Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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30 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Empire prepares to strike......, August 3, 2002
Ok, first of all, I would like to say that all of the people out there who went to this movie expecting it to be exactly on the same level as the older trilogy, and left feeling disappointed by the story, or the characters, or anything else. You can't expect it to be the same at all. The first trilogy was set during a civil war, during a dark time. The characters were varied. You had a rogue, a princess, a wookiee co-pilot, an old war hero jedi, and a young antagonist with hidden potential, who all came together to defeat a common enemy. Now, flash back a few decades. It is a peaceful time, but with a stirring in the air, of a coming change. The government is becoming stale and corrupt, and the Jedi are losing their mystique and grandeur, because they are attached to the stale government. So, you can expect a few things. Dense political plotlines, corrupt individuals, Jedi who aren't in touch with their powers anymore, and a more old school soceity. You must understand this. Han Solo would never blend in an environment such as this, he wouldn't match. The characters in this movie were superb in my opinion, because they fit the times that they were set in. Obi-Wan (Ewan) was much more fleshed out, and you could tell that he was scared for Anakin, and his fear would lead to failure in his training of Anakin. Anakin ( Hayden) also came to full veiw. No longer the child who screamed "wizard!", He had come into the light as a troubled young man who would become The Darth Vader we all know. And Yoda, I know there are a few people out there who said that yoda's fight was sacrilige, I disagree. Yoda has trained for hundreds of years, His skills would reflect that. And add the fact that he wasn't at the end of his life like he is later. Padme was the same, but for good reason. Mace had more screen time, and Dooku was a good addition to the story, it's good to hear some smack talking in a fight. I miss that. The movie exceeded my expectations in many ways. I now have to wait a couple more years to see the empire rise to power and the climactic lightsaber battle that is inevitable, but I can make it now, thanks to the second chapter not sucking. Now I can watch a newer Star Wars DVD without wincing, the years will pass more easily that way.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Superb Movie, June 7, 2005
Exciting action scenes, great special effects, witty dialogue, angst-filled romance. Ignore naysayers who say the dialogue is terrible, (I would like to know what is so bad about it. It is an adventure movie and yet the dialogue is almost corn-free, yet many pretentious "acting" movies are full of corn), or the acting is bad. Hayden Christensen is convincing showing his angst and sometimes being a petulant brat, (he does play a teenager, yet critics seem to have a problem with him actually playing his part)setting up his path to the darkside. The mentor-student, father-son relationship between Obi-Wan and Anakin is well done, shown in the movie with the fast and sometimes witty Star Wars dialogue I love.
If it seems I am attacking the critics it is because I do see a lot of pandering to snobbishness in many of their reviews, instead of an honest assessment of the movie. Also, too much nostalgic feelings from die-hard original Star Wars trilogy fans gets in the way of some of the reviews. Many of these reviewers are TOO stuck on their nostagia, and review by constantly comparing them to the old movies (a very high-standard indeed!), and whether they fulfill their nostagia, instead of just taking in the new movies as they are. If they just don't care for the movie, fine, but there is too much going into many reviews that have nothing to actually do with the quality of the movie itself.
In any case, just try the movie if you haven't seen it already. Ignore the snobs and the overly nostalgic. Have fun and be wowed, and see the new movie Revenge of the Sith in theaters, another 6 out of 5 star movie!
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18 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Bada Bing!, May 8, 2003
By A Customer
This film is so awful, I could write a full-length thesis paper about it. What's amazing to me is how many Amazon reviewers acknowledge faults in the movie, and still praise it with five stars.Attack of the Clones is Star Wars for the Attention Deficit Disorder generation. Lucas has overstuffed sequences with frenetic visuals, hoping to distract viewers into thinking they're entertained, desperately trying to compensate for the lagging, flabby plot and woefully inadeqate characterization. It's really more of a glorified video game than an actual film. Wonder which demographic likes Attack of the Clones the most? It's mostly 12- to 21-year-old boys who grew up on Nintendo, PlayStation, and X-Box. Unfortunately, busy special effects alone do not a great movie make. Frankly, the visuals aren't even that great. There was no show of Force at the Oscars when Attack of the Clones lost the Special Effects trophy to Lord of the Rings. The biggest flaws in this film center around the scenes between Padme and Anikan. First of all, the dialogue is atrocious, with wooden actors delivering hackneyed lines and cliches at every turn. Honestly, this stuff wouldn't even fly in soap operas. Why should we excuse it in a multi-million dollar movie? Secondly their "love" story has no believability, and doesn't develop naturally. Annakin is portrayed as a snotty, arrogant, obsessive boy with a violent temper and psychotic tendencies. So, what exactly draws Padme toward him? Plot contrivances are often awkward or totally head-scratching. Jango sends Zam who sends a droid who sends worms, to kill Padme? And what's with the title? Attack of the Clones? What attack? The clones don't show up until the end of the movie, when they are dispatched to *defend* the Jedi. I will grant the film one star for interesting cinematography and costumes. Also, the fight between Jango and Kenobi is well-choreographed. But give more praise, I can not. Most disappointing of all, this film is totally devoid of the magic infused into the original trilogy films. Maybe Lucas should have enlisted Lawrence Kasdan, scripter for *two* of the original trilogy movies, including the most critically-lauded, Empire Strikes Back. Lucas is now trying to do everything himself. He wants total control of the universe, but somewhere during his 10-year-plus hiatus from movie-making he lost his edge. Someday twenty years from now, another director will remake the Episodes 1-III. But it will be awhile. Good Star Wars prequels are still "far, far, away..."
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