Today being Sunday, around the world millions of people are taking part in various religious ceremonies. This is a pretty standard practice, however today I was amongst those numbers. At 9:30am I was outside the Odeon in Kensington for a preview of Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of The Clones. I was quite excited about this for a number of reasons, 1) it’s Star Wars 2) It has Samuel L Jackson with a lightsabre and using it and 3) I was seeing it before the rest of the world at a special screening.
Anyways I enjoyed it, quite a bit with a number of reservations though. It’s too long for one, coming in at around two and half hours was at least an hour too long for the story being told. It could have been done in two hours and not have lost anything. Saying that I did not want the last forty-five minutes or so to end. Acting wise, Ewan McGregor (Obi-Wan Kenobi) does a damn solid job and Natalie Portman (Padmé Amidala) is a joy to watch as always. Christopher Lee (Count Dooku) and Samuel L Jackson (Mace Windu) are the gods you expect but are both hideously under used. Hayden Christensen (Anakin Skywalker) just plainly did not work, but I am unsure as to whether that was his acting or his role. In the movie I just saw, it was completely inconceivable for Padmé to fall in love with Anakin.
However and just to prove how complete a geek I am, one of the biggest problems I had with the film was the Jedis and their use of lightsabres. When Mace Windu walks up to Count Dooku, you just know your going to enjoy the next few minutes. When all around the arena you see Jedi Knights pulling their lightsabres out it just gets better and it’s easily the best scene in the movie. Unfortunately the follow through falls short. Yes, the Jedi are facing tons of droids and yes they kick ass, but they all look like they are in front of a blue screen swinging a stick. There is a complete lack of energy and even action. They stand on the spot and swing their arms. I was very disappointed with all the money poured into FX and some are really done well I would have given this some extra effort. Here I was also waiting for Mace Windu to come into his own, for fuck sake you have Samuel L Jackson kicking ass with a lightsabre why would you cut to anyone else? The fight between Mace and Jango Fett was kinda lacking too, it didn’t showcase anything that you would expect from either of the characters.
Anyway it did have a couple of really nice twists that I hadn’t seen coming that really work well and do actually leave me looking forward to the next one a lot.
The battle between Count Dooku and Anakin Skywalker was also quite lacking. While it should have been this monumental battle, especially considering the result instead have the lights turned off and we see blades whishing in the dark and close ups of their faces. It really did not work.
Now of course I have to talk about Yoda. I really don’t know what to say though, seeing Yoda pull out a lightsabre and kick ass made me laugh so much. It was just comedic but it worked really well. It is quite amazing how the technology worked so well and made Yoda look so awesome. This and the massive battle at the end that starts off the war are reasons to see it again.
Overall verdict. Enjoyable but overlong. I’ve seen it once, I more than likely won’t see it in the cinema again, but I will buy it on DVD. I have to say that in the end I preferred Spiderman, it was more fun and a more enjoyable movie.