Your thoughts on the speeder chase

I don't think a thread about the speeder chase already exists, so I'm gonna give it a try!

I?m rather curious what other people think of the speeder chase through Coruscant.

Well, I don?t like the scene at all. I consider it as the worst scene of the saga. But still, AOTC is my fav. SW movie.

Why didn't I like it? For some reasons (only personal reasons):

- the dialogue: doesn't suit, bad - ridiculous dialogue, wanting to be "funny", not necessary at all. Scene would be much better without dialogue at all (like the ROTJ chase through the woods)

- incredibility: I know that they use the force, but there are limits:
° Obi-Wan falls and is intercepted by Anakin on the right time
° Anakin jumps out the speeder, lands on Zam
° Anakin loses his lightsaber, Obi-Wan catches it
A little bit too much for me. That's the worst aspect of the scene for me.
[image=http://www.sgtfretsurfer.com/Grilled-Sarlacc/s/i/l2.jpg]

- no chase feeling at all, no suspense, no excitement, just visuals

- unnecessary moves, speeder goes left/right/up/down without any reason, makes it like a cartoon & more like a driving exercise, like the riding between those flames:
[image=http://www.sgtfretsurfer.com/Grilled-Sarlacc/s/i/closecall.jpg]

- scene was too long, without something really happening

- the music was absolutely wonderful, but didn't suit for the scene [suited better at the Droid Factory] and the music edits were bad

Now, compared with the TPM Pod race/ROTJ Endor chase:

Every time I watch the pod race/Endor chase, I still feel exited, like the first time I saw in theatre (for TPM). But with the speeder chase, I already got bored by it after the 2nd viewing in theatre. That?s my main problem with the speeder chase: it just isn?t exciting at all for me.

So, this may look like a bashing thread, but it surely isn?t one. I just said how I feel about it and I want your thoughts on the chase. I don?t expect you to respond every comment I made on the chase, those are my personal thoughts.

I expect you to die! Oh, wrong movie!

Anyway, I?m anxious to know your thoughts on the chase.

 

Wow! I see somebody really hated the speeder chase!

I thought all aspects of it was just fine

 

For the most part, I thought it was okay. I agree the banter between Obi Wan and Anakin was a bit forced at times (no pun intended). And a couple of the aliens that swerved out of the way looked positively silly. And the problems with the physics? Ehh, it's Star Wars, I've learned to live with it!

 

Man, I loved it.

Dialogue
"Only in your mind, my very young apprentice!"
"This is a shortcut...I think..."
"Sorry, Master." *grins* "I forgot you didn't like flying."
"I don't mind flying, but what you're doing is suicide!"
"He went completely the other way!"

We get to see how Anakin and Obi-Wan interact in an action situation. Anakin's laugh as he dives towards the cargo ship is a good example of characterisation.

The ROTJ chase doesn't have so much dialogue because we know about Luke and Leia. The AOTC chase helps show the traits of the older Obi-Wan and grown-up Anakin.

Incredibility
Some people don't think Anakin is powerful enough in the Force, but this chase is a good example of his powers. He's able to predict exactly where Obi-Wan will fall, and also where Zam will be. It is just simply hom using the Force as you say, but Anakin has an extremely strong and instinctual gift with it.

Obi-Wan catching the lightsabre is just simple telekenesis. We've seen it several times already.

No chase feeling
Pure opinion, I can't change your mind on something like this. But I did feel the speed and the dizzying pace.

Scene was too long, without something really happening

It's an action scene. Anakin and Obi-Wan manage to capture their prey in the end, but get involved in lots of stuff along the way. That's what an action scene does, gets you from a to b with entertaining things inbetween (Obi-Wan on the assassin droid, Zam blasting it, Anakin saving him, their bickering, Anakin's piloting skills, the traffic problems, a nod to the power couplings scene with Jar Jar in TPM, Anakin's gung-ho approach, all leading to that scene bar scene).

the music was absolutely wonderful, but didn't suit for the scene

Again, personal opinion and I can't change you mind. I love the music, especially the part where it bursts into the tribal drums for Zam aiming at the assassin droid and then pitches into whirling orchestration as Anakin tries to catch Obi-Wan.

There we go. That's just my take on it.

 

I like most of the Coruscant Chase but I do have some gripes with the scene.

Most of the dialouge was forced and unintentionally UNFUNNY.

"What the ..."
"Jedi Poodoo"
"Sorry master, I forgot ..."
"Only in your mind my VERY YOUNG APPRENTICE"
"... stay away from the power couplings"
Anakin´s laughter.

The scene would work better for me if they would have kept the dialouge to a minimum.

The power couplings section didn´t look convincing (the slalom bit) and could have been left out.

The soundtrack is excellent (especially the percussion) but the mix doesn´t do it justice.

 

It's really nice to read other opinions about the scene. I'm really happy many people love the chase. Because I didn?t like the scene very much , I always thought that many wouldn't like it, but I'm proven wrong and I'm glad to read it.

Please don?t consider the points I mentioned as a sort of ?fact?, it?s pure personal opinion and that?s all! I had no intentions to bash the scene or influence other opinions.

I personally agree with the gripes Turkilma mentioned, especially with the slalom bit. I didn?t like it, but that won't surprise you, isn't it.

 

Hey, that's the point of a forum. Discussing opinions Always nice to see the differences between fellow FIGSers.

I'm surprised you didn't say "Not enough Ian McDiarmid in it!"

 

I thought there was a good chase feeling in this scene. I wanted the Jedi Knights to catch Zam to find out who was trying to kill Padme. I agree with some unnecessary moves though, what was the point in riding in between those chimneys with fire coming out for?

 

Well, I always assumed Zam did it first to maybe catch the Jedi off guard and send them flying into one of them.

I think Anakin did it to simply show off.

 

OB1 catching the saber:
I don´t find that too incredible, especially not when i´m using the force

Anakin saves his master:
He feels his presence.

Anakin throws himself out of the speeder and lands on Zam´s:
That is kind of extreme, probably not a common behaviour among Jedis, but then, it´s the chosen one! Look at him the moment before he jumps; OB1 keeps babbling, but Anakin isn´t listening, he is using the force, "scanning" the area.

 

It's kind of like a ramped-up version of the things we see him do in the podrace. The speed of his reactions and his natural senses aided by the Force.

 

I generally don't like any chase scenes in movies as I think they're always pretty dull. i.e. you always know who is going to win.

But the Speeder Chase was fine, I thought.

 

I thought it ranked right up there with other iconic STAR WARS moments like TPM's pod race, ANH's Death Star trench run, ESB's astroid chase, and ROTJ's speeder bike chase. Plus it showed just what a bad mofo Anakin really is. I mean, it takes cast iron gonads to jump out of a floating car several miles above the ground!

 

The biggest problem I had was when Anakin fell and his arms didn't get ripped right off. What he did was impossible even for a jedi. Everything else seemed ok to pretty good to me. I didn't think any of it was really great though.

 

I have only one word for this scene...

[Voice of Blade] ...nice.... [/Voice of Blade]





(I Loved every single bit of AOTC)

 

The Speeder Chase is my personal favorite part of AOTC. Unlike Darth_China, I found the humour in the dialogue to be really fitting, especially the "Only in your mind, my very young apprentice!"

I was absolutely stunned by the sequence. The effects have a sparkle to them that I've never seen before. I've ALWAYS wanted to see that kind of stuff in a Star Wars film. I've been imagining that exact type sequence for years, and they got it right IMO.

-JDR.

 

Yeah, if I can say one thing positive about the chase : the visuals were perfect!!

I'm surprised you didn't say "Not enough Ian McDiarmid in it!"

 

I liked the ending, with Anakin crashing to the ground and Obi-Wan casually parking the speeder in the middle of the street.

 

I liked the ending, with Anakin crashing to the ground and Obi-Wan casually parking the speeder in the middle of the street.

Now that you mention it, that crashing looked pretty fake!

 

It did but I can live with it.

 

I thought it was pretty cool. A nice excitng scene early in the film.

 

People are going to find fault with every little aspect of this film, no matter what.

I thought it was a great scene and seeing it on IMAX only enhanced the excitement.

 

The speeder chase is one of my favourite scenes in Attack of the Clones. It contains some amazing visuals, and get this, it actually made me laugh! Especially the bit where Obi-Wan gets those poor Coruscant Citizens worked up.

I thought it was very interesting to see these alternative views of Coruscant. It was like the TPM Air Taxi scene on Steroids. It really is quite a beautiful city.

My only gripe about the scene would be Obi-Wan falling (fine) then having Anakin fall too (rehash!).

This scene also shows Anakin's extreme competancy both behind a speeder and his skills as a Jedi. It works.

 

I loved the chase, but there's one thing I would have changed. When Anakin jumps out of the speeder I would have edited out the few seconds where he's falling. That seemed too unbelievable to me that he could jump from so far away and fall right on Zam's speeder even as she's travelling extremely fast. I would have had him jump from his speeder and then immediately have landed and grabbed onto Zam's speeder.

But hey, that's nitpicking

 

Is the opening post of this thread a joke?

The speeder chase was AMAZING!

Total action, phenomenal visuals of the coolest city ever, vehicles EVERYWHERE, huge scope, great interaction between Anakin and Obi-Wan, ultra-fast, awesome engine sounds, and John Williams playing the electric guitar!

The way the scene explodes on screen -- with Obi-Wan suddenly jumping out the window -- was MAD cool!

And what's this talk about "incredibility"? This is coming from a SW fan? The whole thing about SW is that it's totally not like reality. You want reality, go watch THIS OLD HOUSE.