Thread: Episode II
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Old 05-22-2002, 05:07 AM   #2
Alastair
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Yes it did.

WORST. STAR WARS. EVER.

This is Industrial Heavy Merde thrown at us. Attack of the Crap.

Lucas has definitely lost his touch. This is like a 100% original codebase with uniquely advanced features with Midgaard as starting town.
The bottomline is that SW went steadily downhill after Episode V.

SPOILERS AHEAD.




Attack of the Bore
The first two-thirds of the movie are a constant bore. As Anakin and Padme hop from location to location, the plot drags on and on and on. One endless lag. We are supposed to see the dual development of Anakin's love for Padme and his slow slide into the dark side. What we do witness is a completely inane pseudo-romantic comedy in the Star Wars universe. Lucas' fumbling attempts at character building as well as Hayden Christensen's (Anakin) limited acting skills lead only to deep disbelief when Amidala seems to be smitten by him. Hey, even if the roles of Padme and Anakin was played by Julia Roberts and Richard Gere, and directed by Nora Ephron, the result would have been better.

Character de-building
Attack of Captain Obvious. To make sure the stupid viewer understands Kenobi's a poor teacher, he also becomes an inept Jedi. He pilots like dirt. He's useless with a lightsabre. His demeanour does not command respect but pity. In Episode I, he was a dashing, if impatient, young Jedi. In AOTB, he's an utter failure, trailing along wherever the plot carries him. You can almost hear him thinking "1 - Get over this drag. 2 - Fire Agent."
No wonder his padawan has no respect for him - young milkfaced Mark Hamill played a more credible Jedi than him.
As for Anakin, gee, Captain obvious again. Aside from the sub-par acting, he's so arrogant and self-centered, you have to wonder why Lucas didn't simply put in a subtitle "ANAKIN IS TURNING TO THE DARK SIDE!" every time he opens his mouth. His claims to love Kenobi like a father are completely phony. Perhaps this was the intention - yet I suspect there was supposed to be a father-son relationship in the originial script. Well, it's completely botched.

Jedi knights? Bah!
So the dark side become stronger? The Jedi are weaker? Well, it's clear as day in this flick. The Jedi council looked wise in Episode I. Now they look disoriented and clueless.
A Sith Lord is grabbing power right under their nose, but they don't feel a thing - even after Dooku's warning (Bah, he's evil, so he must lie. We don't need to investigate - yet we know there's still at least one Sith beside Dooku on the lose since Episode I). At the same time, Yoda immediately senses Anakin killing a tiny Tusken village several parsecs away.
Come on.
OBK in Episode IV and Qui-Gon were some kind of role-models of the Jedi. You don't see any kind of wisdom or "deep connection with the Force" at all in this flick.

The ending would have been cool, but...
Once the arena scene begins, I was so utterly disappointed by that lackluster movie that the battle scenes were unable to rescue the movie.
OK, some cool sabre fights (I did like Yoda's. That one was fun). At the same time, too many sabre fights, not enough focus.
And where are those space flight and space battle scenes which Lucas was so famous for in the first Trilogy?
Twenty-five years ago, Lucas had been able to convey the impression of a vast universe and the deepness of Space which revolutionned the genre. Now we get only a planet-hopping road movie mixed with a failed romantic comedy.

The world was better off without this prequel trilogy. Episode II made that cristal clear, for all those who still had hopes after Episode I.
Never has "A New Hope" been more aptly named...
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