Star Wars Episode Two-Will No One Rid Me of this Troublesome Jar-Jar
In my review of Star Wars Episode One: The Phantom Plot, I mean the Phantom Menace, I detailed how Episode One was not the film people wanted to see. This, of course, is but one man’s tiny, trivial, insignificant opinion. Fine, true and good. Episode One grossed a rather impressive $900 million plus worldwide. Star Wars Episode Two: Attack of the Clones, well it grossed approximately $600 million. $300 million dollar drop off from the first film?! I realize there are a lot of ways of looking at this, but isn’t it true that sequels to wildly popular films usually, at least come close to the original? A roughly 30% drop between the two films is pretty darn substantial. Especially when one considers that Episode Two is a better film and a much more entertaining ride. Another 30% drop would put Episode Three at around $400 million worldwide. Still, amazing numbers, but not amazing numbers for Star Wars.
So what makes Episode Two better than Episode One? First, a reduction in Jar-Jar, I mean Lucas should have shelved his ego and admitted complete defeat, but whatever. Second, no horrible kid actor, whose name we do not speak of, in the part of Anakin Skywalker, and third, big ass space battles. Jedi’s flipping around wacking arms off stuff everywhere, Yoda flying around, that’s what we want. Plug that violence directly into our veins! Yeah, its that simple, that’s what makes II better than I.
The plot, and there is a plot in Episode II, forms around an attempt on Senator Padmé Amidala’s life and Anakin Skywalker is basically made her bodyguard. Yeah, I guess its sort of The Bodyguard in Space, minus receding hairlines, crack cocaine and bad pop music. Apparently a war is a brewing, because there is always a war brewing. An evil Sith baddie named Count Dooku played to near perfection by Christopher Lee, has pushed the Empire on the edge of a civil war as he manipulates behind the scenes. This sets up some great action and some epic battle sequences. It should also not be ignored that the sound design is especially good and adds a tremendous amount to the overall quality of the film.
Star Wars Episode Two: Attack of the Clones will likely go down in history as being a watershed moment in the transition from film to digital cinema. Episode Two, while not the first feature film to be shot exclusively in high-definition, that honor goes to numerous other true INDEPENDENT feature films, it was the first film with a gigantic budget and gigantic exposure to use the technology exclusively. As a result high-definition technology received a tremendous amount of play and did wonders to stimulate other high-definition content as Lucas had put his stamp of approval upon the new technology.
What a tremendous improvement Episode Two is over the highly flawed and disappointing Episode One. Yes, yes, yes, it is true Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker is a bit painful, for any boy who ever dreamed of being cast in a Star Wars film or being cast as Darth Vader, as Christensen is marginal at best and does distract from the film. Ultimately, however, Star Wars fans will be pleased to have been exorcized from the 9 year old race car driver from the picture.
Story B (We have a story this time!)
Acting C+ (Christensen is bringing down the class average.)
Visuals A+
Originality/Innovation B+ (The high-profile use and promotion of high-definition technology should be commended. That said, it still doesn’t make up for Episode I.)
Enjoyability Grade A-
Overall Grade A-
Jar-Jar Reduction Level A-
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