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Attack of the Clones Roundtable, Part 1
Sunday / 06.09.02 / 02:36PM / Joe
Fourhman.com presents the first in a series of roundtable discussions on "Star Wars Episode 2: Attack of the Clones." Just four lads trying to sound intelligent and informed while talking about freaking Star Wars. Let's meet the contestants:
 Matt, Chicago, IL. The only one of us to see the film in a digital theater, the bastard.
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 Joe, York, PA. The one, true Fourhman of Fourhman.com. More concerned with toys than with movie.
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 Scott, Lancaster, PA. Actually attempting to grow a padawan braid.
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 Chris, Wilmington, DE. Combining Star Wars fandom with general filmmaking fandom, a dangerous mix.
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Over the next few weeks, we'll share our thoughts on the movie and Star Wars in general. First, our initial impressions... after the disappointing Episode 1, we all had a different kind of expectation for Episode 2. While Ep. 1 premiered to a huge and slavering fanbase, Ep. 2's main question was "Will it suck as well?" So, imagine you're about half an hour into Clones... were you involved, irritated or asleep?
Matt: I thought it plodded along. I couldn't seem to gather a lot of excitement from it. The scenery was amazing but it was almost too much - I grew jaded rather quickly. The acting was just this side of painful. Where I saw clones: Chicago, IL at a digital screen, THX audio theatre. STUNNING picture. Great audio. When I say the picture was stunning, I kid you not. It's the cleanest, most colorful, most error-free picture ever. If you don't see Clones at a digital theatre, you miss out on about 25% of how technically beautiful the picture is.
Chris: George Lucas needs to learn to write a first act. Like Menace before it, the first half hour of this movie suffers from committee exposition. In other words, stupid meetings and needless exposition. Rather than SHOW things, he has people tell you. The first half hour suffered from lack of editing and too much editing. I must say, though, that the chase through Coruscant was great, except for the whole, oh Anakin can fall and live, thing, and saved the half hour from Phantom Boredom. I mean that first half hour I JUST DID NOT CARE FOR ANY OF THE CHARACTERS. MAKE ME CARE.
Scott: First, I must say that overall this was by far one of the best special effects movies ever! I wish I could see it in a more technologically advanced theater then "MoviE-town". I did enjoy the film thoroughly... as a person who grew up as a fan of the original trilogy, this film closed many of the open gaps between Menace and New Hope. (Although I could do without adding puzzles pieces - such as the whole Jenga Fett thing). As for the first 30 minutes, it was by far the most boring part of the film. But it fell right in line with all the other Star Wars films (yes, everyone starts out that way - a boring 30 minutes where the story is updated through often meaningless dialogue and poor acting - New Hope, Episode 4 at least had a small melee in the beginning before it lashed into boredom). Anyway, this down time at the start of the film did not bother me so much, seeing as how I knew it was coming when I bought my $4.25 ticket.
Joe: The Star Wars movies always begin in the middle of something. Hence the famous perspective intro-text (which I'm beginning to totally hate.) In Clones, we begin in the middle of a meeting. I'm already sleepy. But we soon segue into a car chase, which goes on Far Too Long. This sets up the pattern for the entire movie: people talking in worried tones, followed by people in crazy CG action sequences. The whole movie seemed custom made for a video game savvy audience. But back to the first half hour... like Chris said, I just couldn't seem to care about the characters... they're just kind of *there*, being put through the paces. But then again, this isn't really a character piece, is it?
NEXT: Standout moments... |
