AOTC Chapter 40: The Arena DISCUSSION

Until the release of ROTS on 5/19/05, I would like to discuss AOTC chapter by chapter on the DVD. There are 47 chapters to discuss over the next eight months, excluding Chapter 1: Opening Logos, Chapter 2: Attack of the Clones and Chapter 50: End Credits.

Each discussion will last 5 days. At the end of 5 days, the following chapter will be posted.

Chapter 40: The Arena
DISCUSSION: March 2, 2005 - March 6, 2005
DVD TIME INDEX: 105:08 - 109:47

Synopsis:
From the high balcony, Archduke Poggle the Lesser, Count Dooku, Jango Fett, Nute Gunray and several loyalists appear. The Archduke commands the spectators to settle down as the reek, nexu and acklay are released from their cages one by one. Anakin has a bad feeling about the immediate executions. The creatures approach the heroes across the sands of the arena floor. Padme begins to loosen her restraints with the wire in her mouth. The Geonosian picador continue to zap the executioners as they make their way across the arena. Padme break free and climbs her pole. Anakin worries about Padme. Obi-Wan assures him as he looks to see his woman's status. The acklay attacks Obi-Wan, breaking free the chains from the pole. The reek rams into Anakin's pole, who vertically dodges it and lands on its back, breaking free. The nexu climbs up Padme's pole. The senator whips the creature with her chains, but in return the nexu rips part of Padme's shirt, leaving a mark. Watching from the balcony, Nute is pleased. Obi-Wan continues to dodge the claws of the acklays pounding into the sands. Anakin begins to tame the reek with the chains. Padme jumps from the top of the pole and kicks the nexu to the ground. The Viceroy is furious with Padme's act. The acklay knocks over the pole, almost landing on Obi-Wan, who rolls in the sands. Anakin slowly moves toward the reek, jumps on the back and is able to control it. Anakin comes over to Padme's pole. She jumps on the back of the reek and kisses Anakin. Obi-Wan fights the acklay with a pickador spear and ends up piercing its flesh. Furiously, the acklay snaps the weapon in half. Kenobi runs away and joins the lovers on the back of the reek. Gunray then orders Jango to shoot her or something. Dooku assures that she will die. They are then cornered by approaching droidekas. END OF CHAPTER

Opinion:
Now that Padme's confessed her love to Anakin, it's time to get the final battle started. Now it expands with characters and scale, but just starting as an execution was probably the best way to go.

Now I admit, when I heard about a Gladiator-type arena for this film, I was pretty skeptical. I thought it would be crap and ruin the film. But with every viewing it exceeds what we deserve in an action sequence. It's the Rancor sequence times three. Now it doesn't have the same heart, but the spectacle is there. Love seeing Padme in action of course.

Some of the CGI is well done while some seems a bit too fake for me at times. If anything the close-ups for the reek is what made me cringe at times. But the long shot and the taming gave the scene so much to work with. Ewan and Natalie both do well in their respective fights with the acklay and nexu. Nice touch to have Padme's shirt be ripped from battle.

Good chapter. Nute Gunray steals the show a couple of times. All the other villains do crap, but Nute's "Jongo" makes up for it. Nice opening to the first battle of the epic Clone Wars. Excellent job.

 

last i checked, it was about 3 months until Episode III

 

Good chapter. Nute's whining is pretty funny. I was kinda suprised the other Separatists weren't with Dooku, Poggle, and Nute. I mean there seemed to be enough room.

I really didn't like how the arena music was cut. It was such a good tune on the cd.

So we have the beasts of AOTC...

The Reek. Interesting monster. Kinda like dinosaur/rhino. Not as interesting as the others though.

The Nexu. This was kinda cool. His face was nasty and he sounded funny. A cat like beast was new to the saga. Not a lizard.

The Acklay. My favorite. This think reminded me of something out of aliens. I loved his antics with Obi-Wan.

 

Nute was classic here.

 

I liked this scene.
The acklay's screetch is classic

 

The Acklay was definitely the superior beast. From its look to its sound, everything about it was menacing, frightening, and darn cool at the same time.

The first time that I saw AOTC, I was disappointed that one of my favorite prequel characters - Nute Gunray - didn't have more screentime. His few antics at the end of the film, however, more than made up for his lack of presence throughout. His characterization was perfect!



Mace Windy,
too windy for spoilers!

 

"Shoot her, or something!"

I like how Anakin rescuse Padme, so classic even if she does have a Titanium crotch.

And aObi-Wan fighting the acklay, it always takes a shortcut

 

yes the start of one of the best actions secuences in movie history, nute was great

 

I always love watching Padme get sliced. Yeah... I'm sadistic, I know...

It's a fun scene that shows us a lot of 40s serial style action. It's just pure fun done with miniatures and computers... One thing that's cringe-worthy for me though would be the cartoony cg that sometimes pops up and Padme's power-crotch which seems to be just fine pounding into the hard scales or whatever those are of the reak.

Cool scene.

 

Awesome. Totally reminded me of the ROTJ Jabba's barge scene, everyone is cocky and gifted in the face of desperate odds.

I love Nute here so much, it's one of my favorite Saga moments.

The sounds they used for the monsters were great. If only Ben Burtt would stick to Sound and stay away from editing and DVD commentary, I'd be happy.

 

To me, AOTC from this to the ending credits is the third greatest final act of wall-to-wall action ever committed to film, behind only 1984's Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and last year's The Incredibles.

And yes... gotta love Nute

 

a little empathy for the creatures here - they are poked into snarl stage by those pesky picadors. actually i rather like the reek - his response to force-taming by anakin works and seems close to domestication, actually. and the whimpering by the nexu -aww! mean slash to padme's back, however. only the acklay seems truly w/o redemption. love the look on obiwan's face when the acklay pulls out the thrown spear like it was a mosquito. the kiss on the cheek by padme to anakin, reminds of something similiar that will be shared by siblings in the future "for luck".
and that nasty nute - loved his response of padme's injury - shadow boxing again. one of those villians you love to hate. and dooku's show of confidence is just beginning

 

It's great the way it is set-up, that the epic Clone Wars actually start with our heroes in a quite personal jeopardy. When the action shifts from the arena to the full-on battle on the plains of Geonosis, Star Wars mythology is born before our very eyes.

However, for me the music pulls the sequence down. Lucas dropped William's original score and replaced it with a cut-and-paste job of some TPM music. This gives the sequence an uneasy stop and start feeling and stops the movie from flowing naturally at this point. It doesn't sound good and it doesn't feel as iconic as I think it would have done with a proper Williams score. I also agree that the CD music for this is cool, so i can't understand how Lucas felt the edited TPM music was better...

This and the fact that Geonosis looks too much like Tatooine are just about my 2 only complaints with an otherwise terrific movie.

 

I've listened to the arena score seperately, and I've always wanted to play the music with the scene to see how it would look. (Maybe I'll do that tonight.)

I love the action even without the music. This is a great, great action scene.

I would like to draw your attention to Nute Gunray and all his awesome lines and expressions! He clearly wants Amidala DEAD!

 

Overall I like it. There's still a few things I would have liked to have seen done differently. First I don't feel the arrival of the Jedi was played up enough. It seems like it should have been a grander moment in the scene. These supposed to be 200 Jedi coming to the rescue yet we don't really get a sense of that right off the bat. I would liked to have seen some more sweeping camera passes of Jedi igniting their lightsabers all around the Arena rather than just a few.

Although I've long since gotten over the trimming down of the Mace/Jango fight it would have been cool to have a bit more of the fight intact as depicted in the storyboards. Either the part with the Destroyer Droid or the standoff with the Reek. However it works just as well with Mace taking out Jango with relative ease since he is supposed to be the second most powerful Jedi.

Lastly I'd have to agree with what others said about the music. It's a shame the theme JW composed for the monster sequence wasn't used. It's such an awesome track on the cd. I have tried playing it while watching the movie and I think it works well.

 

The Geonosis arena looks too fake and the Geonosians
look ridiculous. Termites aren't dramatic! (Unless
you have them in your house) The battle arena
creatures are neat, but I would rather have spent the
time GL uses here on a better end Saber duel for
Anakin and Obi-Wan. Another case of PT excess.

'Of course that's just my opinion. I could be wrong'.

 

A good, albeit somewhat overlong chapter. I am possibly in the minority here, but I feel that this sequence, even more so than the Droid Factory bit, could have benefitted from some judicious editing. Yes, the chapter is visually interesting, but it does go on and on - maybe that's the point. Perhaps Lucas is cramming this sequence so full of incident that, in a strange way, he is giving us our money's worth.

The arena setpiece is filled with a series of movie homages too numerous to list, but think of Lucas' esteem for the legendary animator Ray Harryhausen, and any sorts of films which might feature work by Harryhausen and contain a coliseum sequence. It's more obivous to cite Ridley Scott's "Gladiator", in part because it is recent, but that isn't the source of inspiration for this scene, regardless of what any film critic will tell you.

The section here which is, for me, quite cringe-worthy, is when Padme jumps off of the pillar and onto the back of the reek, subsequently planting a kiss on Anakin's cheek. I don't object to this scene in the abstract, as it theoretically fits within the framework of the pulp-serial sagas which inspired "Star Wars", as well as serving as an echo of the Luke-Leia platform kiss in "A New Hope", but the manner in which it is realized is actually rather abrupt and clunky. Other than that, though, the chapter is mostly quite entertaining and visually superb.

 

Nexu is so sweet here, of course, when you don't see his teeth.

 

Thank you for all your participation in CBC (Chapter by Chapter). AOTC Chapter 41: "This Party is Over" DISCUSSION will be made available 3:00 PM EST. Although the discussion timeframe has passed, you may still discuss this chapter at your convienience. However, we will be moving on to the next chapter.

-Moleman1138

 

There is not much logic to this chapter.

Why would Dooku, a dignified former Jedi Master, want to line up key players in the war for THREE Monsters to eat. All for the entertainment of some Grasshoppers.

The Rancor in ROTJ worked. Here, the whole idea is so absurd it is clearly an excuse for CG fun.
And three monsters?


No matter how well executed, the entire premise lets it down.