Official *** I've seen the movie, here are my thoughts**** thread

I just ran into a guy I have not seen for 2 years tonight. I mentioned AOTC and he said "You know... I did not like it that much the first time I saw it but I saw it a second time and loved it."

My other buddy amd I laughed... I told him "That's what everyone who did not like it the first time but saw it a second time says."

RB

 

I did not like it the first time. Why would I go back and see it again?

 

Ugly_Dookling,

Because George Lucas needs more $$$!!! Or is that $$$$$$$$$$$$$$?

Anyway, why didn't you like it? Was it a certain aspect of the film?

 

One more good thread to put at the top for fans

 

First off, let me say I really enjoyed AOTC. It still doesn't quite have the magic of the OT, but it was a freakin' masterpiece after TPM.
My only beef so far would be the casting. GL seems to be putting way too much focus on CG and effects than he is the actual characters. Ewan is a great actor, but hey couldn't they at least have given him coloured contacts or something to match Alec Guiness? Natalie is gorgeous but a little stiff, and Hayden is pretty brutal (of course, much of this can be blamed on the lame dialogue).
Overall though, I liked the dark feel of the film, and the mystery around the whole Sifo-Dyas thing. I can't wait for Ep. III. The only advice I would have for GL is to forget the effects and give us a good story.

 

My thoughts are: If only I knew what people would say in 100 years from now.

 

Probably "How could anyone not enjoy this film?"

 

Well finally seen AOTC in the sleepy hallow of Northern BC and I'll get right to the chase.

2.5 out of 5 stars and hypolicious.

Now I can jump on the "I hate AOTC bandwagon" here but I just decided not to. Even though my observations may mimic those of blatent flamers, I appologize in advance for bringing up already rehashed meaningless topic but I am sincere in my review.

Well first of all, I saw AOTC in less than ideal conditions. Small town local theatre that probably hasn't changed anything since the sixties. A sound system that even home entertainment systems would put to shame. However I wasn't expecting much.

Where do I start really? I mean the gist of things is the storyline was simple but mostly un-appealing to me. The FX were top notch, however still overused. The areas visited were much more varied this time and beautiful, however sometimes just plain dull. The acting left me wanting....really wanting and deserved better.

So I guess I'll start with the characters. Much too little development for my tastes. Of course I never expected a full blown drama but it does lead me to wonder that Lucas with help or not, still manage to make a perfectly good love story in OT in the same amount of time that AOTC had, yet when it comes to a "straight" love story he really flopped here.

There seemed no indication to me why Anakin or Amidala should ever get together. If anything they have more of a brother, big sister relationship (or else Anakin's just whipped) than anything else. It seems that this love is out of pity considering Anakin's character.

As for character's in depth

Anakin Skywalker: One word....immature. I hardly feel any empathy for this character. Considering that his "wantings" doesn't seem tragic but more whiny really just shut off the tear ducts for this guy period. I guess it is a combination of both actor and script. The relationships he has with Amidala and Obi-Wan seemed awfully contrived and only outside of AOTC does it seem these relationships plausible.

Obi-Wan considers Anakin one of his best friends in OT, yet throughout the entire movie Anakin only confides in Obi-Wan once which I feel isn't enough for a "best friend" relationship. Then what happens? They both seperate leaving little to no "friendly" interaction at all. Considering that EP 3 is going to mark the downfall of this relationship I hardly see how Lucas could develop the friendship to be plausible save for giving it to us from outside the movie.

As for Anakin's relationship with Amidala...I have to be crass here, but if I just knew someone who killed an entire VILLAGE of living beings, I would be seriously creeped out. Even if they killed their mother I still would be creeped out. Adding to the fact that Amidala should be close enough to the Jedi to know when some Jedi is going "postal", I mean treading on the oh-so-fine-line of the Dark Side, warning signs should be popping up everywhere. Not to mention; no wonder Anakin turned to the Dark Side, cause he basically looked like he has the duds of a Dark Sith. All he needs is white make up, black eye liner and black hair dye and he'd be total goth...ala "Life as a House".

Amidala: Well in this incarnation she has loosened up and actually shown some emotion instead of being a monotnous drone. However there is some part of me that liked that monotnous droning cause it at least fitted the character. In the case of this incarnation, her character loosened up but the acting of it seemed like she was still in a transistional period. It's like seeing a drone first trying to feel emotion and merely blurts out innocent little nothings.

Like I said I don't expect Shakespeare here but at least give me something meaningful instead of drawned-out-stuff-it-in-my-face typical love story. However the fanservice of the Amidala mid-driff was much to blatent to me. Yes I'm so sure that a claw from a tiger like beast would conviniently rip in that fashion, much like how Witchblade has the "ripped" portions of her clothing conviently place

 

Why do you even care to buy a DVD ?!?
Don't you realize that you are encouraging these kind of big budget movies to be made with your money ?

 

do you think the movie was poorly acted?

 

This comes in a little late...

The acting wasn´t any worse than in any other Star Wars film, although some people are constantly complaining how the PT doesn´t have the same magic as the OT (in other aspects as well)... These people have had 20 years to tell themselves how the OT is so perfect, and I can´t blame them for that... It´s their loss!

Ask any 12 year old kid who saw TPM first and then watched the OT... I´m sure he/she would say that the new films are just as good, if not better.
I simply love Lucas´s directing and that huge, epic Star Wars- storytelling. It´s dumb to say there are too much special effects... are you all saying you didn´t like Final Fantasy because it had "too many" special effects?

I personally love AOTC in almost every aspect, and it´s just as good as ESB. However, we should all see that it´s all STAR WARS instead of individual movies. (well, perhaps not right now, but in the future it will be)

 

Why do you even care to buy a DVD ?!?
Don't you realize that you are encouraging these kind of big budget movies to be made with your money ?

That is beside the point. The point I'm trying to make is that this movie did not appeal to me enough to even bother watch it again in theatres, let alone watch it again when it get's released on VHS/DVD.

The acting wasn´t any worse than in any other Star Wars film, although some people are constantly complaining how the PT doesn´t have the same magic as the OT (in other aspects as well)... These people have had 20 years to tell themselves how the OT is so perfect, and I can´t blame them for that... It´s their loss!

I do agree with that aspect. There is no way of saying that OT was Oscar material, however I did feel there was more appeal in the acting that was did back then. The interaction between characters felt more real (albeit sometimes uber cheesy script) and like I said in AOTC I hardly felt that anyone "acted out" the feelings they were supposed to do. To me it still seemed that a lot of characters were stiffer than plywood, the words seemed forced (no pun intended) instead of acted. Only a few times did I really see real acting ability shine through.

I simply love Lucas´s directing and that huge, epic Star Wars- storytelling. It´s dumb to say there are too much special effects... are you all saying you didn´t like Final Fantasy because it had "too many" special effects?

Well here's the point. If special effects are not needed, then I see no reason to put them inside. And like my example said, Yoda doing a triple jump JUST to get away from Dooku from a fight? I saw no reason to have that in the movie where one jump would have sufficed. That was just showing off the SFX capability to make Yoda do stuff.

As for Final Fantasy, it showed that even eye-candy from the CG gods can't even save a movie. Without story (and AOTC had little IMHO) the movie is not as good as it could be.

As for the 12 year old comment, well I'm not really 12 years old anymore so that comparison is sort of a moot point.

The Porridge Boy

 

I'm so happy this movie is still in the theaters. I'm going tomorrow to see it for the seventh time (saw the first 6 times in the first week). It's been almost 2 months since I saw it. Thought it was time for a final fix before it starts to leave theaters. Don't want to forget what moviemaking with a flair for awe looks like on the big screen. Color, drama, history, spectacle. Attack of the Clones really made my summer at the movies. Maybe this time I'll watch it from the third row.

 

-isn't the imperial darth vader march played in this movie? at the end when they're looking at the clone troopers and also when yoda is meditating and anakin is kicking ass w/ the tusken raiders
-when dooku is asking obi-wan to join him it reminded me a lot of ESB when vader asks luke to join him
-how can anyone doubt that dooku impersonated sifo-dyas? jango says he was recruited by a man named tyranus....duh
-padme sucks, she's not much of an actress, and there's also a bunch of dumb stuff that happens w/ her, like her shirt going from a normal shirt to a tube top and when she falls and is seriously injured, but then gets up and runs to try and catch dooku



peace

 

Dude calm yourself. Just enjoy it for the fact yoda fights.

 

Hayden was great as anakin

Natalie sucked as padma

Yoda kicked ass

The visual effects were awsome as always

 

I think STAR TREK: NEMESIS is going to be better.

 

Surely, you jest, Bongo.

 

Rebel Scumb

"Star Wars now seems like a parody of Star Wars" That is so true.

I would add:

George Lucas now seems like a parody of George Lucas.

Its like its "fake" Star Wars.

 

I saw TPM 9 times in the theatre. First 4 times were due to hype and seeing it with diff friends and family. Last 5 times were cuz I was excited to watch it again and wanted to watch it again. While Jar Jar did annoy me, I was captivated. It got me and I liked it more and more as I watched it more and more.

Now here is AOTC. Have seen it 4 times in the theatre. And it was all during the first 3 weeks of release. All 4 times I was going for just going with diff friends and family. I loved it the first time around. And then I liked it less and less and right now (although its not playing in any theatres), I dont really want to see it again for awhile.

Oh well...guess I have to wait for EpIII!

 

When I first saw Episode II, I loved much of the movie, especially the first half of it. To me, it seemed to really work up until the scene where Anakin and Padme arrive on Geonosis. From that point until the lightsaber duels with Dooku, the movie seemed really rocky to me. There was so much CGI and everything moved way too fast.

The pacing of the entire clone/droid battle was so different from, say, the Battle of Hoth in ESB. There was no cinematic magic in it, no drama, just a CGI explosion-fest.

Even the Jedi vs. droids battle in the arena seemed to be slightly rushed, and the way the Jedi were fighting was hardly respectable. Honestly, they were leaping around as if they were actually trying to be the little kids who pretend to do swordfighting and karate. The choreography was hokey and all the "HI-YAs!!" and strange comical looks they made during their fighting was really awkward.

And of course, ther was Mace Windu, who was supposed to kick serious butt in this film. According to Lucas and McCallum at the MTV Movie Awards last year or the year before, they were expecting Mace Windu to receive the award for best fight sequence. Then came his actual scenes..............was it just me or did every single move he made look blatantly choreographed and premeditated? There was a strange stiffness to actions and it looked almost funny to me (though ultimately it was disappointing since I really had been looking forward to seeing some serioud fight scenes in this film...)

Lastly, I will comment on the Dooku lightsaber duels. Between Obi-Wan and Dooku, the fight was ok, but hardly as intense as the Obi_wan/Maul fight in Episode I. It looked like they were just playing around. And with Anakin/Dooku fight, it was again decent, but hardly spectacular. And the way he lost his arm was incredibly poorly done compared to Luke losing his hand in ESB. Just like Mace Windu's stiff, choreographed actions, this part of Anakin/Dooku's battle seemed to happen really slowly, awkwardly, and ineffectively. I saw the cutting of the arm coming like 5 seconds before it actually happened. It was almost in slow motion, and Anakin had the stupidest look on his face when it happened.....there wasn't even any pain in his expression.

All this being said, I'm just wondering if any of you can relate to this at all. If you noticed this. Or if you didn't, what did you really like about these scenes? Am I missing anything? To me, this movie was superb with the exception of of the parts I mentioned above and other parts where the dialogue was extremely poorly delivered, to the point where I felt uncomfortable just watching the actors/actresses perform them. If I were George, I would make a Special Edition of this movie and completely rework the dialogue in those sketchy scenes and would make the final battle much more cinematic and extended, like Peter Jackson has recently done in The Two Towers.

OK, those are my thoughts for now, all typed out in a random, scattered way Let me know what you think!

 

I completely agree Saxman.

 

Saxman77, it's tricky, I guess it all comes down to personal taste.

I DID feel the tension in the clone/droid battle scene, the feeling of chaos and the realisation of war in this galaxy. We've never seen warfare on this scale before in a SW fan, so the large variety and POWER of the equipment was facinating to me. The shot of the Clone Troopers in the dust cloud seems to be the most popular shot from the entire sequence, but another touch I like is the Trade Federation ship being shot down - it halts in mid-air, then slowly drops back down to the ground, and I got a real feeling of weight with this. Just stuff like that. I'd agree that it was a CGI explosion-fest, but I felt the intended power of the battle rather than feeling that I was just watching fireworks without purpose.

A couple of the Jedi did seem to be getting carried away, eh? But most of them did a good job, and a few were putting on some very impressive displays in the background. The guy with two lightsabres, there's another guy whirling his sabre around extremely (I mean it!) quickly, another taking out two battle droids in one hit and so on. My favourite is the guy that you see in the background when the Reek attacks Obi-Wan and Mace. I can't quite remember exactly the shot, but at one point the Reek is on the right of the screen preparing for a charge, and you can see this Jedi behind and to the left of it. He takes out 5 battle droids, in about a couple of seconds! Well, anyway... You get my take on it. And I really felt that the Jedi were being worn down and trapped. The clincher for me was the shot with the remaining dozen or so Jedi surrounded by droids, with a hailstorm of laser bolts flashing at them.

I had no problem with Sam L Jackson's fighting in the film, but I know some people do. I don't think I know enough to defend the guy on this, so won't try to. I think it was hyped up too much, though, something that I wasn't aware of until after the film (I live in the UK), so I probably enjoyed it more due to this. Better has been promised for Ep3, so maybe Sam will get more than 3 days to practise this time

As for the Dooku duelling scenes...I felt that each of the 3 opponents offered us something different. I, too, was expecting Obi-Wan to come out blazing away like in TPM. But something odd happened, the guy seemed to finally have worked out how best to win a fight. He didn't waste energy, he didn't overcommit himself. He fought with a skill that I hadn't seen in TPM, despite his high-energy athleticism in that film. It seemed to me, as it went on, that he was try ing to buy time to allow Anakin to recover. I know many don't agree with my point of few about this either, but I do think Obi-Wan and Anakin combined could've taken Dooku. It would've been due to wearing him down rather than overpowering him, but they could've done it - together. So, Obi-Wan was playing defensively. His ONLY mistake was to get caught in a strength battle with Dooku when they had their blades locked. Dooku showed a suprising amount of strength, and was then able to take Obi-Wan down with a quick couple of moves. Sneaky, but very smoothly done.

With Anakin, it was almost more about the symbolism than the fight. The scene in the shadows is a very potent one. It cuts between Anakin and Dooku very quickly, sometimes it also merges the image quickly, and Anakin facially looks particularly odd and disturbing near the end of this sequence. There almost seem to be lines on his face, he looks very strange to me and the meaning is there - he parallels Dooku in more ways than he would admit. The look on Anakin's face is a mixture of concentration, anger, and...fear. A thirst for power led Dooku to choose the Dark Side, and Anakin will soon prove to be even more hungry for the power he can gain this way. Anakin actually does pretty well considering that he's still a Padawan, and one with a style that really isn't suited to a master like Dooku.

I do agree that the cutting of the arm sees Anakin freeze up for about half a second, but it's not THAT long. Wa

 

guitarjedi! thankyou!!!!! It has made my night knowing that at least someone out there knows what I'm talking about and agrees......is there ANYONE else out there who understands??

 

Oh well, guess I shouldn't have bothered with my post. Should've just said "No, I think differently" and left it at that.