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Dark Horizons

DWFake, Raimond Coneliano, Farliss

Kadue from our forums sent this in. Spoilers follow:

Love, drama, intrigue and a lot of special effects. Lucas delivers all these and more with Attack of the Clones. For anyone who was worried after The Phantom Menace, stop worrying now, this one will blow you away. Together Lucas and Hales have given us a movie that goes a long way to filling in the gap we know as the Clone Wars, and the fall of Anakin Skywalker.

The story was well written and moved along at a rapid pace. The dialogue (the problem a lot of people quoted with TPM) has improved markedly, with only a few lines that make you cringe a little. But at the same time, even the Original Trilogy had its moments, and it would have taken a lot longer to say these things in a less deliberate manner. Each scene played a part in furthering one of the multiple storylines, and action quickly shifted between them to keep the pace going. The direction in which the movie was headed was clear, with those uninitiated in Star Wars that I saw it with able to follow along with the story easily.

The characters and actors really shone out in the movie. Ewan plays Obi-Wan well, showing us a matured Jedi Knight dealing with the stress of training such a powerful Padawan. The ease with which he mixes giving advice and trading banter with Anakin shows us how close the two of them have become. Ewan has also lost none of his fighting skills between the two movies, moving just as well in his battles with Jango and Dooku as he did with Ray Park in TPM.

Padme?s role has expanded from just that of a politician into a very rounded character, with her holding her own in the arena and trying to resist the temptation that is the love that she and Anakin share. Hayden performs brilliantly, delivering us with both the burgeoning Jedi Knight, growing into the power that he has, knowing that he is more powerful than those around him; and revealing glimpses of the darkness that is growing inside Anakin, flowing out at times.

Temeura Morrison hands in a great performance in his first Hollywood film, showing why this bounty hunter was chosen as the template for the Republic clones. My only problem with Jango was how quickly his death was at Mace?s hands. After all that was seen of him, to be killed in seconds was a little disappointing. Young Boba is played well by Daniel Logan, and the final shot we see of him holding Jango?s helmet speaks more about the bounty hunter that caught everyone?s attention than any of his lines in the originals did.

The deleted scenes. A lot has been said about these, and how they could have an impact on the overall story. The absence of scenes including the meeting with Padme?s family, the full senate scenes, the meeting between Padme and Dooku, the explanation of the lost 20, or seeing more of the Lars family did not hurt the story at all. It would have been nice to see more of the Amidala and Lars families, or Dooku?s history, but with the fast pace of this movie, they would have slowed the momentum down.

After TPM and its stunning sabre scenes, expectations have been high for those in Attack of the Clones to top them. Stylistically though, nothing could beat the choreography from two of the best in the business, one of which (Ray Park) was part of the fight scenes. Christopher Lee brings a lot to the movie with his experience in sword fighting. With his fencing style, we are shown yet another fighting method, one of which is more reminiscent of that seen in the Original Trilogy. Continuing on the theme of style, Attack of the Clones also features the first fight scene between a Jedi, whose fighting style is up close; and someone who fights at a distance in Jango. This ranks in as second of the fights to occur, only slightly behind the first. Christensen also steps up to bat, lending considerable weight to the impression that Anakin/Vader is one of the best fighters known, being the first to wield two sabres at once on the screen. Finally, the other first that we see is that of Yoda. No amount of explanation could prepare you for this fight. The visuals are breath-taking, and no one can argue that Yoda is ?The Man?.

Something that was good to see in this movie was the attention to little things linking this movie to ESB, and the rest of the OT. The Imperial symbol is clearly seen on the helmets of the clone trooper commanders. The move that Obi-Wan pulls off to lose Jango tailing him is exactly the same as that used by Han to escape the Executor in ESB, giving a reason that Boba was able to pick this and tail him. 3PO once again loses his head, relying on others to help him put himself back together. Even the final image of Anakin and Padme on the balcony at Naboo is reminiscent of that of Luke and Leia on the medical frigate in ESB.

Overall, Attack of the Clones delivers on the expectations that everyone has had for it. It has a top notch cast that all pull together and bring us one of the best Star Wars films. At the moment for me it is a toss up between this and ESB as to my overall favourite, but since I have seen ESB rather a lot more over the years than I have AotC, it is hard to give a definitive answer.

Rating: 4.5 stars.

Steve sent in this review:

I attended a press screening of AOTC yesterday morning here in Liverpool (UK). It was held at the UGC Cinema which I was told was only one of 16 in the UK to be allowed to screen it early.

Security was fairly tight (having never been to one before I dont know if this is the norm) however I have been told that Lucasfilm/Fox had ordered all bags to be searched for any sort of recording equipment.

What can I write about the film that hasnt been said before? Is it better than ESB? Yes. A lot of people where coming out of the film saying it wasnt as good as ESB, that it "wasnt ANH". Now I reckon this is more to do with the fact that when ANH/ESB came out they were 10/12/15 years old and that film changed the way they saw feature films, than any other. StarWars fans have grown up watching these films weekly/monthly, and know them inside out. We all have our own ideas (based on the comics/books/hearsay) about how Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader. We all have our mental images of Leia's mother looking sad. Something that Natalie Portman begins to show at the end of the film, she isnt happy about turn of the events and the moments that should be filled with delight are portrayed by Natalie as being very very sombre.

Sure there are plot holes, for example how did Padme know about the hanger? But it doesnt distract from the film itself.

Sure there are even now more questions to be answered, who is Sifo Dyas? Did Yoda hear Qui Gon or was it Anakin? Why did Padme marry him, she didnt seem to love him, is it just because she was scared for him? How long has Palpatine been manipulating Anakin?

Why where what I had believed to be key scenes cut from the final film? Palpatine announcing the death of Amidala? Its in the official magazine but not the film.

Did people like it? Yet again, as with Episode 1, a LOT of people left the cinema very happy whilst a few voices said how disappointed they where with the film.

Did I like it? Yup, it was in my opinion the classiest StarWars film to date. Its action and adventure where great. The acting by Hayden was a real treat making you feel his suffering, his anger.

Did people laugh? Nope. The scenes with Artoo and Threepio actually detracted from the viewing, what shouldve been a riproaring heart rending battle, became a farce with Threepio taking over the JarJar mantle.

Did it make you wonder if Artoo would save them? Nope. We all know that Yoda, Amidala, Anakin, ObiWan, Threepio and R2 survive through the 3 films, so why oh why put them in danger all the time (in the factory)? Surely it wouldve been better to focus slightly more on Mace and Jango, after all they can bite it at any time, so it would be more "edge of the seat" kind of action.

Am I looking forward to episode 3? Immensely.