Anyone else feel this issue with Attack of the Clones? Has nothing to do with acting at all.

It has to do with the climactic battle scenes.

1) I find that the Jedi Battle in the Arena to be a bit of a letdown in terms of what could have been. That being said it is pretty cool with what we got, just some parts of it are better than others.

why:Its obvious that jedi in the background are painted in, they are all way too scattered about in the background, almost conveniently so. It becomes a hunt itself trying to focus on the background jedi, and i think i noticed one with two lightsabers?

The best parts of the fight in my opinion are when they jedi are physically with each other, not CGI. Like the start where they all charge or the occasional shots of groups of jedi being blown up. I think having them all physically there creates a dynamic, and it feels more real. Oh well.

2) The final duel itself.

I feel that GL made Anakin and Obi-Wan look weak in this film. Its hard for me to gauge that Anakin is the chosen one when he is constantly failing epicly. Being smacked around by factory droids and losing his second lightsaber approximately five seconds after Obi-Wan tosses it to him.

Obi-Wan looks like a pansy in this fight, grunting and groaning like an old man. Is this the same guy who beat Darth Maul? I feel that GL made him look too weak by also getting him smacked about by Jango, the creatures on Geonosis and Dooku. He loses to Dooku twice!

I also felt their fights lacked passion. Obi-Wans duel was lame, Anakin's dual sabers ended way too quickly, and the Anakin duel was too short. I liked the "visual tone poem" of them reflected only by the light of their blades, but then that ended way too fast too.

Yoda's duel is kinda cool, but it looks out of synch and i can see CGI errors in it. Plus Dooku never fought this fast in ROTS so i feel confused looking back on it.

Why couldnt he try and top duel of the fates? He did it in ROTS with BOH and even made another three person duel at the start of ROTS!

in fact it feels like ROTS is overcompensating in action and lightsaber duels because of the lack of those in AOTC!

 

During the Arena battle (I think it was when R2 was trying to fix 3P0), I noticed a Jedi in the background practically standing around.

 

My least favorite part of the arena battle is the scene showing all the Jedi striking poses when they ignite their lightsabers... incredibly cheesy, IMO.

 

He got the idea from reading The Last Command.

 

Actually he built his first episode II lightsaber.

The one he uses in the movie before it gets chopped in the factory. It has a similar design to his Episode V lightsaber, but uses the color scheme of his Ep III lightsaber.

I guess after his marriage he decided to make the top more curved, to be more "complete".

Still, thats quite hilarious. I never imagined Nsync style dancing with the jedi and their poses but now, im afraid you have ruined that scene for me!

 

I think its great. He couldve put random moves and lightsaber flashes in the back yet every Jedi had his own choreographed moves, even if theyre not the focus. And dont forget this wasnt the main course, it was just an appetizer before the main course which was the first battle in the clone wars (which I personally consider one of the best and most explosive and fast paced action scenes)

That was actually a brilliant move. You have to look at the whole picture. In the previous movie, weve seen 2 Jedis fighting together - the master gets injured/killed, the padawan steps in and defeats the villain. So thats what people think will happen here, especially since THE Anakin is involved, yet theyre both quickly taken out. Obi Wan gets injured, Anakin rushes to the rescue, theres a moment of tension when theyre both swinging sabers in the dark and then he gets his arm cut off which was a big surprise. And its more realistic because both of them are no match for a seasoned Sith lord like Dooku. I applaud GL for not making Anakin this all powerful Jedi in his padawan stages when audiences would wrongfully expect so. And again, this wasnt the main fight, it was only a setup for the Yoda vs Dooku duel

Plus you cant sympathize with heroes and feel tension if they always win and save the day. I think seeing Qui Gon's death and Obi Wan and Anakin's defeat really upped the antes emotionally when you really didnt know what to expect

Dont forget Anakin wasnt able to deflect it either with Dooku. My guess is he didnt know since he never fought a powerful Sith and didnt learn about the dark side or that he simply cant always deflect it like a fist hit. I believe the way Jedis are trained is to use their mind and listen to wise advices, taking out whatever they can from them with their own mind, interpreting and extrapolating themsleves. So for example Yoda says "do not underestimate the powers of the Emperor", and for a wise person it could be enough to know that theres more than you know to the whole situations and to not let your guard down at any time. Jedis dont have to be taught using detailed descriptions instead like "he can levitate things, he can shoot lighting bolts out of his hands" etc

 

There are only two thing I don't like in AotC:

1. Ewan's fake beard, due to reshoots.

2. Too few scenes with Christopher Lee, including the duels. I would have prefered that they had adapted the duel to Christopher Lee, instead of making it "over the top" and just paste Sir Lee's face there.

 

I agree, I didn't much care for this scene. Practically the whole scene though. The AOTC Jedi just don't seem very Jedi-like.

Actually, he loses the saber he started with, then loses the fight with Obi-Wan's saber.

 

Who said he didn't, but Luke didn't have his sabre with him at that point in the film so a fat lot of good it'd have done him. Ho hum.

I actually think the arena battle is one of the highlights of the movie and indeed the whole series. An unashamed tribute to Harryhausen, it just gets bigger and bigger as more and mroe folk become involved. By the time the clones arrive, it's like a mini-war, choking and smoke-filled with shaking cameras zooming in and out of the action. I have no problem at all in believing that what I'm seeing is real, the CGI interracts perfectly with the actors.

The duel is marvellous. Dooku takes on these young punks without breaking a sweat. He's all elegance and taunting remarks (ever wonder where Vader got that from?).

In neither the battle nor the duel does Lucas attempt to repeat what he did in The Phantom Menace. Quite why anyone would see that as a failing is beyond me.

 

I think that the ROTS novelization sums up Dooku's style very easily. It states that Dooku was used to fighting alone, while it was clear that Obi-Wan and Anakin were trained to fight against multiple opponents, often with blasters, rather than a single, proficient lightsaber duelist.
Dooku is supposed to be a classic style of fighter, using controlled strokes and goading his opponents in to striking too quickly. His fight was as much mental as physical.

Regarding the arena duel, I always found it quite enjoyable. I liked seeing the Jedi in a mass fight, even if they did not do very well. It probably is a style preference, but I like seeing all the different Jedi, seeing the variety and the different species. It was an iconic moment that I liked seeing.

The only way it could have been better is if the Jedi were not simply overwhelmed by sheer numbers, and if the different animals had not gotten in the way.

 

Oh, I like the fact that the monsters are still running around in the middle of the fight. It's better that they didn't just get forgotten about and that they still played a part.

The film seems to build towards this moment. We have Obi-wan's investigations and Anakin and Padme's growing relationship taking up the first two thirds of the film. The arena battle and lightsabre duel seem to be the pay-off for sitting through "the boring bits"!

 

This scene has so much potential. But it ultimately, especially when watching it now, is just a CGI-fest. The animals look bad and the arena looks bad. Though, it IS a treat to see so many Jedi in one place.

 

And Harryhausen's creatures were a stop-motion fest. What's your point?

The CGI is magnificent (apart from the dodgy bit when Padme is riding on top of the Geonosian beast of burden). All three of the arena beasts are perfectly animated.

 

The Arena scene, which was clearly a take off of Gladiator, was a major disappointment. Having the Jedi come out of various tunnels and doors, only to then minutes later, see them all gathered in one big clummp, in a wide open space in he middle of the arena floor, with thousands of droids shooting at them was ridiculous. They basically all decided en masse to make the worst tactical move possible, having to take on laser fire from all around them with absolutely no cover.

The weird thing about that whole scene was, what were the Jedi trying to accomplish? Was this a rescue mission? Anakin was already freed by the time they showed up. Was it to take out the droid army? What would make them think that a couple hundred Jedi could accomplish that?? The whole thing just made no sense.

 

No, the Arena scene was clearly a take on Spartacus.

Tactically, no it makes no sense. The Jedi are keepers of the peace, though, aren't they? Not warriors.

The attack on Geonosis was a huge mistake. Wasn't that the point, plot-wise, though? The Republic, feeling that negotiations have now failed, flex their strength based on an intelligence report that says The Seperatists are preparing for war. It's a pre-emptive strike that ends up creating a conflict that seemingly has no end.

Surely you can see the comparisons with a certain country launching an illegal invasion based on nothing more than a dodgy intelligence report?

 

I have no problem with taking jabs at Dubya (or Obama for that matter). But it should not be done at the expense of logic. The Jedi were not equipped for this type of conflict but they throw themselves right in. Not to mention that even if they could handle the super duper droids, these robots travelled in mechanized armored vehicles. What were the Jedi going to do against that on foot??? It's just dumb.

 

[Sigh] you know the reference I made to "we're keepers of the peace"...

If you don't like that one, though, try the scene where Yoda mentions the growing arrogance of the Jedi.

There's two you can choose from to answer your point.

 

Thanks. You've just reminded me that I always wanted to get that book after reading an extract some time ago. It seemed so well written.

 

Keep in mind that the Jedi did NOT expect to face all the droids in the arena - just Geonosians.



They were wrong.

 

he didn't need to top Duel of the Fates. I just feel the three duels themselves are painfully short and edited to hell!

I just wish the heroes put up a better fight. I feel that it made Dooku look too powerful.

Why? Because just three years later, Anakin fights him at a lesser pace than Yoda but still wins.

Why doesn't dooku enter hyper mode against all the jedi he fights?

 

OK, I'll pick both.

"We're keepers of the peace, NOT SOLDIERS." -- Again, this is indicative that the Jedi were not equipped for this conflict and it's dumb that they'd rush in.

The Arrogance of the Jedi -- Yes, Yoda says this but where do we see any of this arrogance??? Mace says, they're not soldiers. Qui Gonn says they cannot fight a war. Yoda says they're getting weak in the force. Aside from Anakin, does anyone display one hint or iota of arrogance?? Arrogance would be Palpy saying they need to take out the Droids and Mace rushing off saying "I got this." Instead, he stresses that they are not soliders, not prepared for military combat. Its anything but arrogant. But this is the problem with such a poorly written script. So much of the development is off screen. We're just told things without seeing them transpire. And what we do see and hear on screen contradicts itself. So we end up with Jedi, who repeatedly say they can't fight a war, using the worst strategy in history against a droid army, in a..war.

 

I would say the whole archive thing was more just being dumb, than arrogant.

Regarding the Sith not having returned -- Again, it seems more that they are clueless than arrogant. And by the end of the film, they're pretty certain about the Sith. Dooku I'm willing to chalk up to Mace knowing him for a long time. But none of this has anything to do with the war on Geonosis and why they would possibly go when they have been saying all along that they cannot wage wars. It's all so illogical.