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3 Different reviews, each with a different number of stars...
~Shaun Crimmins~
Plot:Forget all of the disappointment and child-like characters
that came with Episode I: The Phantom Menace. George Lucas is back
with the fifth installment of the Star Wars saga and the second movie in
the line of prequels. Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones begins
with the Republic in turmoil. Several systems have announced their
separation from the Republic, forming their own separatist party led by
the former Jedi Count Dooku. The Senate is debating over the crucial
issue of whether or not to create an Army of the Republic to battle the
Separatist faction. The former queen turned Senator Amidala represents
the deciding vote and is on her way to Corruscant to speak in the
Senate. A botched assassination attempt on the Senator’s life leaves one
question, who has the order out on the Senator’s head? Assigned to
protect Amidala is the now teenage Jedi-in-training, Anakin Skywalker. The
story undergoes several twists and turns as a dark plot is uncove!
red and Anakin’s inevitable path to the dark side progresses.
 :To start off with, how bout the positive parts of the
movie. First off, is the plot, which many feel to be non-existent. As
many have said, the plot appears to have too many twists and turns and
doesn’t go anywhere, even including the disappointing lack of a villain.
Put in perspective, from someone who has seen all the Star Wars movies,
the plot begins to make sense. The entire purpose of the movie is not
to be so shallow as to have one all powerful villain in this movie.
The plot serves to tell the story of how the former Queen Amidala falls
in love with the innocent little boy from Tatooine, and how that little
boy becomes corrupted by his extraordinary abilities and travels down a
murderous path in which he betrays and murders the Jedi order. Episode
I as much as a disappointment as people thought it was, works with
Episode II to also detail just how the empire came to be, and it is in
Episode II that the viewer truly begins to see The Empire taking !
shape with the creation of the clone army and Supreme Chancellor’s
actions and facial expressions in this movie. There are points when the
Supreme Chancellor will be speaking on a subject and Yoda will give him a
very peculiar look as if Yoda knows that the Chancellor is up to
something. So for a regular moviegoer looking for a clear-cut villain, Count
Dooku may seem to fall short, and some of his lines may seem corny but
he does serve a purpose, and aids in one way or another to the creation
of the Empire, and sets the stage for the story’s ultimate bad guy, the
Emperor himself. Another bright spot in this movie is the acting.
Hayden Christensen who I never heard of before, gives new life to Anakin
Skywalker. Personally I thought the little kid in the first movie was
annoying and left me wishing he got chopped in half and not Darth Maul.
Christensen gives depth to the character of Anakin as he argues in
almost every scene with the decisions Obi Wan has made. We the a!
udience, see his gradual turn to the dark side and the scene during and
after the Tusken Raider camp is powerful as we see the extent of his
hate. I disagree with his confession to Amidala, cuz that’s just
something you don’t say to someone you’re trying to get with, but it does show
how corrupted he’s become. The chemistry between Hayden Christensen
and Natalie Portman is perfect. The two work very well together, despite
some of the corny lines of conversation between the two(Sand is rough,
irritating, you’re beautiful, smooth). Lastly, Ewan McGregor’s
performance as Obi Wan is flawless. After watching this movie, I went and
watched the older Star Wars movies with Sir Alec Guinness and the
similarities are amazing. Ewan McGregor is Obi Wan. McGregor gives the
audience the story of a teacher trying to instruct his student, while at the
same time, diverting his student from a path to the dark side which he
is heading towards. The final complement I have for the movie !
is the computer generated scenes. The rain planet of Kimino was
amazing. It was just a great concept and the Clone Factory within it was
awesome. For some reason it reminded me of the Matrix with all of the
clones being grown. Also the droid factory was another good scene, and
equally as amazing to the eye. My favorite scene appears at the end,
with Supreme Chancellor Palpatine on the balcony overlooking his troops.
This was just amazing, and most people familiar with the Star Wars
story loved this scene.
 :The negatives in this movie can be found in the
interaction between Anakin and Amidala. It’s not the actors’ fault, but these
are just terrible lines. The fireplace scene where Anakin confesses
that he is tormented by Padme and is whining about how she gave him a kiss
had me rolling my eyes. This crap needed to be taken out of the movie
or at least muted so we the audience could just stare at Natalie
Portman for a while. Also, the lack of Darth Sideous in this movie was
garbage. Seeing Darth Sideous in Episode I is what practically saved the
movie, besides Darth Maul. In Episode II, Jar Jar Binks has more lines
than Darth Sideous, which is ridiculous and I don’t even wanna get
started on Jar Jar, but at least put more of Darth Sideous in the movie.
His character along with the alter ego of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine
are what gives the movie its villain.
Overall, I give Star Wars Episode II four
stars, just because I liked this movie more than all other Star Wars films
with the exception of Return of the Jedi. I liked the story and I liked
the characters. The job of Episode II is to take everything that
happened in Episode I and make everything fall into place for Episode III,
leaving the audience wanting more and having to wait till 2005 to see
more. Episode II, in my mind does this, and now all that’s left is to sit
and wait 3 more years.
~Josh Gagnon~
Plot: Ok, Anakin grows up (sort of), falls in love with the senator, gets married. Both sides are building armies of clones and fight. Anakin is on his way to the dark side. Death star is being made. Republic is being formed. Pretty much that's it, plain and simple. There wasn't a MAIN plot, but this is just a bridge to the next movie.
: I shall be crucified if I talk to much in the negative about this movie, I know my friend has already. I'll just point out a few things that bothered me and move on. Villian? What villain? Jenga Fett was cool, but not really in the movie much. Count Dooku a.k.a Zeus, was a joke. I say that, because Darth Maul was (in my opinion) an awesome villain, but going from him to the "electrifying" Dooku, just put me to sleep.
Here's an equation:
Anakin
+Senator Amidala
+Love scenes
===========
MTV's Dismissed
Even big fans of Star Wars have to admit they cringed a little when these two were together. I was digging it when she rejected Anakin, "I will always think of you as that little boy in tatoonie." That made my laugh when I heard that. Then, "it" happened "I hate sand... it's course, rough, and irritating. Everything you're not, you're soft, gentle (Rubs Amidala's back) (kiss" WOW. I don't know, but to me that was horrible, you mean if I bust out lame metaphoric comparisons I can get royalty to marry me too? Those were the two big things that bothered me the most, along with the movie being too long, Anakin jumping to his death only to grab onto the car their chasing, and unoriginal blue sparks from Dooku, all the creative stuff and that's what Lucas comes up with for the last battle.
: On to the good stuff. I’m just going to list what I liked:
-Star Wars: Crouching Yoda, Hidden Lightsaber. Yoda fighting was a nice surprise, the crowd clapped and cheered when he came out, very cool.
-Natalie Portman, holy god she looked good compared to the first episode. All the clown-whore makeup she had on in the 1st episode was so lame. It’s nice to see little mid-drift on her.
-Obi-Wan, great part in the movie.
-Anakin's ass kicking of the tuskin raiders.
-The waterfall surrounding a little island was an awesome site.
-Mace Windu, I'm glad he got more time in this movie, him and Yoda were a nice pairing.
-LESS FREAKING JAR JAR, me sa! Me sa! Me-SHUT THE HELL UP!
-Special effects at times were really cool; the massive clone war/factory was cool. As was the camera angles in the chase scene.
-R2-D2 can fly?
-C3-PO's head and body switch in the factory.
That's about all I can think of from what I really enjoyed out of this movie.
End: I'm not a big fan of Star Wars, never was, that's why I'm not head over heels for this movie. I liked the first episode better, better villain and acting. Although this movie had more Natalie and more special effects. Big fans loved this movie, they wanted more, couldn't get enough. While average fans (like myself) thought it was a bit long and blah, yes blah. Lucas could have Yoda taking a crap on his enemy and big fans would think the movie was a level below god-like. That's how much of a loyal following this movie has.
From an average fan, I give this average movie 3 stars.
~Alan Benedict~
Plot: Plot? You mean movies are supposed to have plots? Ohhhh…
Maybe someone should have informed george lucas of that fact. I guess you can pick out little pieces of a plot here and there. But overall (unless you’re a star wars fanatic) it’s way too hard to follow. Anakin is now teamed up with obi wan kenobi, I dunno what happened to the old guy from episdoe 1. Maybe he died, who knows, who cares. Anyway, the new dynamic duo is assigned to protect Padme. a.k.a. Amedelia, a.k.a. the senator a.k.a. the former queen. In the process a lotta crazy crap happens that no one in the audience really gives a damn about. And during all this craziness, Anakin still finds time to swoon “Padme”. Don’t ask me how this comes to be, Anakin is a whiny dick throughout the whole movie. I’m glad he gets his arm cut off.
: Some of the fight scenes were awesome. They did a nice job with the special effects. Makin a lotta weird looking aliens that fit right in. As well as some very nice landscapes and houses, and depictions of flying cars in raised cities (think “the jetsons”) The acting really wasn’t bad. They did a good job with the crap they had to work with. And Natalie Portman looked fantastic in that tight white outfit. All in all, there were a few good scenes thrown into a ridiculous movie.
: Where do I start… Everything just seemed so convenient. Anakin jumping 500 feet straight down to land perfectly on the back of the speeding ship he was trying to catch. Obi Wan Kenobi grabbing his light saber while crusing along at at least 100 mph. Padme falling perfectly into a cauldron instead of plummeting into the depths. Speaking of Padme, I still can’t figure out how she fell for a goon like Anakin. I wish I knew royalty that was that easy. Anakin spewed a couple lovely lines of trash at her, trying to compliment her, and she buys into it. DUR. She rejects him 3 or 4 times, but she really falls for him when he explains how he exterminated a whole village, emphasizing the fact that he made sure to take out the women and children. Doesn’t seem right to me. From the moment the movie started playing, it just flatlined. No introduction, no rising action, a bump of a climax that you didn’t really care about, no falling action, and not much of a resolutuion. During the climax, you couldn’t even tell what was goin on because you couldn’t tell which machines belonged to which waring faction. And before the climax, the movie just dragged, way too much unneeded political babbling.
End: Well, I was never a really huge Star Wars fan, and this movie didn’t exactly catch my intereset enough to go blow 70 bucks on the trilogy, or to get exited about episode III. I can only give this movie 2 ½ stars, I was not impressed at all. Go rent American Beauty.
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