PT The great things about AOTC

It had to be done! In the wake of the "great things about TPM" thread, it felt only right to create one for Attack of the Clones. AOTC is actually my least favourite of the six films, and the only one I would deem average in the grander scheme of things, but there's still much to adore and much to be admired. So here we go, here's my list of things I love about the movie (compiled while I watch the film):

* The title itself. When I first heard the title, my reaction was a little bit like Ewan McGregor's. Then I suddenly remembered what these films are all about and warmed to it very quickly. Okay, it doesn't make a huge amount of sense given what happens in the film (you would assume the clones are the bad guys), but then again, it doesn't really need to. It defines the tone of the film very well for my liking.

* Coruscant in the fog.... c'mon its pretty cool in itself to have a landscape such as Coruscant obscured by early morning fog, not to mention how it works as a rather great and very deliberate visual metaphor for many of the themes that will be established within the film. Excellent and very relevant introduction.

* Anakin's introduction in the elevator. It gave me a smile the first time I saw it. As much for Obi-Wan's laugh which immediately felt so much in the style of Alec Guinness. But also because I genuinely feel like I'm being reunited with two old friends who have obviously established a heartfelt rapport and relationship in the years since we last saw them. Anakin's obvious nerves and insecurity are quite charming here.

* Obi-Wan's lecture of Anakin. Again, as soon as I saw it, I loved it. I had been waiting so long to see such a thing. Even Anakin's backchat is quite endearing when you understand he's only trying to impress Padme. But Obi-Wan's reaction to it is priceless.

* The whole bodyguard plot. I love it as Obi-Wan and Anakin's reintroduction to Padme. It seems logical and in no way too convenient. It would have been easy for something more obvious to occur, such as a chance meeting or whatnot.

* The second assassination attempt. Having Obi-Wan and Anakin's continuing conversation heard off-screen only adds to the tension of what's happening in Padme's room, i.e. "Do they not realise?! Why are they letting this happen?!" Artoo's involvement is a nice touch too. The assassination attempt itself is rather ingenious and Obi-Wan's fearless, heroic, all-in-a-day's work jumping through the window is classic Star Wars.

* Anakin's speeder. You gotta love the design of this. I think its clearly meant to be the Star Wars equivalent of some old banger. The fact Anakin just steals it is pretty funny too - like a cop would do in your regular action movie. And its yellow, with engines on show to boot, which is nice for American Graffiti fans such as myself.

* The whole chase scene. Okay there's some clunkiness to the dialogue but on the whole its a great ride. From JW's wonderful music, to Anakin's intuitive leap out of the cockpit, it mostly works a treat. The visuals are just spectacular too. To me, this feels like what these kinds of movies should be all about.

* "Yes Master"... "Yes Master".... "I try, Master". You can tell Anakin's a little sick and tired of Obi-Wan here. He appreciates him, but he's getting a little sullen about the constant put-downs and repetitive advice. It builds up during the film. We get a hint of it here, which leads into his complaints to Padme, and later to a full scale rant about Obi-Wan's methods when he's on Tatooine. You can sense it right here. Its not born out of nothing. Its more than hinted at early on.

* The Nightclub. Not for its obvious visual tie-in with The Cantina. I love it on its own merit. Its an entirely different mood to The Cantina anyway. Its a very different scene. The pacing and editing of it is excellent. You can truly lose yourself in the scene. And to top it off, to break up the tension, we get one of the funniest Star Wars moments ever in "You wanna buy some

 

Dooku meeting with the Separatist leaders while Obi Wan spies on them. The whole deal is just so sinister - the Seppies are Up To No Good personified.

The "everyone is doomed" atmosphere that hangs over the movie.

Poggle revealing the Death Star.

Jango, Dooku, Gunray, and Poggle coming out onto the arena balcony. They looks just so very *awful*.

Yoda's line about the shroud of the Dark Side, and all the footage after he says that. It's perfect.

 

In no particular order...


1) Palpatine's look - The first image we saw of him was on the cover of the Star Wars magazine and he looked like Dracula. It was great to think that it represented how much darker the story was getting.

2) Boba Fett/Jango Fett - Okay, I didn't care for Boba as a kid but I did like that he had a connection to the Stormtroopers.

3) Count Dooku/Christopher Lee - When I saw Sleepy Hollow in November 1999 I said to myself "Episode II needs a Christopher Lee/Peter Cushing type villain." Then of course six months later we got the casting announcement that Christopher Lee would be playing a charasmatic separatist. Plus I liked the idea of a gentlemen Sith. Plus he turned out to be Qui-Gon Jinn's master.

4) The Clone Wars being clones vs clones - I didn't dream that it would be organic clones vs droids. Opened up a realm of possibilities.

5) The Music - While AOTC might be the weakest score out of all six films, it was still great music. And I still say the love theme is called "Across the Stars"

6) The separatists - Of course Passel was my favorite despite his line getting cut, but it was neat to see a bunch of different looking villains plotting. Though I feel bad for Toonbuck Toora getting a new face plastered over her just because Lucas thought she looked like she was sleeping. I mean, adjust the eyes digitally, not the entire head!

7) The Death Star - That was a nice addition though it really messed with the EU quite a bit. But I'm not a EU nut.

8) Geonosis - I like the name of the planet

9) Outlander Nightclub - Kinda mysterious and I enjoyed the way Lucas shot it.

10) Jedi Designs - Even if they were just background fodder, I loved the new Jedi designs. Especially Luminara Unduli and Shaak Ti. Though I wish Alta Ranga had made it.

11) Plot points - I liked the ideas of some of the plot points. Not so much the implementation but the general ideas seemed exciting.

12) Hailfire Droids - Love them shooting missiles

13) The Acklay - I thought he was the best of the beasts

14) Speculation - Never will I have such a great time speculating and talking over spoilers as I did with Star Wars Episode II. I may have disliked the final outcome, but I got more out of the film speculating on it for years with people on this board. Whether it was over casting announcements, Sith Interceptor and Perfect Dark having copies of the script, George Lucas Select Images, Star Wars Insider mag tidbits, or Hoedaack with his name game.

 

Ah, AOTC. Out of all the Star Wars films, AOTC has grown on me more and more after each viewing. In fact, it might just be my favourite.


1. "I guess I was wrong. There was no danger at all." These words spoken by Captain Typho is a great forshadowing to the rest of the film. The ship exploding and having Padme's decoy killed set the tone of AOTC up perfectly. There are threats lurking even in the Republic, and galatic unrest is emerging.

2. Obi-Wan. Out of all the prequel films, AOTC Obi-Wan is my favourite version of the character. He has style, wit, and yet he's a bit headstrong. In this film, Obi-Wan plays a detective role, which Ewan handles very well in playing the character.

3. The chase. Oh, the chase. This is pure classic Star Wars fun.

4. The bar. Dark. Seedy. Not what you'd expect from Star Wars, but it works perfectly here. Obi-Wan slicing Zam was nice foreshadowing to what Obi-Wan does in the cantina in A New Hope.

5. Kamino. Possibly my favourite planet, I thought all Kamino scenes stole the show. From the artifical and sterile atmosphere, to the storms raging outside.


6. The Clone subplot. I loved all the mystery about the Clone Army. It's probably one of the most intruging plots in a Star Wars film.

There are a lot more, including Count Dooku and Geonosis. The Tusken Raider slaughter was also terrific forshadowing of Darth Vader. Overall, AOTC is a fantastic Star Wars film. It has the good old classic Star Wars feel, but also explores new territory. 5/5 for me in terms of pure enjoyment.

 

I will make mine most of your words, but add one scene that no has mentioned yet.

The Clones Marching to War. What a powerful moment with the Imperial March playing in the background, foreshadowing the Clones' role in the implementation of the Empire. The sound of the marching, and the Republic Cruisers taking off while Palpatine and some senators, including a dismayed Bail Organa, looking on.

I also love the sound of the Gunships, that sound like an old WWII fighter. Ben Burtt was snubbed of an Academy Award for this one.

 

I agree with you completely. The Republic March is possibly my absolute favourite scene in the saga, and that's saying a lot.

 

I would put The Republic army marching to war as one of my moments, but because of the music, it just felt... I dunno, a little too on the nose... a little to preachy perhaps. It felt like one of those few moments where the movies were actually not only being made back-to-front, but designed to be watched back-to-front - some new, foreboding march might have done the trick instead, or a reprise of the cue we hear when we first see them being watched by Obi-Wan on Kamino. But hey, its a personal nitpick. And this thread is of course meant to be positive. I only felt I should justify why such an obvious scene wasn't on my own list.

 

Part 1

NOTE: I intended to address one or two of your observations, but I ended up addressing almost all of them! I have HAD to break this into multiple parts. If you make it through this, your reward is ... erm ... er .... self-knowledge that you can tolerate rambling geekery?

This is Lucas thumbing his nose at fans and critics and saying "bite me!" It's another reason I find claims that Lucas reduced Jar Jar's screen presence in AOTC in light of negative feedback to TPM laughable. With AOTC, he's pushing further into a sort of rubber-band, cartoon reality, from the digital photography, which tends to flatten things visually, to the copious use of CG, which gives things a certain fakeness and weird kineticism you don't see with puppets and models. Watching AOTC is a bit like watching the panels of a graphic novel brought to life. The documentary-fantasy of TPM has been crushed by Palpatine/Sidious, who is amassing tremendous, surreal levels of power and influence over the narrative and everything connected to it. It's a jolting switch from TPM but gives the saga a beguiling sense of vim and vigour: an endlessly reciprocal dialogue between organic (chemical photography and chemical elements) and mechanic (digital photography and digital elements). Pay real attention to this in the future. That's my advice.*

*Sorry about that extended riff, d_arblay. I'm just nuts.

Paris in the the spring. Sorry. Frisky. It's VERY, VERY ominous that we should see Coruscant this way. Just consider its name: it means "glittering", with respect to flashes of light. But the fog is obscuring those flashes of light (the high-rise windows reflecting the sun, gleaming traffic, massive advertising boards, etc.). And the flashes of light are just that: flashes. Here exists the Dark Side. And now, thanks to the fog, we can see that the Dark Side is, in the words of Yoda, clouding everything. The fog also harks back to the gas that the Trade Federation uses on Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan at the start of TPM. A poisonous vapour. But there is some degree of hope left: not only do the Jedi endure the gas, but another kind of fog is seen later in TPM, with the Gungans poetically emerging from the mist. The fog can also be seen as a kind of shroud, where deception rules the day (this is also made explicit at the end of the film, with Yoda again commenting directly on this matter: "Lies, deceit, creating mistrust are his ways now", followed by, "The shroud of the Dark Side has fallen"). I point this out to make one final observation here: the first spoken word of the film is a lie. A male security member addresses a handmaiden as "Senator". But the handmaiden is merely posing as Senator Amidala. One final thing... First word spoken in TPM = "Captain"; first word spoken in AOTC = "Senator"; one of the first words spoken in ROTS = "Master" (a direction by Anakin to Artoo, that rabble-rousing, pattern-breaking astromech droid, dashes the motif).

His reaction of "What?!" also parallels Vader's

 

Part 2

I feel sorry for Jar Jar in this moment. I don't think Padme's abruptness is entirely motivated by Jar Jar's well-meaning acceptance speech, however. Jar Jar going on must also remind Padme that she has ceded the decision-making to another, which reminds her that she is going into hiding; and her next sentiment suggests that to be the case: "I don't like this idea of hiding". Note how Jar Jar sincerely saying he will accept this bestowing of authority with "humility" is the inverse of Palpatine deliberately gaining more and more power for his own ends.

He's remarkably honest and tries to win Padme's affections with that searing honesty. It does work for him, in the end, but in a much more devastating way (consider the events on Tatooine and his confession scene). Here, Padme is in control, which is an emasculating experience for the Darth-Vader-to-be, but an essential one. In a way, Padme steers Anakin to a better course, forcing him to explore alternative methods. This recalls a line of Jango's to Zam: "We'll have to try something more subtle" (notice that Jango's idea fails, perhaps if only because he used that deadly word in Star Wars: "try").

Absolutely stunning music. Has an ostentatious, epic feel, yet is also based on a haunting melody that is often hauntingly played. This first moment in which it manifests itself is very tender and delicate, suffusing the music -- and the relationship it eulogizes -- with a gorgeous sense of melancholy. Padme comes close to Anakin and tells him to try not to grow up too fast, soothing his woes, and perhaps drawing from her own experiences as a young child ruler (her being rueful of her own lost childhood). She doesn't want Anakin to lose himself in a forced attempt to be more mature than he might actually be. And then Anakin blows it ("But I am grown up. You said it yourself"). This basically encapsulates them as individuals: Padme just wanting Anakin to be himself and Anakin missing the point and throwing it away, ironically trying to prove himself to Padme through actions that she herself would never take and neither expects nor wants him to take. So evocative. Young love in the sun, only just begun, destroyed by insecurity and infirmity.

What's to forgive? I would argue that "The Sound Of Music" is one of the greatest films ever made. I would also speculate that it was a big influence on Star Wars out of the starting gate. There is a hideous sense of man-made decline and loss in the film, cleverly and subtly painted in the far distance as hints of the Nazi occupation of Austria and horrors th

 

Part 3

Iconic. It's also interesting -- to me, at least -- that nobody seems to question what happened, or even that Anakin is carrying the body of Shmi. There's a desolate, "don't ask, don't tell" quality at work here. Life on the fringes of Tatooine. Sparse, taciturn. Horrors too deep to be mentioned.

Another superb piece of acting from Hayden Christensen. I really identify with him in the build-up to his confession, too. There have been a number of times I've wanted to throw something like a cup across the room (and a couple of times, I have). Of course, it's ultimately an act of futility; at best, you feel a little better, at worst, the cup (or whatever) smashes (and your wall is the worse for wear). Actually, is it a cup he throws? Well, whatever. The idea of frustrated defiance is beautifully communicated in that sudden burst of physical anger.

Yes -- and there's a deeper truth at work. The Jedi are also "machines making machines". They have a "Jedi Code" (think binary or "machine code") and they literally help turn Anakin into a machine when he becomes Darth Vader. The line, then, is actually a brutal condemnation of homogeneity, sameness, mindless repetition. And this is clearly shown in a context that is a prelude to war. Brilliant.

I love this. Ripe with feeling.

The Greco-Roman stuff is in full bloom here; and it's mighty. Notice that this is something TPM and AOTC share. Wide-open, brightly-lit, sandy places with baying crowds which are also host to big action pieces. This bread-and-circuses material is more broken-up in ROTS. It's when night enters the galaxy and most of what happens happens on Coruscant. TPM and AOTC afford us the chance to see other planets and other kinds of twisted entertainment that the galaxy's citizens enjoy.

Real classic stuff with Obi-Wan and the spear. There's a fantastic wide shot of him pointing the spear diagonally forward with the acklay at the other side of the screen. Feels like it has been ripped straight from a Ray Harryhausen film. How wonderful to finally get this into SW. Yet it's not locked into any one cinematic discourse. The distinct lack of music in this whole section, for instance, also accentuates the documentary feeling. We see characters forced to rely on their wits with no trumpet blasts or traditional music cues of any kind. Like, like, like it!

I love Jango and Boba's reaction to Mace putting his saber against Jango's throat. Lethal stuff.

When the camera rapidly pans from the droids rushing forward to a bunch of people with glowin

 

Part 4

Another moment I like is when Obi-Wan congratulates Anakin before this argument when he accurately picks out a target for the gunships to fire at. Obi-Wan declares it a "good call", which nicely pairs up with his sarcastic "good job!" to Anakin earlier. In a way, Obi-Wan has made amends for his earlier meanness here. It's moments like these that subtly add to the impending sense of loss that animates the prequel narrative. It's sad that a relationship with so many nuances, struggling to right itself into something with less discordant notes (but it's the discordant notes where the beauty lies), must crumble and fall in ROTS. The relationship between Anakin and Obi-Wan is more precious because of this struggle. Well, in my opinion, at least. On a more superficial note, I also just like the snap, crackle and pop of this line. It's goofy as all get-out, yet all the better for it. And Ewan says it with a certain relish. Incidentally, when you search for this line on Google, the first result that comes up is a comment by someone on the forums at starwars.com: "Ewan delivers the line with a smile, but you know underneath he wants to rip his own tongue out."

Oh, more classic stuff. I also like the way Anakin and Obi-Wan rush into the hangar, which dramatically contrasts with the ritualized calm before the duel in TPM. Here, two Jedi are trying to get to an antagonist before he leaves, with seconds left, and the younger of the two is champing at the bit to attack Dooku and show him the extent of his upset (while, coincidentally, and not so coincidentally, his loved-one lies on the ground -- which is more like the TPM duel in reverse). Superbly done.

After the TPM duel, every other duel was going to be put in the shade. Yet each subsequent duel offers something intensely stylish and memorable. Even without the Yoda segment, Lucas found that essence here. So atmospheric, so cool. Here, in a way, the Dagobah cave sequence is being recalled. Yet without the obvious dream-like brooding. Instead, Lucas transforms the memory of that sequence into a visceral ballet of stroboscopic anger. The inventiveness of this man is off the charts. I also like how the two duelists hold their sabers over their heads: a visual that Lucas would return to in ROTS.

Yoda limping in adds a discreet level of comedy to the proceedings. Our foreknowledge of him coming into kick some butt creates a giddy sense of absurdity: it's like watching a wrinkly grandmother ambling in to take on Che Guevara. I mean, this can't be happening ... can it? Oh, but it is. Spell-binding.

 

I'll post my favourite things about AotC as soon as possible, but I have to ask this:

I never understood why Ewan laughed about that. What's so funny about "Attack of the Clones"? Shouldn't this title give goosegumps, since it's directly related to the "Clone Wars", mentioned in ANH?

 

Cryo, I'm simply flabbergasted How could I have expected someone to dissect my points like that? Of course, if I'd been forced to bet on anyone doing it, my money would have been on you. And hey, there's nobody better to do it. Your points are also excellent, and more often than not, far too in-depth for my shallow mind to even comprehend (not at first glance at least... I may try again later)

As I did earlier, Ewan McGregor also went on to admit his reaction was ill-informed. In many ways, this kind of reaction to the title was typical to the reactions to the films themselves amongst the older fans. Yet "Attack Of The Clones" is no different or more silly than The Empire Strikes Back. Difference is, Empire felt familiar... it was ingrained as part of our collected psyche. The surroundings and the all content felt familiar, therefore it was accepted and never questioned. Yet when the same laws were applied to something new and fresh it afforded people a much greater license for cynicism. At first I thought the title was goofy and somewhat childish. And to a point I was right. I didn't appreciate that this was the intention though. Its a b-movie title. The difference now is that I understand exactly why such a thing was employed and appreciate the atmosphere it created. Lucas isn't just referencing Saturday morning serials and b-movies in the choice of title, he's also doing it frequently with the choices he makes in terms of shot selection, dialogue and editing (only here its not picked up on quite so often, and regularly misinterpreted as shoddy craftmanship... strange that Tarantino gets away with it every time, but hey, he's hip... Lucas isn't. I know who I think the smarter filmmaker is though!).

My two least favourite titles these days are actually ROTS (which seems just too obvious) and ANH (which feels a little underwhelming). I think TPM, ROTJ and ESB are the pick of the bunch... though AOTC would be up there with them had it made a little more sense given the film's content (i.e. had the clones been The Separatists for example). Although they do attack towards the end of the film, the movie is about so much more than that. It doesn't quite sum up the film as brilliantly as TPM or ESB for example. But on paper, its bold and brilliant.

 

Do you have a link? I understood your reasons, since you've explained them, but not his.

 

I think a major reason why I love the film so much is that it seems to have an incredible amount of "breathing room" when it comes to developing characters in a manner that really gives a sense of what day to day living is like in the Star Wars universe?although of course I find those times when the film comes back to a more trademark brand of pulpy action equally pertinent and enthralling. Great posts above have already explained a lot of what I mean by this, but to reiterate briefly:

- The "dreams pass in time" speech. Kind of a blink and miss it thing, although this is entirely appropriate when you think about it. There's a melancholic frankness to the exchange that perfectly helps develop both characters in a style that strikes me with much more of a low-key realism note compared to the more usual brand of Star Wars interaction. And then abruptly we're thrown back into the wonderful chase sequence (which equals and perhaps betters anything from the OT, in my view), until things slow down again for the surprisingly contemporary atmosphere of the nightclub to the glimpse of Anakin's inherent aggression during the questioning of Zam. This is the type of stop/start dynamic I'm talking about, how the film thrives on its tendency to switch from classic Star Wars in terms of amusing banter and stirring action to frankly down to earth scenes of atmosphere and interaction that seem to me largely unique to this entry of the saga.

- The Tuskan slaughter and Anakin's confession that follows. The series doesn't get more emotionally cutting than this. Again, for me this is as good as anything from The Empire Strikes Back.

- Yoda fighting with a "lowly" saber. Along with Jedi leading stormtroopers into battle, this idea was another one of Lucas's tricky prequel plot points that oh so cleverly subverted fan expectation.

- the waterfall scene. Great chemistry from the two leads here. Portman's best Star Wars moment for making Padme into the type of woman it's easy to fall in love with.

- Dooku's flight across the run down, factory-looking section of Coruscant to rendezvous with Palpatine. Love the creepy feeling to the scene, which contrasts nicely with the Falcon's escape from Cloud City and Vader in ESB.

- The entire ending montage, but especially the shot of Padme grasping Anakin's robotic, skeletal hand. Might be the single image that best defines Star Wars to me.

 

Canon proof of the satellite galaxies.

 

Just a quick note... Originally Williams composed something different for that scene: it was based on a motive he often uses (it's a reworking on the classical "Dies Irae" theme, which appears in Episode IV, as well as in different moments of episodes II and III: the fireplace scene, Anakin's confession, Palpatine's Seduction, the Order 66 sequence and more...). You can hear the beginning of the original piece, right until the Imperial March comes in. The Imperial March was added later, requested by Lucas, I'd say.

 

A link to his explanation? I used to have the interview posted on an old youtube account, which was suspended. I'm not sure if anyone else has posted it. But I still have the clip. Its from a really enthusiastic interview I taped from Scottish Television when AOTC opened. He had just seen the film for the first time and was buzzing with excitement. I might as well transcribe it for you (though if enough people want to see it, I'll see if I can repost it onto youtube):

On seeing the completed movie for the first time:

Ewan: Its incredible for me because it is like seeing it for fresh. Because the process of making them, there is nothing there. The majority of the stuff is blue screen, acting with characters who aren't there, who aren't even created yet. So when you go and see a Star Wars film that you're in, its like seeing it brand new - you're seeing the worlds they've created. The characters you've played opposite are brand new to you, because you haven't seen them.

Interviewer: Now the overall scale and sense of adventure of this one reminded me of 'Star Wars: A New Hope' and the second one as well. So its really up there isn't it?

Ewan: It's really up there. I mean I think my favourite one is 'The Empire Strikes Back', which is the second one, and I think its definitely on a par with that. Its got a beautiful mix of all great fairytale things. The love story in it could have been too overpowering and it isn't. The Anakin/Amidala love story is rather beautiful and laced in amongst this kind of Obi-Wan Kenobi detective thing that's going on. But the battle sequences are quite unbelievably well done. I think they've just moved on technologically. They've got to a point where they've freed themselves up. They can do more or less anything. So there's massive kind of machines of war in the foreground and explosions, and then the camera can move and zoom in to find us in... a helicopter thing, I don't know what its called. So its really exciting. I thought it was excellent. I think its excellent!

Interviewer: Lets get to the title of this film - 'Attack of the Clones'. Now you're rumoured to have said "its a terrible, terrible title" the first time you heard it. Do you still hold to that?

Ewan: No. I mean, well... kind of. I was at, I was doing a press line in America and they'd forgotten to tell me they we're gonna call it 'Attack of the Clones'. So someone just went "Ewan! What about Attack of the Clones?" and I went "What? What is it?" And they thought I was kidding y'know. They said "No, what do you think?" and I said "I don't know what you're talking about"... "Well its the new title for the Star Wars movie", and I was caught slightly off-guard, and at the time I thought 'Attack of the Clones' is terrible, it sounds terrible. But I mean, thinking about it, I suppose what it reminds me of is a kind of Flash Gordon title from the old fifties..., or forties, I don't know when they made those Flash Gordon ones with the wobbly spaceships and stuff. And it sounds like that - "ATTACK! OF! THE! CLONES!" But in a way, Star Wars is a serialised, science-fiction, episodic thing, I suppose... so its quite in keeping with that.

On Lucas and the consensus that TPM was "all special effects and no substance". "Did this cause George Lucas to sit up and listen?":

Ewan: I don't know about George. It is quite a big machine - the merchandising sales. So its possible and probable that he would take that into account. However, I think Episode One had an awful lot of work to do. It had a lot of setting up... it had to set up the whole six movies. And all the stuff they talk about in Episode 4, 5 and 6 for instance, the whole Jedi idea, we had to explain and create what that was about.

On what Lucas is like t

 

d_arblay and Cryogenic. Wow. Two people who really know the movies. I actually thought of creating this thread myself, but you beat me to it.

Repeating the sentiments of others already, I'll throw in my two cents. When I saw AOTC the first time, two things really impressed me. One, a grown-up Natalie Portman. Hey, I was 15, and nothing in Star Wars was as important as that skin-tight white outfit. Two, the sound effects. It was the first time I'd been to a movie theater and felt like at least half of the movie was taking place around me. More than incidental sound, the droid factory sequence was MUSIC, the asteroid chase was its own score. The arena just envelops. Sadly, I only saw it once in theaters, and I haven't heard the film in surround sound since then. That's partly why I'm really looking forward to seeing it in 3D. Even a home theater couldn't cut it.

 

I know that the editing of AOTC isn't universally loved, but I'll just point out two moments I feel are well-done:

The cut from Obi-Wan gazing down at the clonetrooper army from the balcony in Kamino to Anakin and Padme's picnic -- this does a wonderful job of giving Anakin's dialogue a concrete sense of foreboding and reminding the audience that the backdrop to this romance is a brewing war.

Second, the cut from Anakin and Padme rolling in the grass on Naboo (with Padme being on top) to a creature explosively breaching the surface of the ocean. Am I the only one who finds this interplay of scenes to be vaguely...sexual? Something about it simply gives me that impression.

 

I know this is the great things about AOTC (of which there are many), but I do have to point out the pan-up at the start, rather than the pan-down. WHY GEORGE?????

But I shall list some great things.

Across the Stars
Seismic Charges
The Tusken Camp scene
"Not good"
"Why do I get the feeling you'll be the death of me"
Kamino - gorgeous
"This party's over"
Seeing the Death Star
Dooku's solar ship

 

Whats wrong with having the camera pan-up? Okay it somewhat needlessly breaks a certain tradition, but I found it quite refreshing. Its not like it cuts or dissolves into some regular shot set somewhere other than space (now that would irritate me). And in my opinion that first shot of AOTC is up there with ROTS and ANH as one the most captivating of the saga.

 

Obi Wan talking to Jango.

I think "Always a pleasure to meet a Jedi" is one of the best lines in the saga.

 

It does to me too. I also found it interesting that the film switches back and forth between the Naboo scenes and the Kamino scenes, one where in the natural beauty of the planet a human courtship that will result in children takes place, while in the other reproduction is done artificially, asexually in a sterile, unnatural environment.

--MissPadme