 |
| Home · Reviews · Interviews · Contests · Forums · Video Player |
  
|
by Jennifer Alpeche Published: December 4, 2002
Disc One “Anakin! How many times have I told you… stay away from the power couplings.” As the second film in a series of six, yet the second-to-last film to be released, “Star Wars: Episode II, Attack of the Clones” benefits from its predecessors or rather, its successors. It is a better film because we know what will happen in Episodes IV, V, and VI. We watch the events of this prequel with knowing eyes, yet we still allow ourselves some surprises, as well as some disappointments along the way. I believe I enjoyed “Attack of the Clones” much more because of “A New Hope” and “Emprie Strikes Back.” Certain scenes, certain lines, had more meaning for me because I knew what was to come. And perhaps some will consider this a negative, but I have accepted that “Star Wars” is a six-part saga and soon, when all six episodes have been released and we can watch them in the order George Lucas has now envisioned, I think the story will make better sense. Or perhaps it'll be better because we’ll be finishing up with the originals? Maybe. Again, I think “Attack of the Clones” benefits from the latter episodes. We watch Anakin (Hayden Christensen) in Episode II knowing who he's destined to be. He flies off the handle and we shake our heads, seeing his arrogance and vulnerability to the Dark Side. We catch lines like Obi-Wan’s (Ewan McGregor) in the Coruscant bar – “You’ll be the death of me.” We see parallel scenes from the prequels and the original episodes and we smile. And most of us enjoy the sight of Yoda bouncing about, fighting like the Jedi Master we knew he was ever since “Empire Strikes Back.” Certainly I had problems with “Attack of the Clones,” from the stiff acting to the sad dialogue to the not-quite-perfect digital effects. But there are times when I really enjoyed the movie. Some of the locations and images are gorgeous. I loved the worlds that Lucas and his creative teams have imagined and I can’t wait to see what they have planned for the finale… I mean Episode III. So “Attack of the Clones” is mixed for me. From the first time I saw it, I couldn’t quite say how I felt. It was mixed then, and it still is. However listening to Lucas, producer Rick McCallum, editor Ben Burtt, and the other filmmakers involved with “Star Wars,” I have a better understanding of how Episode II was made. This isn’t in reference to the technical stuff, which is explained in a terrific way on Disc II, but I mean why it’s being told in the way that it is. As George Lucas points out in the audio commentary, they are working with a plot that was established 30 years ago. They’re constrained by that somewhat, yet they are also inspired by it. The look of “Attack of the Clones” is based on Episodes IV, V, and VI, and what must be told in Episodes I, II, and III is dictated by what we know in the latter episodes. That being said, it’s not so easy to cram everything that needs to be told in three films. If not told properly, there will be holes and George Lucas knows this all too well. That said, I cannot fault Mr. Lucas too harshly. It’s a difficult task to be sure and he was determined to take it on, believing it possible. And so here we are. Disc One contains the film, as well as a feature-length commentary with the filmmakers. They’ve helped us out in identifying the speakers, introducing them by creative title and name onscreen and then again by name whenever one pipes up. Lucas focuses more on the story, explaining why scenes were shot and what the logic behind them was. He starts out by telling us that the title Attack of the Clones was based on Episode IV. In that episode, Princess Leia speaks to Obi-Wan about the Clone Wars and later, Luke asks him about it too. I remember when I first heard the news that Episode II was going to be called “Attack of the Clones.” I thought it was a joke and didn’t believe it until I saw it reported everywhere and heard the outcry. But soon after my initial shock, the title sounded right and learning more about its meaning within the context of “Star Wars,” it sounds perfect. I suppose this is another example of what I mean when I say that “Attack of the Clones” benefits from the other episodes. I firmly believe that these prequels will get better when they are watched as part of a whole. Independently, they’re lacking. Also included in the commentary is producer Rick McCallum, who speaks mostly about the task of filming Episode II. When they get to the fight in the Genosis arena, he describes it as a nightmare. Technically, the film is an absolute challenge because truly, it's all digital. Everything about “Attack of the Clones” was previsualized, created in a computer. The fact that it looks as “real” as it does is a credit to Industrial Light & Magic. Some of the effects, such as when Anakin is riding that beast while having a picnic with Padme (Natalie Portman) on Naboo, do not work well at all. But these are small moments. Overall, the worlds created by ILM are beautiful and believable. Kamino is my favorite. Rounding out the commentary are: editor and sound designer Ben Burtt; ILM animation director Rob Coleman, and ILM visual effects supervisors Pablo Helman, John Knoll, and Ben Snow. All of these artists take turns explaining what we’re seeing on the screen and give us insight into how scenes were shot and what to look for when watching the movie again. What struck me about “Attack of the Clones” is that there is a lot of things going on at once and while we don’t notice everything, it all matters. For instance, the speeder chase at the beginning of the movie with Anakin, Obi-Wan, and the assassin. All the vehicles flying through the air, the buildings, the bilboards, the activity happening around them -- all of that was looked at and agonized over. We don’t notice a lot of it. It’s gone in a flash. But to create a real world, every detail needed to be as right as possible. At times, they couldn’t make it work (see above example), but oftentimes, they did. Disc Two Disc Two offers more than five hours of making-of and behind-the-scenes extras. The first documentary “From Puppets to Pixels” deals with the transformation of ideas (Dexter Jettster) and former puppets (Yoda) into digital characters made to move, talk, and interact like real-life characters. It starts out with some old footage from the original series. George Lucas looks so young. We see the original Yoda, Jabba, and Chewbacca. We also see how they made the lightsaber fights with Christopher Lee (Count Dooku) so very real, a technique used in “Lord of the Rings” as well. The entire documentary runs about 53 minutes. The second documentary “State of the Art” is only half as long and focuses on the importance of previsualzation -- the art of setting up and animating scenes in a computer. Especially for a movie like “Attack of the Clones,” where special effects and manufactured worlds are everything, previsualization saves time and clarifies the filmmaking process. The coolest part of this documentary was when it shows old techniques used for low-level previsualization in the original episodes. Necessary even then, seeing scenes before they were filmed helped with decision-making. The featurettes are between 8 and 9 1/2 minutes in length. There are three, titled “Story,” “Love” and “Action.” Each include interviews with the filmmakers and stars, including Lucas, McCallum, Burtt, Christensen, McGregor, Portman, Lee, and Samuel L. Jackson (Mace Windu). This part of the DVD helps explain the plot for “Attack of the Clones” and the importance of love and action to not only this movie, but the entire saga. The Web documentaries is an award-winning collection of 12 short featurettes that originally aried online prior to the film's release. Many fans have already seen them, unable to ignore any new “Star Wars” goodies as they become available. But they’re not bad at all to watch again. We follow the production of “Attack of the Clones,” with featurettes on digital filmmaking, the Jedi Starfighter, location shoots around the world, Hayden Christensen as Anakin, visual effects, sound, models, extras, the Fett Family, Jedi knights, wardrobe for Padme, and the battle in Genosis Arena. And one other featurette most people have seen is a very funny “mockumentary” on R2-D2’s rise, fall, and return to fame. “R2-D2: Beneath the Dome” originally aired on Fox and I didn’t have my tape in that night so I wasn’t able to record it. I’m very glad it’s on the DVD. We hear from all of those who were mesmerized by R2-D2’s star power, including Lucas friends Francis Ford Coppola and Steven Spielberg. Also included on Disc Two are special featurettes on sound: “Films Are Not Released; They Escape” and visual effects: “Episode II Visual Effects Breakdown Montage.” This is a lovely 3 1/2 minute montage featuring before-and-after shots of ILM’s creations, from Obi-Wan’s flight through downtown Coruscant to Jango Fett on Kamino. This featurette really hammered home the fact that “Attack of the Clones” is digital. Everything, save the actors, seemed to be created out of ideas and digital technology. The droid factory reminded me of the door vault from “Monster’s, Inc.” and the pie-making machine of “Chicken Run.” Interesting that they’re animated movies. We also get the trailer, the 3 teasers, and the 11 TV spots, which were wonderfully conceived. Other extras include the music video for “Across the Stars,” production stills, the one-sheet posters from around the world, and the international banners. And finally, Lucas and Co. give us eight delightful deleted scenes with introductions by Lucas, Rick McCallum, and Ben Burtt. These deleted scenes disappointed me in a way. Not because they're bad scenes, but because I wished some were in the film. Who knows what else? Most of them are character-driven and I believe would have added to the movie. We get lots of background information on Padme, as well as Anakin and two with Obi-Wan. It’s good to see the scenes and although I understand how plot-wise, some of the information in these scenes is repetitive and drawn-out and that the editing process is heartbreaking for filmmakers, I don’t see why we couldn’t have a little more character development for some of the characters -- especially the parents of Leia and Luke. But George Lucas said one thing that stuck out for me. He said he was a “visual filmmaker, not a literary filmmaker.” He said he allows action to tell the story, rather than dialogue. Hearing that, knowing where he is coming from, “Attack of the Clones” makes more sense. Understanding how to watch the movie is very helpful. We can want more of this or more of that, better acting and better dialogue, but our expectations might be romanticized. I only wished that George Lucas and his creative team in their quest to meet and exceed our expectations didn’t forget that “Attack of the Clones” was initially about an ambitious, restless Jedi that would one day become “the most powerful Jedi of them all.” Somehow I remember Yoda more. Overall Rating: Still a B- for the film, but a B+ for the DVD. |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Copyright © 1997-2013 Burlee LLC. All rights reserved. | Reprints | Privacy Policy | Disclosure | About Us/Contact Us | RSS Feed |
