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Attack of the Clones: Less Plastic Crap, More Story?
Newsweek has an article in which George Lucas states that there were parts of Episode One that were damaging to the Star Wars franchise. (shocker, I know) "The last movie did not live up to expectations." They'll cut the merchandise by two thirds, as they still have tons of unsold Episode One merchandise. Yahoo is also running an AOTC story. Mild spoilers in the linked stories, by the way.
I love the Star Wars movies with a great passion, but Lucas is, basically, a consumer whore. How many revisions of Luke in Hoth gear are there? How many Nein Numb and Momaw Nadon action figures are there? If you get .02 seconds of screen time you get 5 action figures, a T-shirt and a mug. There's even a Darth Vader Beer Stein for cryin' out loud!
I'll believe it when I see it... But right now, I'm believe that Toy stores everywhere are getting container shipments full of insignifigant characters.
Much nicer and more Lucas-centric piece on Attack of the Clones at time.
And it's not a boycott. It's the fact that Episode I sucked big time, and last week I was watching Montecristo (great movie) and saw trailers for Attack of the Clones.
And suddenly it hit me.
I was planning to watch it, it was pretty much a given. And then, seeing the scenes, I realized I don't really have a wish to see it. I just had a lemming reaction. The hype got to me. I had been brainwashed.
That is, I was going to watch it because it was a Star Wars film. But nothing I saw on the trailer, and nothing I saw in the prequel, compelled me to see it.
So, ask yourself: If this film wasn't a "Star Wars" movie, would I be compelled to see it? Would I feel it is a good film?.
I have decided it's not. And I won't give in to the hype, however alluring it becomes.
PS: For the opinion or David Brin, great science fiction writer who makes George Lucas look like the hack he is, read this.
After watching Phantom Menace and being a child of the 80s, how could I not be but a bit disappointed. It just wasn't what I thought it would be. It was overtly cheesy. The comedy was very forced. It didn't seem natural.
I had no problem with the graphics. Of course, I hated Jar Jar. He was the main representative of the cheesy comedy that ensued within the film.
Another fault I found was that Darth Maul didn't seem evil enough. The part was dimunitive.
I didn't like the Trade Federation reps either as I find their voices and appearance very annoying. They were even very menacing.
The robots, egads, they didn't need to talk. "Roger, Roger"... could you be more cliche?
The biggest beef I have is with the Anakin saves the day sequence... This whole scene was far fetched from the Auto pilot to the sudden overheating of his ship to the uncanny idea that a chief component - determinal to the starbase was inside a landing hanger.
Ok... enough dissing PM for it wasn't all bad.
Now when I heard what Lucas decided to call Episode II, I inherently whinced. I begun to glaze over. I wanted more action less overcheesy forced comedy. Also, I was to look forward to a fluffer romance. Mind you... I am a GIRL! I like romances.. but after PM... I want action. hehe...
However, I changed mind my after reading an article issued by TIME. I became hopeful. I have seen images and I have seen some small footage from the movie. I am actually excited about Star Wars again. Perhaps, there is a charm about second chances. I can't wait!!
If you want to check out that TIME article... visit here:
http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101020429/
~ SeineThinker ~
Truth like surgery, may hurt, but it cures. - Han Suyin, Chinese Physician and Writer
No, the movie isn't as bad as people claim it to be. However, it's not even Jedi good as far as the trilogy goes.
In STAR WARS, you had a director who was (for all intents and purposes) new and idealistic. He wanted to make a sci-fi movie in the vein of the old Buck Rogers serialized films, but wanted to have some sort of timeless quality. He achived this...STAR WARS is a grand fairy tale that reminds us of brave knights storming a castle to rescue the princess from the evil wizard. If course, it's a little deeper than that, and he did it admirably, albeit you can see it's a very rookie effort.
EMPIRE is, in my opinion, one of the best movies ever made. It's exciting, thrilling, and deep. The universe really opens up and we see the simple struggles for what they are. We see a change in relationships that shifts the entire spectrum. And most of all, it introduced the idea of a puppet that acts. Say what you want, Yoda in EMPIRE acts. It's a tiny, silly puppet that looks real, conveys emotion, and convinces you in one sentence that this is one powerful figure in the universe. I hate Ep1 Yoda...he looks fake and plastic and completely flies in the face of EMPIRE's work.
JEDI...good movie. Uses half of act 2 and all of act 3 for action. Bold decision that paid out. Great battles that ended the series (New Jedi Order fighting Empire remnants?...WTF was the death of the Emperor, a speed bump for the Empire?!). However, we had Ewoks...a marketing ploy. I think this movie might have been better than EMPIRE if Lucas got to do his Wookiee slave camp.
MENACE...ugh. A good movie, compared to other crap (Stop Or My Mom Will Shoot! vs Episode 1, anyone?), but utter crap compared to what came before.
And I have little faith in CLONES. I read the adaptation, and it's exciting and well plotted. But I've seen the trailers...Christensen looks and sounds wooden. I hope he's not. Portman is misused again into a unidimensional role. And there's a couple continuity gaffs I won't mention but will be brought up after release.
Oh, how I hope I'm wrong...cause if Episode 3 sucks, the entire series will fall flat. Episode 3 cannot suck...it has to be dark, brooding, deeply philosophical, and light on action. The turning of Anakin to Vader is not an action sequence for crying out loud!
Where do you get off calling Jar Jar "ugly?" Star Wars is supposed to have aliens in it, and from an entirely aesthetic standpoint, Jar Jar is a very cool looking alien.
/. would ever admit having watched.
We hate him primarily for three reasons. First, his whiny, nasal, pseudo-Jamaican voice. Second, his entirely unfunny clumsiness and Jerry Lewis-esque pratfalls. Finally, there's his "How rude" catchphrase, which was ripped off a mediocre sitcom that nobody on
Jar Jar, I believe, can be saved. There's a good decade between Episodes I and II, which provides plenty of time for character development. First, we lower his voice an octave or two. Since we know nothing of Gungan physiology, it's possible that Binks was on the tail end of adolesence, and his vocal cords weren't fully developed. Then, ship him off to war. He is a general, after all. A few years in the trenches and he might toughen up and learn just enough to be more dangerous to the enemy than himself. Finally, war has made him cynical and bitter, so we can replace "how rude" with "kiss my amphibious ass."
Make those changes, and I think everyone would agree that Jar Jar would be tolerable, and possibly even cool.
Or go to plan B, which has Jar Jar meet his decapatastic demise at the hands of the Emperor in the first thirty seconds of the movie.
Neither will happen, of course. But can't I dream?
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