**Official** First Reactions Thread

Two words:

Death Star

The movie so totally ruled...
...best SW to date...

God, now only 3 more years for Episode III!!!!

 

I just got back from seeing attack of the clones in a mississauga (city next to toronto) cineplex theatre. And might I say, what a movie!!!

There where many things I'd like to say about it but here are some of my first reactions to the film as It came uip on screen.

It starts off well but a little out of place in the star wars saga, although a bit like Menace and Hope, the scene ended too fast for me. Jar Jar was pretty good actually in the film and the loves scene fit in well with the movie. The only problem I really have is that the ending was a bit wired, it kinda left a giant cliffhanger and didn't really end, it summed up the whole movie in a few short scenes, and could have had a bit of talking aobut Sidious and the role of chancellor with the clones and such. The Jedi fight scenes were awesome to the max and Yoda just amazed everyone with a shout of excitement. The only peeve I have of this pat is the cutting of the hand it looked too fake being cut so high up on the arm. Everything else fit well and made the movie my new favourite of the new trilogy and my tie for first of them all! ESB has a run for its money here!!

Go see the movie if you haven't, it's wel' worth it

 

I just back from a midnight showing here in NY. AOTC is stupendous, brillant, wonderful and a lot of fun. The negative critics got it all wrong this time.

I'm too sleepy to continue and will post more in the morning.

I LOVED IT and know you will too.

Night all.

Ani

 

FINALLY!
After all those spoilers i read and even tried to solve along the lines to keep my mind occupied , i can say ive seen it and thought it was just awesome.
The spoilers didnt ruin anything for me in terms of the movie, i was so caught up how visually stunning this was i didnt care to remember most things i read over and over in 2000/01.
I can honestly say i was drawn into Hayden's performance, i truly felt his frustration as Anakin in terms of his:
*Frustration with not being thought as ready for the trials
*Frustration concerning his feelings for Padme and how it relates to the Jedi Code..
*Shmi's death - i was caught up in this moment 110% and the rage he felt with the resulting lashing out was effective to say the least.
Chase scene in Coruscant just had me in a trance , i really didnt want to blink.
I loved the return of the cheesy one liners and c3p0 did not take away from any scenes and had me laughing quite abit.
Lee as Dooku was brilliant and i totally bought into him as a sith lord as well .
Visually - Lightsabre glare during the fight that brought out the two combatants faces was even better than the select pics couldve ever of made them look.
-Arena battle was excellent in my opinion and loved the attention to detail to the 3 creatures (couldnt be bothered looking up their respective names)sent out to kill our heros were truly a tribute to the fine work by Lucas and co.
-Battle that followed i seriously think has never been matched visually and it had that epic feel i wanted going into the theatre.
Yoda - you da man
Things i cringed at or felt couldve been treated differently:
-Cordes death scene at the start , acting was a little off
-Anakin's arm at the wedding scene , what was up with that
-Speaking of Anakin, how many times must they roll around in the fields to prove they truly love each other , felt like they were going around and around for minutes on end.

Cant wait to see this again !

 

OK, now tell me that wasn't bombad!!!!

Very very cool... I was spoiled but it was so different than I imagined - but that's good. IF I had one complaint, iut's that it was TOO fast, but maybe that was just my tired brain.

Liked it, but nothing can dethrone ESB in my book.

Wore my Chewie costume - got intervied by the news people. Spoke in Shriiwook (Wookiee language). Very much fun. More later. Must sleep.

 

That was SO AWESOME!!!! I don't know what movie some of the critics were seeing, but it wasn't what I saw... Must try and sleep now, even though I am so pumped on adrenaline I know I won't be able to...

 

Well I just got back.

I guess we should start with the element which GL was concerned about going in. Digital vs. 35mm. Well I didn't see it in Digital and I'm sure the picture will look 100000 times better, but the screen I saw it in really distorted the hell out of the film in the places where there were dark areas. You could see blue dots on the ends some, and things were grainy and fuzzy. Only in brightly lit areas did you not see this. So converting the digital over to film gets a thumbs down.

Now to the film. I will say this was a well made SW film which had to cut a lot of scenes which may have made the film even better, but we would have been 3hrs and could have become dangerously close to being LOTR which I didn't want. I think they cut too many Dooku scenes with him and reverencing him.

Now to the love story. Quick is the best way to put it. You can clearly see how much of a horn dog Anakin really is over Padme. He is obsessed and I have a theory he will kill her in EP III based on what I saw. The relationship was built on chaos, and is destined to fail. You can tell. Now I have no complaints over the love story other than it being quick and to the point like some relationships can be. Yes, No, yes, no. That was the best way to put it. It was rushed because we had more to do in the film. I think the relationship could have been used on Tattoine. The whole Tattoine scene was rushed and should have been slowed down. Still think that Owen and Anakin's relationship should have been a bit more, but EP III hopefully will address this.

The last hour really makes this movie memorable. It's intense and doesn't let you go. It was great, and complex.

Yoda saves the characters and saves this film as well I really thought. Yoda looked great however I don't know if any others of you have picked up on this, but didn't Yoda's voice seem different in this film? It sure sounded different at times and he didn't sound so much like Miss Piggy.

Obiwan was cool, but his stuff was rushed also, but overall cool. He is a real hard *** with Anakin, and I wished we had a bit more master apprentice relationship done in the film, but oh well.

The ending duel to me was great, but too short. I think a little bit more should have gone into that. It was good though.

Overall I give this film a 8 out of 10 for my first viewing, but will get a 10 out of 10 after the 2nd and third.

 

Okay........I've seen it twice now. Went to the Midnight premiere here in New Zealand and then saw a session a couple of hours ago.....This IS THE BEST film that George Lucas has ever directed. See I think that George's directing skills aren't that fantastic......which is why Empire was so superior to a new hope, however hes really worked hard on this one. people say that Hayden was wooden as Anakin, but I have to disagree completely........his performance was fantastic...the thing that got me the most in this movie wasn't yoda fighting (although that was cool.....) it wasn't Mace....it was the Tusken massacre scene and the scene that followed shortly after....where anakin tells Padme what happens.......that was the best......the darth Vader music in the background...the rage in his eyes and his voice expression as he said "I hate them!!" It couldn't have been done better and the tusken massacre.....I'm actually glad this was cut down because it is so effective short......you watch him take out the two tent guards then chop off the tuskens head....the whole time watching the rage in his face..........then CUT! back to obi-wans story.very vey cool........When I was a kid I always imagined what anakin would seem like when he started down the dark side path.......and this is totally what I was looking for............By George he's got it right this time for sure.............

 

Just got back from a midnight showing in NY. The film is stupendous, brillant, lots of fun and filled with energy. The music was terrific.

Ignore those negative critics because they are absolutely wrong. AOTC deserves 4 stars.

I'll post more later this morning. I'm falling asleep at the keyboard.

 

I'm so glad to see everybody loving it so much. All of us who grew up with Star Wars wanted that little glimpse of fun back and I think we got it, o some extent.

I have to admit, although I have been extremely oumped up for this film, I half heartedly dreaded the inevitable, " well, it was better than Ep1 and not too bad" while I silently knew it wasn't as good as I thought it should be.

So I go to this midnight show and I have to say, even thought I was spoiled, i really didn't expect anything like this. It's really pretty damn good. It has a very different tone than the others. It's not Empire an still suffers from some of the things that make SW truly SW for me, but it's its own beast and pretty great at it.

For the die hard, what fun to return to Tatooine and the homestead. To see Obi Wan really like Obi Wan, to learn more about the Jedi and the stormtroopers, to have threepio and artoo back together as comic relief, and to see the yoda battle, of course.

I am so glad they don't show yoda's fighting skills in the commercials/ It is such a shock to see him really do his jedi stuff and have it pulled off with cheers and no jeers. It's a wonderful battle and yoda is brilliantly presented, particularly in how he immediately goes back to hobbling after such a wild fight.

Hayden was good during the scenes where he was angry. I STILL wish we could see more of obi and ani as "good friends" and not adversaries.

The love scenes illicited embarrassed laughs from the crowd, and they were kind of cring inducing. You don't have the fun of rooting for these two to get together like with han and leia.

I am amazed how much was packed into this film and I'm glad that there was a love story even if it was the only part I knew was cinge inducing.

All in all, what fun. I disagree with Ebert, there are some lines which are memorable.

The effects are so great they do threaten to take over, but still waht fun.

This thing isn't really panning out the way we all thought. the original had good guys v. gad guys. That simple. This one suggests such a complicated story. Who's good? Maybe Dooku IS. After all, in a way he was trying to overthrow the future Emp. Maybe Mace is bad, Yoda gives him lots of strange, mean looks.

The actio ns setx great. The triumverate is good but needs more time together.ango and the sandopeople....excellent desths.

This one's keeper.
Good fun

joe

 

I'll say it again Empire, AOTC and A new hope are the holy trinity.

 

just got back from seeing ep2, and i have to tell you that i loved it. there were some downers, like some of the action scenes being cut. i mean jango's death was short and fast, although mace does get him real good but just too quick. some of the cgi was poor, but most of it was great.

now on to the good and before i get onto to my favorite charcter {obi-wan kenobi}, let me say this, i really think hayden locked down the character of anakin and did a great job. i was really concerned about the performance, but i was wrong. the only thing that bothered me some of the words and scenes between him and obi-wan. it just makes me want to see obi-wan kick his butt even more in ep3.

count dooku, god i wish gl gave dooku more screen time. in the little time dooku did have i was so locked into the movie. chris lee is indeed brilliant.

yoda and mace, 2 butt kicking jedi, enough said.

and now i want to talk about obi-wan kenobi. first off ewan has this role down to a science and i feel a little tentative saying this but it is his role now. and what i want to know how many great lines did obi-wan have. there were so many. you can see ewan and hayden have some good chemistry between them that really rubs off on you.


all and all a great movie. that only leads us into the next and final movie but also sheds some light on ep1. i can't wait to see it again and again.

 

Wow, just got back from the midnight showing in Michigan. AOTC was everything that any fan of Star Wars or science fiction/fantasy could have wanted in a movie. It is up there with Empire as possible the best film I have ever seen. I'm still trying to comprehend everything I saw. I guess I'll rip off tfn's book section for a quick review.
--the good--
Everything! The special effects and CGI were amazing. AOTC is perhaps the most visually stunning movie ever made. It should win the Oscar for best cinematography. The battle scenes were epic, much like the D-day scene in Saving Private Ryan, except much grander. The acting was phenomonal. On the drive back I kept thinking about how much the attitutes of the characters in the Classic Trilogy were reflected by Hayden, Portman, and especially McGregor. Ewan acts almost exactly like Sir Alec Guiness, even down to his subtle guesters and laugh. Portman looks and conveys the same attituteds as Carrie Fisher. Hayden's portrayal of Anakin seems to be a combination of Luke's childness, Vader's badness, and a tad bit of Han Solo's recklessness thrown in for appeal. Yet you do see the same good in him that Luke saw in Jedi. Finally, Mace and Yoda (especially) kick serious butt. The crowd when wild as soon as they heard Yoda's cane clicking on the metalic hanger floor.

--the bad--
I read the novel so I was kinda disappointed that there was a lot of explanations missing. For example, the scenes in the novel about Padame admiring her sister's family go a long way in explaining her hesitation and the conflict between love and duty. AOTC is in essance a story about the conflict between love and duty. Anakin's love for his mother vs. his duty to the Jedi. Anakin and Padame vs. their duties. Padame and her love for the Republic vs. her responsibilities to herself. This could have been explained more in the film. If it had I believe that AOTC could be considered one of the top 3 movies ever produced. On a minor note: Another bad point is I have no idea the names of the new Jedi. Some of them are really cool. Looks like I have to buy the action figure.

--the ugly--
1. the mess Anakin must have made at the Tusken village. Thank God we didn't have to see that.
2. Shimi's death scene. The way her head fell was overdone and distracting.
3. Watto. He needs a shower and a razor, pronto.

Conclusion:
AOTC was as good as Empire. I want to say it was better but I one of the first memories I have is watching Empire and I just have a sense of awe at the absolute pleasure that film brought me throughout my life. Despite my fondness for Empire, AOTC will be recieving at least 5 or 6 more tickets worth of my money. After that bring on the DVD!

 

strange...my friend, who has good taste, and is an average star wars fan had an odd reaction.
He said he really really disliked a few parts, but really liked a few others. He was dissappointed the lightsaber duel was too short...and all he could say was that the movie wasn't as BAD as TPM. Needed to let it soak in to tell how he liked it, but he said it wasn't as good as ROTJ or ESB.


What were the audience reactions when you guys saw it?

 

WOW just amazing. Fine the beginning might have been a little bit slow but the last hour and a half, MY GOD!!! it was an incredible adreniline rush, and my emotions were everywhere in this movie. Yoda!, whatelse do I have to say. Just wow. Still the scene that had the most emotional impact on me was right after Anakin's mom dies, wow. And the speach to Padme, the most chilling scene ever. That speech will go down as one of the best Star Wars moments ever. I loved this movie so much, I can't wait to see it again tomorrow.

 

Saw the first session at 12:01 here in Adelaide at Greater Union Megaplex Marion. Cinema no 1.

Awesome film. Blows TPM out of the water and is definately up there with TESB as the best film in the series.

Brilliant fight scenes (haven't read the book yet, so I don't know what has been cut etc). Yoda just kicks arse.

Christopher Lee. Definately holds the Crown for Best British Actor of all time. Glad he'll be back for Ep 3.

Roll on Ep 3!

 

I just got back from a midnight showing...

WHOOO-HOOOOOO!!!

Okay... got that out of my system.

AOTC is wonderful!!

Hayden as Anakin... WOW! He goes from sweet to evil in the blink of an eye. The guy can act! George made the right decision when he cast Hayden.

I loved the Yoda/Dooku fight. It was awesome! Everyone in the theatre started to clap and cheer when Yoda came limping in to save the day.

I loved all of the scenes between Anakin and Padmé, although I wouldn't have complained if we had gotten a few more mushy ones.
Their mutual declarations of love, and the wedding stand out as the best of the bunch.

I am so glad that I stayed spoiler free! It made this an even more amazing experience! I can't wait to go see it again!

 

My posts aren't coming out. This is my 3rd attempt.

I just got back from a midnight showing here in NY. AOTC is brillant, wonderful and a lot of fun. Thanks GL.

More in the morning after a night's sleep and dreams.

Ani

 

Overall, I thought it was great. I thought the acting was very good. The lightsaber battles were light years better. The effects were great. The mood and tone were both fitting.

As far as acting goes, the two biggest shortcomings I noticed were the ease at which Padme gets up after falling from the ship at the end and Count Dooku's line to Yoda about settling the battle with their sabers. I thought the Dooku line was too obvious. There has to be a better piece of dialog than that to transition into the lightsaber duel.

As far as Padme goes, I love Natalie's acting, but I don't understand what she and Lucas were going for there. At first, the fall seems so terrible that she might be dead. Then, the clone trooper walks over and she seems like she just tripped over a rock.

Other possible cheesey or cardboard cutout pieces that I felt might turn some people off, but didn't necessarily affect me:

C3PO's lines may have been a little too pun-like for most people, but I thought they were good and certainly an improvement over Jar Jar, who I don't dislike as much as most.

Speaking of Jar Jar, Palpatine's manipulation of him was done horribly. I know Jar Jar is a pea-brain, but compared with how Sidious is manipulating the Jedi Council, the Senate and his own apprentice, it looked too much like a 10-year-old tricking a 5-year-old.

The line about Beru being Owen's girlfriend was unnecessary. If you watch the film's 1,2...6, then it might fit better, but that will only end up being 2 percent of the population. It was Lucas trying to make everything fit together perfectly. I think he could have left a bigger gap for audiences to bridge on that one. If they said her name and had her hold hands with Owen, I would have been more pleased. Even the name would have been sufficient (a subtle difference, I apologize for the rant).

I loved Yoda's lightsaber fighting and the prevailing opinion is that most think it's great, but I could see a backlash coming in which many people may think it's "too good" or "too Matrix-like."

By the way, I thought the Matrix Reloaded trailer on AOTC was pretty good. I hope it lives up to the hype as well as AOTC did for me.

I thought Sam Jackson seemed like he was playing either himself or his Pulp Fiction character carrying a lightsaber. He seems to have a persona now that hurts his ability to create a new character (much like Robert De Niro). I love Sam Jackson, but most of the movie he seemed to be acting like a bad a**.

I'll post more thoughts as they come to me.

Admins, please excuse the fact that I am going to be posting this message on the official Kenobi as well for the members I normally converse with.

I guess you could say I'm cloning the post. Oh lord, I'm beginning to sound like Threepio. Please forgive me.

MTFBWY

 

just returned from the Randolph MA midnight showing. First of all, from the previews through the crawl, the theatre had the movie out of center and out of, not sure how to define this, ..out of ratio? it was squeezed up so the people on the screen were hideously thin! this held up Lucas' "rhyming stanzas" theory, as when i originally saw ESB, it started out upside down in the theatre i was at...strange. Unfortunately, that great moment when those yellow letters first blast onto the screen.....just wasnt there, because evrybody was yelling to "fix the movie!" it really sucked.

now, the movie:

i loved it. i still need to wrap my brain around all that happened. i've been spoiler free for little over a year now i think, and i'm glad for that. The lightsaber duels were a bit short, but still delivered the goods. The crowd went apesh!t over the Yoda-Dooku scene. C3P-O went vaudeville on us during the final battle, but for some reason it was really funny and really worked..."I'm beside myself!". I really appreciated the humor in it. Ewan is spot on with his Obi-Wan, just NAILING Alec's expressions, tone of voice, etc. I'm sure i will find something I dont like about this film, but whatever that may be, it wont matter much at all. Right now i have my star wars back.

Usually i am not a gusher, but i was pretty impressed with this one. Cant wait to see it again.

peace
Yist

 

BEST........EVER!!!

 

Loved it!

My first reaction was to the moisture farm..and the family sitting around the table discussing Shmi... brought a tear to my eye when I thought about the first time I watched Star Wars and seeing Luke drink that blue milk...

 

That was awesome.
The crowd went wild at all of the exciting bits, but were nice and quiet during the rest of it.

Yoda was amazing, Mace kicked booty, Jango was viciious, and the film looked amazing.
Despite some of the sction scenes being cut short, like the Obi-Wan/Jango fight, and the Mace/Jango fight, I loved this film to pieces.
I am officially a AOTC gusher!
It was a beautiful film, but very sad feeling film. It left on such a cliffhanger, I don't know if I will be able to wait three years for episode III.
SPOIL ME THROUGH EPISODE III!!!!

 

The movie was awesome. I think the rest of the audience there tonight would agree... the reaction at the end was much more positive than TPM. I can't even put all my thoughts on the movie in to words just yet, but I do think it's my second or possibly most favorite Star Wars film so far. (I still want to see it a few more times before I decide that.)

I can't believe we have to wait another three years for Episode III... 2005 can't get here soon enough.

 

I went to the midnight screening in Trier/Germany last night. It was a strange experience cause in some ways I thought the movie rocked, in other ways it didn´t.

Please don´t get me wrong. I am a die hard Star Wars-Fan since I saw A New Hope in 1978 when I was a little boy and I really did not think that I would find things in AOTC that I did not like... but I found some. The sad thing is that I had the feeling that the audience shared my thoughts. After the movie was over... there was no applause. One person was trying to... but stopped after nobody else did. I did listen to some people who were talking to each other after the movie was over. I did not have the feeling that they enjoyed it as much as the first 3 films.

Let me tell you, what I liked:

- The visuals are probably the best I´ve seen in my life. Nothing can compare to AOTC when it comes down to this!!!

- The start of the film. Really sweet!

- Yoda. He is just great. In my opinion the best CGI-character that I´ve seen so far. The fight with Dooku was soooo cool... Too bad that this was the only time the crowd got involved in the movie at my sceening.

- Parts of the speeder chase are great! Did not like the flying of Anakin and Obi.

- Deathsticks!

- Ewan as Obi is the DUDE!!!

- The asteroid chase! Fun and cool sound-fx!

- Christopher Lee! GREAT actor!

- Talking of the aliens!

- Droid factory was a blast!

- Everything that happens in and after the arena. The monsters are great... and when the Jedi show up... that´s where the fun beginns. The fight between Mace and Jango was just right in my opinion. The shots with the clones in the end are breathtaking. I especially loved the cool zooms in the fights and when they blow up the big ship. So gooood!


And now what I did not like about the movie:

- Too much talking between Anakin and Padme. The love story was believable... but in my opinion it was 5 to 10 minutes to long.

- 3PO´s comedy. Not really necessary. He had 2 good lines. I have to admit that.

- So many CGI-Characters. I know you might like that... but Dexter for example... did not look that good to me. Don´t get me wrong here: He did look good... but not believable. Not like Yoda.

- The death of Anakins mom. Bad acting there from her. But even a bit worse was that speech of Anakin when they burried her. In the old Star Wars movies... I really loved those parts of the films. The body of the dead person burning in the fire with sad music. I missed that a lot in AOTC.

- The part when Anakin rides that creature on Naboo. It looked unfinished.

All in all I liked the movie. Too bad that I knew all the time what was going to happen. But thank god I did not watch the bootleg before I saw it on the big screen. That would have ruined a lot for me. The pictures are really by far the best I´ve ever seen and the clones rock the house big big time. It is much better than PM... but I have to see it again in English to tell you if it was better than one of the original films. At the momenent I would say that it is behind them... but this could change since a Star Wars movie is something that grows inside of you over the time.

I still am a little disappointed about the crowd here. Most of the people were younger than me (I am 31). I was surprised when I noticed that.

That´s it. Go and see this movie on the big screen. It is worth it!