Edmonton Well I just got back from AOTC... and I gotta say.... (definate spoilers inside)

that George Lucas blew it...

I hate to say it, but I have to admit that I am dissapointed in the movie as a whole.

If you haven't seen it, I encourage you to NOT read further, as there will be some spoilers, and even if you don't care about spoilers, I don't want to taint what you see with what I saw...
























































Anyways, here is my reasoning behind my disspointment.

Firstly, the movie was so, so slow... nothing happened for the longest time, and it was driving me nuts.

Look at what happened in the previous 4:

TPM: A huge fight between the Jedi and the Trade Federation droids, and the attack on Naboo.

ANH: The attack of a Star Destroyer on the Blockade Runner, and the boarding of Darth Vader and the escape of the droids and capture of Leia.

ESB: Luke being attacked by the Wampa, and the attack on Hoth by Imperial forces (AT-ATs rock!)

ROTJ: The rescue of Han Solo and the blowing up of a whooooooooole lotta stuff.

AOTC: One bomb. Then sleepy time for a looooooong while.

When I first gobbled up the trailers and the commercials, I thought to myself that there is NO way Lucas can fit all that into the movie unless it is like 3 hours long. Well he did do it, because basically that is it... all the action is what you see in the trailers. Not much more to see unfortunately. Kinda reminded me of Mission Impossible... it promised a ton of action by way of the trailer, but sad to see, that was ALL the action...

Not to say the action sequences weren't good, visually they were stunning. But as far as "action" sequences, they left me wanting much, much more.

The movie started with a bang, literally, as the Naboo ship was bombed. But from then on, it was one boring scene after another. There was some good scenes of Anakin, showing hom impatient, how frustrated, and how "looking away, to the future" he is. But Lucas didn't give him a whole lot to work with. Hayden Christensen did an excellent job, there just wasn't enough material to support him. All the acting was pretty good in my eyes, it's really the story that sucked in my view.

There were some good overtones and refrences to what is coming in the future, but one scene, that I expected SO much from, really was a dissapointment.

These trilogy of movies has all been about Anakin becoming Darth Vader. We all know it is going to happen of course, and forever, we have been wondering how he could have fallen so far.

HIGHLIGHT TO READ


Of course, as I knew he would, Anakin travels back to Tatoinee to rescue his mother. And of course, she is dying as he reaches her. Now I KNEW this was going to happen, just on my feeling from TPM (I have avoided all spoilers)

This is the entire crux of the 6 movies. THIS is the point of the beginning of Anakin's downfall to the Dark Side of the Force. THIS is the reason that these movies were even being made. THIS was the moment I have waited for since I first heard they were making prequels to the original 3.

THIS was the BIGGEST disapointment I have ever felt while watching a movie. As Yoda says to Luke in ESB, "If once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny" This was Anakins first step down that dark path, the first step to becoming the the Dark Lord of the Sith. In short, the moment we have all be waiting for.

Well the scene ends before you can really get the feel for it. I was totally shocked. I couldn't believe that Lucas could treat such an important moment as if it was a passing thought, something he decided to throw in there to make us people who wanted a bit "darker" of a movie happy. It was basically like taking a canteen of water to a person dying of thirst, giving them a single drop, and then pouring the rest out onto the ground.

This could have been a scene akin to the fight between Vader and Luke in ROTJ. The music in that scene still gives me the chills when I listen to it. They didn't even have to show the slaugh

 

just for the record, the battle between the dark bpfassi jedi and yoda on dagobah is described in zahn's "vision of the future", when jorj cardaas is describing what happened to talon karrde.

that being said, i'm dissapointed in you, Indy. seems as if you walked into the theatre just itching to find faults. of course you're gonna find reasons to not like it if that's what you're looking for.

i myself just loved this movie (but then again i think ROTJ was the best in the trilogy, and i've gotten mt fair share of bruises for that).

i agree, it was kinda slow in the beginning, but the storyline was excellent, and there certainly wasn't any yawning during the movie

my advice, watch it again. the action was superb, and there were things in this movie that weren't present in any of the others, like the chase of zam wessel, and anakin's character was well developed. right now he's just a jedi padawan, so you can't expect every moment of the movie to be based around him. yoda was UNREAL in this movie(in a good way). compare him to spiderman, who looks absolutely FAKE.

this movie was unique, and very different to the previous movies, so save yourself from suicide and DON'T COMPARE IT TO THE ORIGINAL TRILOGY!!!!!

certainly, this movie had its fair share of faults, but to say DISAPPOINTMENT in the same sentence as the name of the great "Flanneled One" is just plain wrong.

perhaps reading the book, and then watching the movie will change you're mind.

 

Honestly, I didn't go in looking for faults. Quite the opposite, from the trailers and commercials, I expected this movie to be faultless, and challenge ESB as my all time favorite. That is why I waited in line for over 7 hours to make sure I was first in line (I was) and got the best seats (I did).

Maybe that was my mistake. Maybe I went in with my expectations too high...

It is afternoon now, and I have had time to sleep on it, and my view of the movie has softened a bit. My points above still stand, but I am looking at the movie in a new light, now that I have had time to absorb it all and reflect upon it.

I still can't help but feel dissapointed in the movie, especially for the reasons I stated above, those are just too big of mistakes for me to just ignore.

However, that being said, I am going to go see it again tonight, or possibly tommorow, and I am going to leave my preconceptions and expectations at the door to the theater, and see if I can just enjoy it as a Star Wars movie. If I don't go tonight, I will read the book and go tommorow.

"I must unlearn what I have learned..."

May the Force be with you all,

Indy

P.S. I do have a list of things I LOVED about the movie:


The view of Coruscant during the chase scene was awesome, great to finally get a view of what has been described so adeptly in all the books.

"Wanna buy some Deathsticks?" "You don't want to sell me Deathsticks" "I don't want to sell you Deathsticks" "You want to go home and rethink your life" "I want to go home and rethink my life"

The way Padme was so headstrong, Lucas did a great job showing where Leia gets her bravery and tenacity.

The tie-in with Owen and Beru was cool, kinda neat that they ARE actually Luke's Aunt and Uncle...

The cloning facility was awesome, and the way Obi-Wan played along was very cool.

I loved the way poor Jar Jar was played for the patsy (althought I don't mind Jar Jar himself)

The Argument between Obi-Wan and Anakin in the cloneship while they were chasing Count Dooku...

The sneak peek at the future Imperial type ships and troops...

 

thank god you've considered reconsidering (?)your opinion of the movie.
else i woulda had to track you down and beat some sense into you.

i've convinced my dad to come with me tonight at 10, south ed common, so i can watch the movie again, and get some starwars into the great boring couch potato (he's a principal), while scoring some father son time (poor luke didn't get much o that).

seriously, tho, i'm glad you've decided to ease up on aotc, Indy. personally, i think its the best of the five right now, and the only one that can make me change my mind is ep 3.

p.s. on force.net, you should go to the first looks at the new njo novels (enemy lines 2, destiny's way, traior). i bet del ray just loves keeping us in suspense, feeding us only a little bit, as if we were chained up rancors...)

 

I loved it. I to pretty well remained spoiler free (Although i did see some spoilers at Celebration 2). I found their to be a lot of shocking stuff going on. Like Jango Fetts fate, and anakins arm. Also how Dooku was Yodas padawan. Speaking of Yoda, he rules. I can see how you might not like it how he jumps around and does some crazy stuff but i found it interesting and cool.


Also my favorite line has got to be when Obi-Wan say to anakin "Some day you'll be the death of me."

 

Yeah, that was a pretty good line...

Indy

 

Personally, I thought the movie was god-damn amazing. You know why?

Because it was designed for us, the fans.

Wonder why the critics were bashing it?

Because they didn't pick up all the clever devices used in the film - god, that was what kept me going.

These movies just prepare you for what will happen in Episodes IV, V and VI, so you need to look at this movie as preparation, not as a stand-alone movie. Because Lucas has a goal he wants to accomplish, it benefits us even more, because we've taken the original trilogy to heart, and we can pick up these devices like foreshadowing.

If you attend the movie to find these things, instead of trying to see if it's another "Empire", then you'll enjoy it much more - like i have.


P.S. The premiere at South Edmonton Common kicked ass.

 

I really enjoyed the movie as well. I though it was great, I'm gaining a greater appreciation for it now that I'm reading the novel. I saw the 12:01am show at South Edmonton common and it was great, there was lightsaber battles at the front of the theatre and we had a beachball flying around the theatre, it was a great experience. Definitely gonna see this movie a lot this summer, can't wait for Episode III!!!!

Tim

 

"...there was lightsaber battles at the front of the theatre and we had a beachball flying around the theatre, it was a great experience."

What if i told you i was that kid that challenged the jedi dude with the blue lightsaber? You know, the one that was doing flips?

 

Well I have seen the movie a few more times now...

And I watched it "without" any expectations...

As pure entertainment value, I guess I have to concede that the movie has DEFNINATELY grown on me, and I am more impressed with it than I was on opening night.

Indy

 

Ugh. How can you say stuff like that about AOTC? I loved it to death-It was one of the best movies I've ever seen (and I've seen it six times) It was actually the movie that made me like Star Wars. I grew up watching the original movies, but I didn't actually care about them, or pay any attention to them until I saw AOTC, which made me watch them over and over..(including episode I) And there are a lot of people who loved it too, so I suggest you keep your opinons of disappoval to yourself.

 

Well I have seen it about 10 times now, and I freely admit that I like it alot more, and that I may have jumped the gun a little on this post, so long ago... and thankfully, we live in this great country, where we are both able to freely express our opinions...

On a side note, do you live here in Edmonton? If so, I would love to invite you to visit our Edmonton FanForce Website at this link.

Please feel free to sign up, and I hope to see you around here and increasing your post count from the "1" you have now!

May the Force be with you all,

Indy