Austin,TX REVIEW THE NEW: SW EPII AOTC *THE GOOD AND THE BAD...

Just thought I'd start a Review Theme Going, even though it's still a little early... "STRETCH OUT WITH YOUR FEELINGS!"

 

THE FORCE IS WITH US.

I'm incoherant at the moment. I went tonight to the 12:01 at the Met. Waited in line for 4 hours. They let us into the theatre at about 10 and we waited for another 2 hours after that. And I have to say, it was WORTH EVERY MINUTE.

I don't want to spoil anyone, and I'm not sure I'm coherant enough to write a review at the moment...but it's good. It's really good. It's REALLY good. I'd say it was 10 times better than TPM. To those of you who aren't watching it tonight...you have a treat.

It's not another ESB, I'll admit. Though it's very obvious that the prequel trilogy is meant to be a "mirror" of the original holy trilogy. Just as TPM resembled ANH in a lot of ways, AOTC resembles ESB. And yes, ESB was much more powerful...but AOTC is powerful too, in a different way. It's very...sad, I think.

Hayden Christensen did a wonderful job. I've heard critics say his performance was "whiny," but I disagree. If critics are looking for a noble, strong, and powerful Anakin Skywalker, they're looking in the wrong place, because this unpredictable, almost childish, and yes, sometimes "whiny" behavior is what turned Anakin to the dark side in the first place and allowed him to grow into the calculating, deadly Darth Vader.

John Williams' score was stunning. There are some VERY familiar themes heard throughout the music...themes from the original trilogy. One in particular features prominently. =P And the original music was awesome too, especially "Across the Stars." It's labeled as the "love theme" on the soundtrack, but it's much more than that...more like a second "Anakin's Theme" I think.

Anyway, I'm glad to hear anyone else's thoughts.

 

****If you haven't seen it and don't want to know about it, don't read my post ****


Good:
~Yoda's lightsaber duel with Dorko ~Big jedi fight in arena ~The knowledge that the jet pack for the Fett's never went in their favor. ~C3-P0's head getting knocked off. ~no sex scene between Anakin and Amidala. ~Amidala's continuous harsh rejections of Anakin "I'll always think of you as that little boy" "You aren't a Jedi yet" and such comments. ~Lack of extensive JarJar scenes ~Some of the foreshadowing lines such as Ben's "you'll be the death of me" to anakin. ~Jango Fett's accent.

Bad: ~C3-P0's cheesy lines. ~Lightsaber clashes seemed wierd. ~speeders on Coruscantlook like classic cars. ~Shimi's husband. ~Shimi's death. ~Amidala's persistance to stick with Anakin even when he is so angry and out of control. (or is that part of the mystique and romantic draw???) ~Boba Fett's too childlike softness.

Well, that's enough from me for now.

~Sara

 

Non-spoiler post!

I LOVED IT!!!!

Just got back from the 12:01 showing at Cinemark Barton Creek.

Incredible!!!

I'm going back to see it again tomorrow!!!

Personally, I think many negative reviews I have read are way off base with this one. This is be a serious contender for my favorite Star Wars film of all time!!!

THE GOOD:
First, let me say that over the past 24 hours I watched the entire Original Trilogy, to put things in perspective. It made me realize more than ever before, that the OT (especially ESB) have their flaws too. There is cheesy dialogue, so-so acting and corny humor in every one of these movies. AND DON'T EVER FORGET THAT'S WHAT MAKES THEM GREAT!!!

I didn't feel the dialogue was any worse than the other movies. The same, good old cornball humor we saw in the original trilogy is back. I loved the humorous scenes with C3P0 and R2D2. And I thought Hayden Christensen was a very good actor. The trailers didn't do him justice. He takes the character of Anakin and makes him a little creepy, slightly unpredictable and yes, a little scary at times.

And YODA!!! I can't say anything about Yoda that hasn't already been said.

THE BAD:
The movie starts off kind of slow. I do feel it was probably a mistake to begin the movie with several lengthy, dialogue-heavy expository scenes. However, if you are interested in the Star Wars universe the dialogue will be interesting. I liked it, but I was very aware that it was not the sort of thing that other, more casual fans might be interested in.

The movie is long - the longest one in the Star Wars series. But the last half hour is so exciting that I forgot all about my rapidly-numbing buttocks. I was just sitting there with my mouth hanging open, occasionally laughing with glee.

That's it. I am really looking forward to seeing this movie again.

 

Question: Was Bail Organa in the movie? I didn't see him...did I just not look close enough, or did they cut him out again?

 

bail organa?! are you kidding me?! he was right there next to palpatine is several shots....i hope you do know jimmy smits played him...he just had some facial hair. lol

i'll post my review later, i'm sleepy now. hehe

 

OK I guess I wasn't paying attention. heh...

 

OK It's 6 AM and I couldn't sleep so I wrote up a longer review here:

http://www.chaoticempire.org/aotc.html

This is all just my opinion, of course...you might disagree with me. =)

 

Nope is not early enough... Some of us got to see it already. I just have to say WOW! It was worth the wait. The action sequences and the editing is great. The story unfolds beautifully. Worth seeing. Hope everyone enjoys it!

 

ok well now i feel ok enough to type my review.

**WARNING: MAY INCLUDE TOO MUCH INFO**

i think we all did the same thing once the credits started rolling...
take a deep breath and say, "dammit! 3 more years!"
lol
like alot of you i was just awwed by all the special effects and fight sequences in AOTC, but there was a few things i thought the movie could have done without. i personally loved every little thing obi-wan said and did. ewan did a beautiful job. anakin's part of the story was as i expected, all the events that occured like his mother dying (guess we now what would have happened to luke had the sand people taken him) and falling in love, getting married to padme, and not to mention losing that arm...i think all that was perfect. it all eventually comes to him becoming darth vader and as on here on earth it takes a lot of things to screw up a guy. hehehe i remember reading about the assassination attempt on padme, but i was almost shocked how it happened. the bounty hunters were cool. the whole clones thing was just weird, i guess cuz i'm used the troopers being bad guys. very little jar jar is a 2 thumbs up. lol now...as far as the jedi, what can i say? i wanted to jump on screen with them and kick some droid ass myself. they looked amazing just fighting with lightsabers. mace..he's da man. anakin and obi wan's lightsaber action was totally cool. and then there was the battle of the galaxy....
count dooku -vs- yoda
now here is where ilm and lucas might have gone a bit overboard. the first part of the batter was great....but i think the lightsaber fighting was just a bit overdone. i mean he needs a cane to walk, how does he do all that which he did while fighting? either way, it was a major highlight, cuz we all were looking foward to seeing yoda in action.
other than that...i think the movie was and is everything that we wanted to see. and thats why i'm gonna see it again soon.

did you all see anthony daniels and ahmed best in there 'other' parts in the movie? i didnt see nsync so thats good. lol

i give AOTC a 2 big thumbs up.

well that my review..sorta. i cant wait for episode III.

p.s.
was it just me or was everyone kinda sweating at padme's sexy outfits? that one corset looked so tight i was trying to breath for her. lol she did look amazing. cant think of anyone who would have looked better than her.

 

SPOILERS:

I thought the love story was poorly constructed. I was ready for that after reading many reviews before seeing the movie, but I was still a bit disapointed watching it played out. "Donta getta me wrong", I think they had great chemistry together, but their passion was too rushed. Anakin made his move 5 minutes after they arrived on Naboo for goodness sake.

Other than that . . . absolutely friggin perfect!!! If the love story was stronger, it would be my favorite SW film by far. ESB is still more dramatic, but AOTC has the coolest story and the best action.

That's all for now

 

*****Spoilers to follow*****


Well, high romance is not George's forte. A little banter, a kiss, 'I love you', 'I know,' is the entire construct of Han and Leia's romance (all pretty much in one movie).

While I agree the Padme/Anakin romance was a bit forced (pardon the pun), if George had left in the "I'm going to marry you someday," line in TPM, then we would know the obviously driven (in dark & scary ways) Anakin was simply fulfilling what he percevied as his destiny.

I was stunned over the film, I was very impressed. I was in awe most of the time. It truly stands head and shoulders over TPM. I actually gave a damn about these characters and I had a hard time doing that in TPM (I did, but I was treading heavily on my love of all things Star Wars to do so).

I had no idea how they were going to pull off Anakin as a sympathetic character (yeah, they were going to kill off good old mom, we all kinda figured on that). I felt for him, I sat there thinking...this boy is majorly screwed up...It was painful and thought provoking. So much power, yet all the frailties and faults of the average (or not-so average) young man.

Action, action, action, death of major characters...the odd and perverse pleasure of cheering for stormtrooper-like clones, it felt so wrong-yet so right.

It was an experience! One I'm glad I shared with fellow fans.

DJP

 

how about new characters?

Dexter - I enjoyed watching the scene with him and Obi-Wan. It was funny watching him squeeze into the booth.

Zam - very cool

Jango - um . . . hell yeah!

Darth Tyranus - how the hell did he breathe so much life into a character that basically had no emotions. He never got mad or happy . . . he was just icy cool the whole time.

Clones - I too felt a bit squirmish rooting for the future stormtroopers . . . hooray for squirmish

All the new Jedi - Green dredlocks dude was my favorite. the scene where he flashes a little smile after taking care of a few battle droids was classic.

Owen and Beru - They certainly looked the part, but they didn't have any lines really. However, knowing their personalities from ANH, I already felt I knew them well and they didn't need anything more.

Owen's daddy - cool idea on George's part for spinning the fate of Shmi. Well acted too.

the new queen of Naboo - yeah, she was the queen I guess

The Kiminos - WOW! Great characters. the way they looked and moved. Their unique personalities.

Baby Boba - man, I wanted to smack that kid a few times. Not because the character sucked, but because he was an evil little bastard, just the way he should be

The Genosians (sp) - where's my bug spray! I want to see an arena battle with 1,000 of them vs. 1,000 dugs!

Whew . . . just getting myself primed to see it again in a few hours!

 

"Baby Boba - man, I wanted to smack that kid a few times. Not because the character sucked, but because he was an evil little bastard, just the way he should be "

LMAO thats the best review of little boba fett ever, i swear....i cant stop laughing.

 

In a few words, the epitome of a penultimate climax in this saga. Anyone who reviewed this with expectations of a "Gone with the Wind" love story should clocked in the jaw.

I'm still in awe. I have never seen a better example of why we should be seeing more movies in digital. If I can watch digital quality movies at home rather than the celluloid quality at a theater, what's the point in pouring more of my money into non-digital theaters?

I have to reiterate that Austin is in the top 10 of the top 50 most "wired" cities in the US. So, why must we run to Dallas to catch a DLP showing, especially when the entire state of Tennessee has more DLP showings that Texas? Call you local theaters. The only way we can start seeing movies worth the ticket price is to have the patron voice demand DLP. For those who have no knowledge of DLP quality, pull out your VHS Episode I and watch it after a run of Menace on DVD. Then imagine the DVD performance on the big screen. Enough said.

~B~

 

I agree 100%. It's really sad that we have to travel over 4 hours to watch this AMAZING film in the way it was meant to be seen. We need to let all of the movie chains, Regal, Cinemark, etc, that we want DLP projection, and we want it NOW!

Big Chris

 

screw "Gone with the Wind" . . . I would have settled for "Sixteen Candles".

I guess you could agrue that Anakin's quick move in for the kiss demonstrates his impatience, but hell, I could practically see his impatience poking through his robes . . . somebody get that kid some ice!

 

lol

can you blame the guy? i mean he's at the age, you know (wink wink) and padme wearing that tight black corset would make a guy feel a little...different.

 

Ok, I just saw the film a second time. I actually appreciate the love story more now, but there is one very awkward transition. It is from the scene they are eating and Anakin is floating fruit to Padme, then out of the blue they are in front of the fire looking like they are about to get busy on the Bantha skin rug. I think it would have worked better to go straight from dinner to Anakin's nightmare.

What do I know anyway. I'm just nitpicking. That's the only part of the movie that is not PERFECT! IMHO.

WINDU: "You see that lightsaber that says 'Bad Ass M#&^er F%^&er? That one's mine!!!!"

 

AOTC was great. Much better than TPM. I enjoyed most of the film, though there were parts of bad dialogue and dull acting. The fight with Jango and Obi-wan could have been longer as well as the lightsaber fight (with the exception being Yoda vs. Dooku).

 

Huh. You know what? I feel almost sheepish to say this, but I didn't really have a problem with the romance. Yes, it was cheesy and awkwardly written, but certainly no more cringe-inducing than the other movies. (For example: "I need? What about YOU need?" from ESB, "Someone who loves you" from ROTJ, etc.) I especially liked when she confessed she loved him -- one of the strongest romantic moments in the entire series, IMO. I loved his facial reaction when she said that.

While I'm demonstrating what a dork I am, I'll also say that I loved the humor with R2D2 and C3P0. I have read reviews where people called this "unnecessary", but I always felt that C3P0 and R2D2 were a very vital source of comedy in the OT and they were sorely missed in TPM.

Since I have a dirty mind, I read a lot more into C3P0 and R2D2's relationship in this movie. Did anyone else do that? Maybe when C3P0 was trapped under that battle droid, that the moment when he started realizing he was attracted to robots. (I think he liked it.) And during the wedding scene, C3P0 tenderly puts his hand on R2D2, as if he is taking him as a life partner.

 

they really let loose on 3PO's lines in AOTC didn't they. Some of them were very good: "I'm beside myself," and "I'm so confused." But some were pushin it "what a drag," and "I'm trapped and I can't get up" But you know what . . . they all got laughs, which was what Lucas indended

 

i think the funniest line threepio said was that 'die jedi!' line. then he realized what he said. lmao that was so funny.

 

Yeah, who would have predicted C3PO ever saying that?

 

One of my friends said he didn't like it becuse Hayden Christensen was a whinny SOB. I told him that it wasn't Hayden, the character Anakin is a whinny SOB. If he wasn't then it might be very doubtful if there would ever be a Darth Vader.

~sara