[OT] Am I the only one who is getting excited for Star Wars - Attack of the Clones

[Holy Bovine]

I said it once, I'll say it again, alot of the EP1 bashing is of the "Me too" sort.

I love generalizations of this sort.

They make me feel all warm and fuzzy.

I have found a way to watch Phantom Menace that doesn't make my skin itch. A little thing called the Phantom Edit.

Some genius took the orginal movie and deleted certain scenes (not all Jar Jar scenes but some of the more inane ones - also some dialogue between Anakin and Amedala (sp?)).

This had the effect of tightening the movies pacing and kept Anakin as a much 'darker' figure - some intense looks where he (now) doesn't ruin it by saying some flippant piece of dialogue.

If you can find The Phantom Edit on Kazaa or Morpheus I would recommend downloading it (its huge and usually divided into 2 sections) - the picture quality isn't the best (I think the guys used a VHS tape) but it is more than watchable. I would pay to have Phantom Edit on DVD. I wouldn't go see Phantom Menace at the jumbo theater for free.

As far as Attack of the Clones I will go see it when it arrives at the second run theater here in town (mainly because I'm cheap but also I don't really have the enthusiasm for this one that i did for all the others - I do hope Lucas can surprise me and deliver some of that magic again - the Boba Fett and Jedi scenes shown briefly in the previous trailer do give me some hope for it).

Oh and King Stannis - if it does mean that much to you I will let everyone know if I do go see it in the first 2 weeks - seeing as how no one I know is very pumped about this movie that would probably mean I'd go alone however

 

[Welverin]

I enjoyed Episode I, even with Jar-Jar, the ridiculous way in which Darth Maul died, & the horrendous editing (*WHY*??? Why did they cut some of those scenes out? It makes no sense!!! )

Because a movie is supposed to be two hours long, any longer and scenes have to be cut.

 

[King_Stannis]

You know, I find it funny that people are always saying that those of us who say we dont like Episode 1 are just jumping on the "Me too" train. Im sorry, the movie was bad. For a look at why it was bad, let us turn our sight to a bit of commentary from the Esteemed Monte Cooke: http://pub58.ezboard.com/fokayyourturnfrm15.showMessage?topicID=263.topic

Monte basically sums up a number of reasons why the movie was a let down, and there are several other very good reasons brought up in that thread...

look, i don't think anyone should be labelling anyone as "fanboys" or "me-too's". everyone should respect each others opinions and take them at face value.

having said that, nobody has given me a good reason why attack of the clones will be a bad movie. again, prequels and 30 second trailers are nothing to base an opinon on.

as for monte....i love his work...in the RPG field. last i checked he was an award winning game designer, not a pulitzer prize winning film critic. his opinions are just as valid as mine - no more and no less. every point monte brings up can be refuted by people whose tastes are different. i must say, though, the level of vitriol aimed at phantom menace is surprising at times. again, i think the movie suffers from an unfair comparison to the trilogy.

 

[Michael Tree]

Well, all I can say about this, is the poorly written doesn't apply, LoTR was pre-written so to speak. As for subtle fx in FoTR did you miss Galadriel making like a strobe light? The eye of sauron practically slamming itself into Frodo's forehead anytime the ring was on, and any other very unsubtle moments?

I loved FoTR, but the special effects were far from subtle.

Some of them were not subtle. Some of them had to be.

The Galadrial scene was far too over the top though, you're right. It would have been far more effective to have used something like the scene near the beginning where the shadows deepen around Gandalf as he gains a subtle aura of power, to intimidate Bilbo into leaving the ring.

Most of the FX weren't explicitly noticable, because it altered the scene to make an effect. Lucas hasn't learned how to do that yet.

Perhaps "subtle" isn't quite the right word for the FX in LotR. "Artful" is better. The FX in LotR was used artfully, not gratuitously. Lucas likes to throw in tons of FX that has no purpose other than to clutter the screen. FX for FX's sake. LotR used FX to further the plot and create atmosphere, and did so utterly beautifully. Compare the scene in Moria with the Balrog's fire shining through the pillars before it is seen, or the scene on Weathertop, to anything in TPM or for that matter, anything in the trailers for Ep.II. The former were beautiful and powerful, while the best that can be said about the latter is that they were techically impressive. There's a reason why the Matrix won the Oscar for Best Special Effects instead of TPM.

 

[Michael Tree]

Because a movie is supposed to be two hours long, any longer and scenes have to be cut.

So cutting interesting and dramatic scenes is better than cutting any of the innumerable pointless and dull scenes that clutter the theatrical release of TPM?

 

[Michael Tree]

having said that, nobody has given me a good reason why attack of the clones will be a bad movie. again, prequels and 30 second trailers are nothing to base an opinon on.

Why not? Certainly you can't discern with 100% accuracy what a movie will be like from trailers and the director's past performance, but you can make a good estimate. Lucas' past few directorial and writing efforts have been awful, with TPM, the special editions, and RotJ following a definite trend. Just from those I wouldn't make a judgement on Ep.II, since a man can change and improve, but if you look at the Ep.II trailers, with their churningly bad dialogue, overabundance of needless special effects, and bad acting, you'll notice that the trend hasn't improved at all.

Trailers are supposed to showcase the movie, to show how great it is and entice people to want to see it. When a trailer not only doesn't look appealing, but has several embarassingly bad scenes in it, it doesn't bode well for the movie as a whole. There have been movies in the past that were great movies hindered by bad trailers, such as the Sixth Sense, but they have been few and far between, and it's unlikely that Ep.II will be one, judging by Lucas' past performance.

i think the movie suffers from an unfair comparison to the trilogy.

How right you are. If it wasn't "star wars" we would have only expected a bad summer blockbuster flick, not something good and enduring. We would have watched it, gawked at the good parts and cringed at the bad parts. Afterward we would have maybe talked with out friends about it, ooing and ahhing over the fight scene and making bad jokes about the movie's bad qualities, and then promptly forgotten about it. We certainly wouldn't be having conversations about it now. Who still complains about Armageddeon or Final Fantasy? No one, becuase we've forgotten about them like the throw-away movies they were.

If only it were so easy to forget about Ep.I. If only it were just a random sci-fi flick, not carrying the name of a series of movies so good that they shaped a generation.