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Attack of the Clones Leaked
dgris writes "ain't it cool is running a purported review of Epidsode II. Harry Knowles is claiming to have gotten a secret screening of the film while at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, TX. Short story: he loves it." Like the department sez: I'll believe it when I see it. After Phantom, I'm willing to wait a bit to see it.
TBH the review sounds like it's been written by a 15 year-old script kiddie. Just look at all those BUZZWORDS that he's put in there. It's probably me, but it all sounds like so much bulls*** :/
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"An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind" - Gandhi
Sad to tell, anyone who's followed Harry's fortunes over the years has seen him metamorphosise from a rebel outsider into a minor celebrity, feted by both individual directors and (gasp) Big Bad Studios just like any other influential mainstream reviewer. Even now, Harry still (very occasionally) gripes about mainstream reviewers, while at the same time accepting the exact same special access to sets and screenings. The only difference is that Harry explains exactly how the whole sordid business works, with reviewers buying themselves celebrity status by giving good review-bites that guarantee that their name will go up on a poster or trailer, thereby elevating them into more expensive and high class whores. And yet despite receiving the rewards, Harry would like us to believe that he is still untainted by the influence and can be trusted. This idea seems to flow from the fact that Harry explains the context behind each viewing (whether you want to hear it or not) and writes informally. It's superfically convincing, but the style of presentation is irrelevant other than for entertainment value, it's the substance that matters for a reviewer.
I am simply unwilling to believe the spy-games circumstances that Harry claims. If he has seen this film, it is with the full sanction of Lucasarts, on the implicit or explicit understanding that he would give it a rave review, and that he would imply that it was a rogue showing. And note carefully, he leaves us to infer that by describing his feelings (which nobody can prove or disprove), but never actually makes a factual statement to support it. You have a think about that.
Don't get me wrong. Perhaps it is a good movie and an honest review. But Harry can simply no longer be trusted. There are just too many examples of him raving about movies to which he has received special access for him to be a credible independent reviewer any more. I won't claim he has sold out, because he never claimed to want to be outside the system. In fact, he has made every effort to insinuate himself into the whole sorry cycle of review-reward, and I think this may very well be his crowning glory.
Sorry Harry, you used to be someone I could trust. Now you're just a shallow parody of Comic Book Guy. The circle is complete; now you are the studios' bitch. Ain't it ironic?
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
OK, people, reality check:
There is no doubt that some people have seen the movie. But this was just a rough cut. If Harry said that he was screened a rough cut, maybe I would believe him. The fact of the matter is, there is nothing is his review that hasn't been leaked in the spy reports on TheForce.Net, or in the "scriptament" that is floating on the Web.
For the book says, "We may be through with the past, but the past ain't through with us."
Anakin being a mass murderer? He never says it happens in the film. Hell, I could have told you before Episode I that Anakin is a mass murderer.
Yes, he gives (possible) details about the fight between Yoda and the Count. But who am I (or you, for that matter) to say that he's right? I've seen the picture of Yoda that he mentioned. Just off the top of my head, I though of this: "And you've seen the CD cover with Yoda holding the lightning? Well, in the movie he gets shocked by Count Dooku, but the lightning never penetrates him, it just leaps around his body. Yes, he's that powerful with the Force. The Yoda holds out his hands and the lightning gets coallesced into a ball, which he then sends out into space, since Jedi Masters never use the Force for harm."
See how easy it is to fake a review? I might write one up tonight, pulling my information from fansites (I knew about Yoda's battle months ago) and from ignorant Slashbots (I'll let you figure out who) and post it!
Oh, and I don't need Karma, I'm at the cap.
Consider the conglomeration of 'Force' and 'Fate' that surrounds the events in these movies. Think about 'Destiny' and 'Prophecy.'
Now consider that moment in Episode 1 where Qui Gon Jinn says that he will gamble the racing pod against the freedom of Anakin and his mom. Watto will only gamble against one of their freedoms and rolls the chance cube to see which. Qui Gon uses the force to ensure that it is Anakin whose freedom is gambled (and won) in the pod race.
Now think about the results of Anakin being taken from Tatooine and going with Obi Wan. Think in the scope of all 6 movies.
You see, the whole string of events that unfolded (will unfold) in episodes 2 and 3 plus ep4-6 that we've already seen are a result of this. But was it 'Fate' or 'Destiny' that made resulted in the chance cube rolling the way it did, or was it those things that made Qui Gon use the Force to free Anakin? Did Destiny guide the Force, or did the Force guide Destiny?
I think George Lucas in brilliant in this, as sooner or later, we will all realise that only because of Destiny and the roll of a chance cube was an Empire built and defeated, the way of the Jedi preserved, and Evil defeated once more. That, my friends, is what can only be produced from the mind of a master storyteller.
George Lucas, I applaud you.
We have countless stories proclaiming that the MPAA is destroying Fair Use, that they're devil spawn, that thousands of loyal Slashdot readers are boycotting the MPAA....
But then, Star Wars comes out. Lord of the Rings comes out. Resident Evil comes out. And all of the sudden, you're forking over your hard-earned money to these devils.
I have not seen a movie (aside from free TV movies) in the past year and a half. And I won't. I have scruples.
It is sad that I must always (well, almost always :) tune my impatience out, in order to have a better end result. The entertainment industry rarely shows this, esp in the pc game industry. I really hope this one is good, and is in existence to entertain by telling a great story... NOT to make money and gather as large a market as possible by literally throwing in certain elements like goofy side kick type characters, a bit of sexual inuendo, spacecraft battle (cap and skirmisher/fighter), and some blaster action popped off with lightsabers and martial arts. If these happen naturally, great. But it was obvious in Phantom Markete that they were artificially added for mass market appeal.
Now the question. Will each subsequent movie DVD release have a 'special' edition in which ONCE AGAIN Lucas claims that this time he 'got it like he wanted' and throws in another market plea (which sadly works) of anticorporate, anti-the-man and pro-freedom fighter elements of 'the suits/money was dictating blah blah blah, but now _I_ have the final say". (In case you didn't know... Lucas _IS_ the suit/money and _DOES_ have the final say from the very beginning). Either way... will each release including EP III, have a special edition, and then 2-5 years later will we have a Special Trilogy Edition? That too with 'extra footage' and 'digitally remastered' (used almost as much as 'Extreme' has been overused). Then 2-5 years after that, have a Special Epic Edition that is all 6 movies? Then perhaps 6 months - 2 years after that have a Special Star Wars Universe package that includes even the special Ewok and related childrens movies (which really includes EP I also) made for TV? I just wonder...
General comments along the lines of "Ani is dangerous" and "Ben is cool" don't give much away, but Harry does describe one or two small scenes which were not in any of the trailers. "Jar Jar lets the jedis (2 Jedi, 1 Jedus?) into a room" can be verified. For the moment, my money's on Harry.
I am a Karma Library.
Well, I'm not going to get into a lengthy defense of Harry because, like I said, I don't know the guy. However, just reading that first article you linked to is SUCH A BLATANT HATCHET JOB BY A COMPETITOR that it's downright silly. I mean, one of their points against AICN is (and I quote), "Really bad writing". Huh?!? Is that proof of his lack of ethics or proof that FilmThreat despises AICN? (Probably the latter.) In another part they blast AICN for using psuedonyms like Moriarty and Elektra, saying that "they might be studio hacks," but then a few paragraphs later go on to identify Moriarty as Drew McWeeny, an AICN staffer. So, which is it? Is Moriarty a "studio hack" writing puff pieces or an AICN staffer? (Everyone at AICN knows he is the latter.)
The fact that the half-dozen tirades you linked to all came from FilmThreat tells me that they have an axe to grind. Probably they are just trying to siphon off users from AICN.
Quite a sad way to build an audience.
A co-worker of mine who's seen the film twice at Skywalker Ranch said the reviewer must have seen the film because it's very accurate.
Harry has seen A LOT of movies. He lives to watch movies. I think this makes him as much an expert on movies as any other film critic out there. His style of reviews is a bit unorthidox, but that does not mean he is a bad reviewer.