaxy.
Senator Amidala, the former Queen of Naboo, is returning to the GalacticSenate to vote on the critical issue of creating an Army of the Republicto assist the overwhelmed Jedi…”
I was prepared to wait for this eventual DVD releasegiven my disappointment ofStar Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace,but a suggestion to see this installment on the big screen was made and whileit 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 knowand 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, butyou get the feeling that it’s not particularly taxing for such an establishedactor 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 goodguys, who are awaiting the completion of a clone army apparently ordered bysomeone on their side who Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) isn’t surewhether 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) andothers to place a vote on what to do next, but security is tighter thanSeptember 11th and Padme is escorted back to Naboo with the grown-upAnakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen), who is the only actor to havechanged since the last film since this one is set ten years on, yet all therest look identical to the last time round, except for McGregor attempting tolook 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 formerzipping 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 romanticplot between Padme and Anakin which just adds to the tedium during the first90 minutes, because very little happens to keep you interested, even thoughit is possible to follow the plot if you’re an adult. Children, on the otherhand, 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 increasedviolence 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, witha few good one-liners that I won’t spoil as they’re deftly dropped in. I alsospotted 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 piecesas 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 SamuelL Jackson finally gets to wield a lightsaber around, as do Dooku and Yoda ina fight between those two. Given that Yoda immediately before was hobblingaround on a stick, how come he can leap about straight after? That just doesn’tring 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 blossomingromance between the two young lovebirds, plus a few scenes that make forentirely predictable outcomes. I won’t divulge who pops their clogs in oneparticular scene, but they’ve been gone for a long time and when someone theyknow goes over in an attempt to rescue them, it’s an age-old case of thenear-corpse staying barely alive just a few moments more to utter a few wordsto 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 gearingup for a major war and… that’ll come next time. It’s like the story inStar Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Backcoming to a close, but going the same way because you know the rest of thestoryline 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 worthwatching? Well, no. The first 90 minutes drags like there’s no tomorrow and thelast hour is average and goes a short way to restore the balance from theinitial disappointment, despite containing a complete lack of suspense, but assoon as it gets going… it ends.
At the cinema, for most of the paying audience, this was the fifth Star Warsouting they would’ve seen on the big screen and so they’ll have made the tripone way or another if only to see how the story progresses, or rather stagnatesfor a time on its way to Episode III.
It really didn’t need to be 2½ hours long though. Did George think itwas 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 theredoesn’t seem to be a widescreen version which indicates that widescreen videosare 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 someproblems, this one appears to be crystal clear. It’s a little soft-focused attimes 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 thatthey’d prefer to call the cinema version 5.1 Surround EX because of thefollowing reason I’m about to give, hence I presume that the sound format on theDVD is the same.
The advantage for this is that in addition to the usual Dolby Digital 5.1 affairwith 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 beingplaced in the cinema, but when big sound is called for in a big room, it’scertainly not unwelcome.
Sonically, the usual Dolby Digital 5.1 sound rocks big time in all manner ofscenes from John Williams‘s classic opener, through the rest of thescore and all of the sound FX inbetween. The whole thing’s a triumph andnever lets you down.
Also on disc one is an audio commentary from director Lucas, producer RickMcCallum, editor and sound designer Ben Burtt, animation supervisorRob Coleman and visual effects supervisors Pablo Helman, John Knolland Ben Snow, as well as a THX audio and video optimiser.
Mine’s bigger than yours.
The extras disc is divided into six sections:
- The first contains three Teaser Trailers (anamorphic 2.35:1), the firsttwo, “Breathing” and “Mystery” being a minute each and the third, “ForbiddenLove”, clocking in at 2 minutes. Also here is the “Clone War” TheatricalTrailer (anamorphic 2.35:1, 2½ minutes)and the Music Video for the theme tune, “Across The Stars” (anamorphic2.35:1, 4½ minutes), mixing in clips from the film.
There are also twelveTV Spots, eight concentrating on the main characters with one apiece,including a “Clones” one which includes footage that wasn’t in Episode II andlooks like it’ll be in the third, plus four for action scenes, one, “BiggestAction Hero”, being a bit of a piss-take on the Spider-Man trailer. All last30 seconds and are in non-anamorphic 16:9.
- There are two featured here, both in anamorphic 16:9. The first, From Puppetsto Pixels: Digital Characters in Episode II (52 mins) is split into fivechapters and looks at the transformation from taking what looks like a muppetand bring them into the 21st Century – see the CGI Yoda, who’s a world awayfrom 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 termsof digital special effects, as storyboards have been replaced with the samething that a computer can do.
- Eight extra scenes, each with the option of an introduction from Lucas andothers, and also a commentary track. All the scenes don’t really need to beput back into the film and make it even longer, but a branching option would’vebeen welcome. Since they’re all in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen and with DD5.1sound, they’re still crying out for a branching option, so you could chooseto watch the extended version with these in place.
- Story, Love, Action. Three featurettes totalling 26 minutes, all in 16:9anamorphic widescreen, mixing in clips with chat from the cast and crew.
- Those who logged intoStar Wars.compreceeding 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 forcompleteness, they’re all here.
The galleries are split into three sections: Exclusive Production Photos,One-Sheet Posters and International Outdoor Campaign. There’s more picturesand posters than you can shake a stick at.
In Dex’s Kitchen there’s three featurettes: Films Are Not Released: TheyEscape (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 variousscenes before and after the CGI effects were applied; and R2-D2: Beneath theDome (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’replaying it direct through a DVD-ROM drive.
Those with a DVD-ROM drive can also use the direct weblink toStar Wars.com,although typing it in will have the same effect.
Like the Episode I DVD, a DTS soundtrack was created but has been overshadowedby the new Dolby Digital 5.1.
The film contains a massive 50 chapters, like the first one, the menus arebrilliantly animated and scored throughout, with more than one choice availableand the subtitles come in English for the hard of hearing.
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS
OVERALLVisit the official site:Star Wars.com
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.