The good ( and bad ) of AotC and why it is my favorite Star Wars movie thus far

It just dawned on me...For myself, I think it is my favorite.

Although my expectations ran high in the months preceding the release, I think that they were met with about a 90% percentage.

A deepening storyline, highlighted by Palpatine's machinations and the Clone Army mystery? Check. Bad-ass battles? Check. Awesome lightsaber duel? Check. ( Although TPM's still beats out AotC's. ) A believable love story? Check. Characters one can relate to and empathize with? Check. Good villain(s)? Check. Bitchin' bounty hunters? Check. Babes kicking ass ( Padme, Aayla, Zam )? Check. The list goes on...

A few things do bother me about AotC though...

1. Wooden dialogue.

Some of it is even worse than TPM. "Investigation is implied in our mandate, Master." "If you will excuse me, I must retire now". Groan. However, this is an overall improvement over TPM. Don't tell me that the OT had dialogue just as cheesy...The PT reigns supreme in this arena.

2. Choppy pace.

I don't think that Lucas knows how to edit anymore. Too much good stuff was cut out in order to smooth out the running time, but I think that it could have been pieced together more nicely by what was kept. I guess we'll see how it flows with deleted scenes re-inserted. This goes into...

3. A butchered soundtrack.

Lucas ruined Williams' work. Tore it to shreds. Almost all of the Geonosis music is from TPM. Go here for more.

So...Aside from those faults, I think that this is my favorite SW movie in the series so far. It's lightyears beyond TPM, and I just can't see these other things that people are complaining about...Bad special effects ( Huh? ), bad acting, and crappy story.

Better than ESB, you ask? Time will tell. ESB is as close to perfection as one can get, but AotC just feels right to me. The story is engaging, I like the characters, there's memorable dialogue ( "Always a pleasure to meet a Jedi"..."Well, negotiations with a lightsaber" ), and there's so many scenes that have me on the edge of my seat ( Anakin's confession, the Battle of Geonosis. ) I feel as though this is a SW movie for my generation...The "video" generation, who pretty much grew up with the OT on video. ( Although I did see ESB as a toddler, and was 3 during ROTJ, I don't remember them in theaters. )

So...Raise your hand if AotC is your favorite.

 

It is my favorite overall of the saga so far.

 

Yes it is my favorite so far, and I'm glad too. Now I feel confident that Episode 3 is in good hands.

 

I have to be honest, if I was forced to rank them ESB is still my fav.
AOTC gave me that "Old Star Wars" feeling though.

 

AOTC is, without a doubt, my favorite SW movie-- and thus my favorite movie of all time.

 

Episode 2 and Episode 6 are pretty close, I can't decide which I like more.

Either way, my 5 favorite movies ever are all Star Wars movies.

 

Without a doubt, ESB all the way!
I'm still trying to decide whether AOTC is better than ROTJ in my mind. They're very close.

 

Funny,

The Man With The Golden Gun is on ABC right now.
Christopher Lee is an assasin in this one.

Didn't mean to go off topic.

 

I think that the three areas that you brought up are key reasons why some people don't like it at all.

AOTC is up there but I'm an ESB cliche like so many others.

As for the music editing, I didn't really notice it in the final battle but obviously you couldn't miss the duel of the fates when Anakin is on the speeder bike.

As far as I could tell, everything on the soundtrack was in the film.

My question is this: what was Williams' reaction?

Some people are still outraged, for some baffling reason, that Yoda went CG yet Frank Oz was completely behind it and even sent a letter to Rob Coleman to ease his anxiety about being faithful to Oz's work.

Now if John Williams was ticked and decided not to come back for Episode III, I'd probably be ticked at GL along with a huge chunk of fandom because it would indicate a serious lack of communication with his music guy.

Basically, what's the whole story on the music editing?

 

VadersLaMent, he's wicked in it. Check it out if you haven't seen it before.

 

TESB still my favorite. The characters seemed more cohesive, more teamwork, and you believed in what they feel: Luke wanting to leave Dagobah to rescue Han/Leia/Chewie. In AOTC, I'm not convinced that Anakin wants to wholeheartedly rescue Obi Wan until Padme kicks him in the behind. The love development between Han and Leia much more believable than Padme and Anakin. TESB is a story by itself. AOTC feels like another set up to a bigger story for Epi III. I still love AOTC though, ranks up there with ANH.

 

AOTC is my favorite Star Wars film. It is also my favorite movie of ALL time.















(Busts out laughing.)

 

I know people think I am crazy but my favorite is still TPM. It has such a good story and it begins that entire saga.

 

Don't be silly, Padawan92. Your opinion is always respected here.

 

the empire strikes back is the best film of them i think because it has more action and other cool stuff and the jar jar o pathetic

 

I didn't really notice it in the final battle but obviously you couldn't miss the duel of the fates when Anakin is on the speeder bike.

That was a new scoring of the DotF theme. However, it sounded so similiar to the one in TPM, I too thought it was from the TPM soundtrack.

 

ANH-fell in love the first time i saw it.loved luke,han, and leia. hated darth vader.
ESB-fell in love with vader for life. loved the whole bad guys outsmarting the good guys.
ROTJ-sad and uplifting at the same time. cried my ass off when anakin died.
AOTC-has a lot of cool actions and anakin was very creepy. Yoda rocked!
TPM-lil ani podracing highlight of the first half and Duel of the Fate ROCKED!

 

ATOC is my favorite, unseating ESB. Outside of a few editing problems, and wooden acting that is the sole responsibility of Natalie Portman, it was exactly what I hoped it would be.

-Hayden Christiansen exceded all of my expectations. He was fantastic. He made even the most rickety dialogue work. The Tusken confession is one of the most powerful scenes I've ever seen in a movie.

-Ewen was good as expected.

-Christopher Lee was excellent.

-The fight choreography was great.

-"Across the Stars" is second only to the "Imperial March" in the running for best song from the series.



bad things

-Natalie Portman isn't much of an actress. Yes she's hot, that doesn't make her good. "if you follow your thoughts through to conclusion they will take you to a place where we cannot go." I want to throw up when I hear how emotionally distant she is from her own character.
-Jar Jar is still alive.
-The scene where Obi-Wan arrives on Genosis being intercut with Anakin hunting the Tuskens causes a pacing lag that bothers me.
-C3P0's slap-stick comedy in the middle of the Jedi massacre is insulting and sucks the drama from the 'would-be' powerful scene.


All in all, I was very pleased with the movie and I am confident that Lucas has righted the ship (after TPM.) Let's just hope that in E3 he doesn't kill the dark, depressing mood with slap-stick. That is my biggest problem with his style. He upstages his own scenes.

 

I loved AOTC and it's my favorite SW movie so far (even though they are all really close).

However, I can only acknowledge the following things as being bad about it:

1) The Shaak riding CG
2) Natalie Portman is a horrible actress "Now...I will retire" "Yes, yes, I am all right". And she trails off in the middle of a sentence. ARG!!!!
3) I would've liked to hear all new music through the end, not a few minutes posted from TPM. However, I think that it fits AOTC better than in TPM, so it's all good.
4) The movie flows fine, I don't have a problem with scenes being deleted. But the scenes should've been longer during the middle of the movie. Instead of cutting from Anakin to Obi-Wan, they could've made two or three cuts instead of five or six.

 

1) The Shaak riding CG

I agree, Vanderbait. That shot did not turn out well, neither on the celluloid or the DLP version.

 

It's funny that a question of whether or not this is your favorite Star Wars movie has turned into "Yes . . . but" replies followed by a list of criticisms from the people who liked it! I'm not criticizing, I just think it's kind of humorously ironic . . . so I will contribute:

AOTC is definitely my favorite, followed by ROTJ. ESB is still the one I've seen the most times in the theatre though (16), but I still have some time for AOTC .

And my few minor objections:
1) The CGI Shaak riding was beyond bad.
2) I also agree that the C3PO stuff during the arena battle was nauseatingly horrible. Annoying puns in the midst of dying Jedi just feels wrong every time I see it.
3) The whole score thing didn't bother me at all. The fact that some of the stuff is from TPM shouldn't be surprising since many pieces are played through multiple episodes to highlight similar themes and emotions. There ARE some things from the CD that are not in the movie though (always disappointing when this happens, IMO). The electric guitars from the Coruscant Chase aren't there and there is an awesome ending on the CD to the last track (ending credits) where Williams subtly and masterfully weaves the Anakin theme, Across the Stars and the Imperial march together like one continuous melody. It was such a perfect ending and so well done that I was mortified when the ending credits of the movie didn't have this segment!

 

I'm still trying to decide whether AOTC is better than ROTJ in my mind.

I'll help you . . . it is!

I don't think AOTC is the best Star Wars film (that will, in all likliehood, always remain ESB). But so far it's the most fun, and that must count for something.

 

Thank you for your help, DarthHomer.

I don't I'll have come to a final decision until the AOTC DVD is released, after I've watched it a few dozen times (as I have done with the other SW flicks) and seen the deleted scenes. Ciao.

 

Back, Portman bashers! Back I say!

Did you know that there's a director/writer and co-writer (AOTC) who direct the scenes and write the script? [face_shocked]

 

AotC is tied with RotJ for first with me.


The only thing keeping RotJ up there at the top is, of course, the throneroom scenes. Palpatine is just so darn evil, and the inner battles that both Luke AND Anakin are going through is just so powerful...


But there are many powerful moments in AotC, too... So they're tied.