AOTC's ruinous "love story" is the only thing keeping me from favoring the PT

Although I adore the exuberance of "A New Hope" and lyricism of "Empire," I must say, the wealth of thematic material we are given to ruminate on in the PT is significantly greater than that offered by the more lauded OT: the machinations of Palpatine; the nature of prophecy; the philosophical conflict between Jinn and the Old Order; the culpability of the Jedi dogmatists in Anakin's fall; the danger of possessive love; and the realization that the road to Hell is, in actuality, paved with good intentions. Frankly, I never devoted much gray matter to IV or VI.

Keeping this in mind, I genuinely believe the PT might have trounced the OT had its middle chapter, "Attack of the Clones," been imbued with heart and soul. We needed a love story that inspired pathos: joyous, sad, and passionate. We needed Milton's Adam and Eve; we needed Dante and Beatrice. Only then could the tragic underpinnings of Anakin's descent truly leave an indelible impression. Alas, because of Lucas's direction and script, Burtt's editing, and Portman's performance, we were given something that would make a Harlequin romance writer (or reader) balk.

Just watch "House of Flying Daggers" and weep for what could have been.

Does anyone else agree that *this* was what the entire trilogy hinged on?

Strilo edit: We already have enough "What went wrong..." type threads.

 

It hinges on it to a high degree, yes, but I don't agree that it was poorly conceived. I think it's a great love story.



Please don't look at me like that
It makes me feel uncomfortable
/LM

 

There might be something to what you say.

I agree that the story wasn't poorly conceived. However, I do think that it could have been much better executed.

 

I read the novels and they do a much better job of explaining the love story. I'm sure Lucas shot all those scenes, but for some reason they wer ecut out. If you watch the AOTC extras, you can see a good deal of them there.

I just think that the love scenes got rushed and cut to make way for more of the action toward the end.

Also, you depending on your life experiences, the "type" of love that is shown here is not your average garden variety.

Padme loves Anakin for the person he is and who he can be.
Anakin loves Padme because he "thinks" he should and wants to possess her. She is merely something for him to have, a possession if you will.

I've seen it happen like that in real life, and they all end up about the same way.

 

The supposed star-crossed and tragic lovers were boring as hell. They almost killed the PT with their insipidness. I think I would have rather watched my elderly grandparents get it on then Anakin and Padme. They were the worst thing in the PT. Which is sad when their relationship is supposed to be what led to Anakin's downfall.

 

Love stories are always hard to do, especially in the Star Wars universe. To me, to pull off a great love story, the actors have to have great chemistry, and both be at the top of their game when it comes to delivering their dialogue.

To me, IMO, I think Hayden & Natalie had average chemistry, and I think Natalie is a very good actress, who for some reason couldn't succeed in giving a good Star Wars performance. Hayden is an average actor, with not much range. Some scenes he was good in, but others he was terrible.

As for the dialogue, yes, some of it was terrible, but most love stories to me personaly, always come off as cringeworthy. I just wish Lucas would have had them talk to each other like normal human beings. When Anakin says by the fireplace to Padme, "You are in my very soul, etc..." Come on no one talks like that! The dialogue I liked in that scene was when Padme starts talking normal at the end, "Look, you're a jedi, and I'm a senator, we live in a real world here. We just can't." It's not Shakespeare, but it is normal dialogue!

I still disagree with assessment that if it was a good love story the prequels would be better than OT. TPM & AOTC don't come close to any OT movies, ROTS was the best, the best by leaps and bounds. That is what the problem with the prequels, 10 years from now, sure there are things in TPM & AOTC that will make more sense, and probably make them better movies, but ROTS is SO MUCH better than the first two. In the OT, people constantly argue about ANH, ESB, ROTJ, and which one is the best, but I guarantee you about 90% of Star Wars fans think ROTS is the best prequel. One great movie, and two good movies have a hard time beating the OT.

 

Love story is fine, but I agree it was not executed properly.

As was mentioned, the book shows us the love story in a much better way than the film AOTC did.

It is my sincere hope that GL will re-integrate some more of the Padme'/Anakin scenes from the Naberrie household into future releases of the DVD. I know George and Rick were really attached to the dinner scene and hated to leave it out. It's my opinion that leaving it in the first place would have done a LOT of good and strengthened the film by justifying the moment of the first kiss better, and all the stuff that happened at the island retreat. The fireside sequence would be much more functional with the family dinner having happened before it.

It was CRITICAL to sell that love story in AOTC, and I don't think the theatrical cut pulled it off. I know that this movie was already REALLY long, but I would gladly hold my water for a few extra minutes of developing that love story that the entire prequel trilogy hinged on.

 

I didn't mind the love stories at all. I agree, they are very hard to do. Look at it from Anakins point. He has to be a charcater who is in love with his wife, a friend of his master, yet still have a dark side to him. thats an extremely tough role, yet I thought it was done very well by Hayden.