Darth Paul Reviews AOTC!! FOR REAL!!! Posted by: Darth Paul 5-15-02 12:01am I Have Seen the Light & It's Called SW EPII: ATTACK OF THE CLONES (Possible Lite Spoilers) Ok, so I'm still trying to come down off of the high I got on Sunday night May 12th. I was lucky enough to be one of the people to attend the Charity Premiere of EPII here in Philadelphia. So what was so great about this you ask? Well, first and foremost we raised money for the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Fetal Heart Program, a damn worthy charity (in my own opinion). Second, as a part of the local 501st Legion Garrison we got to hang out with the Stars of the OT!!! We were hangin' with Chewie (Peter Mayhew), R2 (Kenny Baker), Darth Vader (David Prowse), and Boba Fett (Jeremy Bulloch), who the MC kept calling Bubba Fett, which I thought was quite humorous. Third, we got to see the FREAKIN' MOVIE!!!!!! On to the review. This movie is definitely not The Phantom Menace, not that I disliked TPM, but after seeing EP II, TPM pales in comparison, actually I think most, if not all, of the other SW movies pale in comparison to Attack of the Clones. GASP!! Sacrilege you say! This movie is action packed from start to finish. So I don't want to go into too many details since I know some are Spoiler sensitive, but let's just say that the Mystery Trailer, which was the EP I DVD exclusive trailer, says it all. There's a lot of mystery and intrigue going on in the galaxy, and the Jedi are being stretched very thin with all of their galactic responsibilities laid upon them by the Supreme Chancellor (evil, manipulative, SOB that he is!). This movie takes you on a wild roller coaster ride that goes on for over 2 hours and only slows down a little bit here and there to let you catch your breath. One of the things I loved about this film, was that it seemed to bring the emotion back into the SW experience, which seemed to be strangely absent from TPM. Now I'm not just talking about emotion on screen, I'm talking about the hooting, hollering, clapping, laughing, crying (literally) that was taking place in the audience. Hopefully you will all get to experience the fun of the collective ooh's, aah's, and gasps of the audience in your local theatres. Now I've heard some people talk negatively about the love story part of this movie, like "George is going all mushy on us". I thoroughly enjoyed the love story. I didn't think it was too mushy, or turned the movie sappy at all. Actually I thought it was a nice break between the action and intrigue going on. The acting is superb (OK maybe superb is a little strong)!!! Ewan McGregor (already a great actor) takes this role and brings it all back home. Obi Wan, his own slightly cynical self, is back. Natalie Portman finally gets to relax a little, and also kick a little ass as Padme. Hayden Christensen, ah, yes the golden boy, the boy who it all hangs on. I must say is "impressive, most impressive" (if I do say so myself). This kid is GOOD!! He brings a lot to the role of Anakin Skywalker, thank God! There is stuff going on behind this kids eyes that gets to you, and your saying to yourself Oh S$#t, here goes the galaxy. One minute he's making you laugh, and the next he's tearing at your heart, because you already know his destiny even though he doesn't. Now I know why I have heard him compared to James Dean. Ian McDiarmid, is just plain evil (as always), even more so in this one. You see him playing puppeteer to galactic politicians, jedi, etc. Christopher Lee is a legend, so there's not much to say there (plus I don't want to give too much away about his character). Then there's Sam Jackson (Mace Windu), and Frank Oz (Yoda) who get to do a lot more in this movie than any other, and we'll just leave it at that. Temuera Morrison is absolutely awesome as Jango Fett, mean and nasty. Visually this film is absolutely stunning, so much more so than The Phantom Menace. It will be interesting to see how they outdo Attack of the Clones with EP III. OK, so your thinking this guy is nuts, isn't there anything he didn't like? Well, yes and no. There was nothing I disliked so much that it detracted from the film. One of the major things that began to bother me, after I came down from the initial high, was the rushed sense of some things like the love story. don't get me wrong I don't think it was too rushed, I think they just could have slowed it down a little, or trimmed some of the action to develop it just a tiny bit more. Of course, then the movie would have been 3 hours long, and I know George didn't want that. As I've said visually it's beautiful, but at the same time during a scene in a meadow at a picnic there is some goofing off by Anakin and you can clearly see the FX dept must have been sleeping that day or something because what Anakin is supposed to be standing on looks like he's actually floating over instead. I know this is extremely nit picky, but hey I noticed it. One thing you may have noticed is I haven't mentioned Jar-Jar. Ah! Poor Jar-Jar, the punching bag of so many SW fans. I never really disliked him that much anyway, and in this movie he's barely there. But before you relax, I will say that he does have somewhat of an important (if limited) role. It's funny I've seen the movie, and I've read some of the critics (very negative) reviews for AOTC. I'm now wondering if we saw the same movie?? Oh well I'm going back for the roller coaster ride on Wednesday night, as I'm sure most of you are, so I hope you enjoy. I know I will. And please remember this is only one man's humble opinion. May the Force Be With You on Opening night!!!! Darth Paul P.S. To check out pics from the Charity Premiere here in Philly keep checking www.garrisoncarida.com under the Events / Charity section.