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Episode II Mini-Reviews Quotes From the Message Boards Compiled by Toryn Farr Updated 5/18/02 |
We thought it would be fun to extract pithy quotes from our message boards and other comments about Episode II as soon as our regulars get a chance to see it.
WARNING: Contains spoilers.
Updated 5/18/02
- Padme in a backless dress. Padme in leather. Padme... well you get the picture. [g]
- Count Dooku. A hundred times cooler than Darth Maul. Probably a hundred times smarter
too. Look how easily he takes care of Obi-Wan and Anakin. I can't wait to see what becomes
of him in the next movie.
- Seeing Jedi in action was a real treat. It's nice to see Samuel L. Jackson actually get
something to do in this movie. And Yoda... wow. I liked how he repelled the force
lightning. And his lightsaber skills... impressive for a tiny old guy. :-)
- Stupid Jar Jar. He doesn't get enough screen time to annoy the hell out of us this time.
But now he's been upgraded from small-time goof to galactic scale goof. - Kenny
We had less of Jar-Jar which is a good thing, though my wife likes him (even in marriage there must be a balance) - Greg Altman
Updated 5/17/02
Great plot. Ewan was really, really good despite... Stuttering dialogue all around. The Jedi were condescending. Decent sense of humor. Too much Boba Fett. The Jedi were obtuse. Hayden overacts. Natalie was beautiful. But a rushed romance. Amazing effects. The Jedi were thick-headed. Beautiful scenery. Yoda is THE Master! Too many "homages" to other films. The Jedi were just plain stupid. Surprising ending. My Conclusion: On par with ROTJ. Take that as you will. - Chad
If you listen closely, you hear Qui Gonn's voice, a snippet from the Tusken massacre and Darth Vader's breathing. Yoda is sensing Anakin past, present and future. - Cap'n Needles-heard the breathing above all else
Take it from me, the entire Naboo sequence shows, on the face of it, a woman staging a seduction through every possible means. Cleavage, leather corsets, outdoors picnics, fireside little dinners à deux, elaborate make up & hair, more cleavage, chiffon and muslin dresses, bare skin, and did I mention cleavage? [g] - Shezan
It's as if Lucas had thought that since we knew how it will all end, it wasn't necessary to show us how things evolved. Taking my Golden Rule of Movie writing, the Rock Hudson-Doris Day romantic comedy, George fails on both counts. It would have been a heck of a lot more powerful if we'd seen both Anakin's affection for Obi-Wan (and vice-versa), and his smarting at *specific* instances of Obi-Wan not giving him credit for his talent and not realizing he is becoming an adult. And of course it would have been deeply satisfying to see Anakin realize that his memories of Amidala, after all, were justified. (You can't BUT forget a bit someone you don't see in 10 years.) Because otherwise, what we're left with, unexplained, is the strange image of Anakin frozen for 10 years with his feelings for his mother and his girlfriend unchanged but never acted upon. WTF *happened* to him emotionally during all this time??? - Shezan
However, even more than Empire this is a movie that can NOT stand on its own. It totally depends on Episode I as its exposition piece. You have to know who these people are, what drives them (for example, Nute Gunray's desire to see Amidala dead is not explained in AOTC, you have to know who [EEK!] Jar Jar is and where he came from, how Anakin met Padme, etc etc). Makes you wonder whether GL did his best job yet at Winging It or really is an evil genius. I mean, did he let us suffer through TPM on purpose knowing it'd suddenly make sense 3 years later??? - Jodo
Did anyone else laugh at the blue milk in the house on
Tatooine? C'mon, that's a total fanboy/fangirl thing! My husband (who just *likes* these
movies but doesn't *live* them) didn't have a clue as to what Shez and I were giggling at.
And I could go on and ON! - Shannon
Just got back from the midnight show:
1) It does not "rawk"
2) George Lucas cannot POSSIBLY have a brain left in his head. I truly believe that the
stumbling, bumbling fool from the fan film show is his real persona now.
3) This movie OUGHT to be titled "Attack Of The Cliches". If you've seen the
following films, you have seen AOTC:
- Blade Runner
- The Sound of Music
- Empire Strikes Back
- Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind
- Gladiator
I'd love to rant more, but I'm tired. Quite honestly, I don't have the depth of caring to
force myself to stay awake to vent at this point. - Dave
Saw it in the midnight premiere, which always "rawks" IMO, no matter how good or bad the movie is you're seeing. :) Still, I loved it. I don't agree about the cliches part--I thought characterization was way better handled in this one than in any of the previous movies (except possibly ESB). I loved the settings, the allusions, and hell, Yoda. :) Moreover, I think that now Ep 1 actually makes more sense. Basically, Episode One was a two-hour exposition that led up to this one. Loose ends were tied up, and which is the most important thing of all, THEY DIDN'T CREATE NEW ONES. Even Count Dooku was tied in neatly into the context of events. Anakin is very believable, and the romance felt menacing throughout--which I thought was great! Can't wait to see it for the second, third, and fourth times :):):) - PinxitJenny
They could have poked you in the eyes as you walked in, and it would've been an improvement over TPM :) - Dave
I know where you're coming from Dave, and as I see AOTC a few more times, those things I didn't like are going to seem more prominent. Still I had a great time, lot of fun and a good crowd. Hadn't felt that good about SW in a while. - Chad
You know... I was twenty-one when I saw SW for the first time (yes, I'm a converted heathen.) :) Don't get me wrong, I *love* SW, especially ESB, but something I never felt was that *any* of the movies was GOOD. They're great, they're eye candy, they're funny, they're cool, they're cult.But *not* good. Not one of them. And that's why I enjoyed AOTC so much. It was an absolute blast IMO, well, midnight premiere. When I care for a movie enough to see it in the midnight premiere, I want a blast and I get a blast. I even liked TPM the very first time I saw it--how could you not, when fate had just given you the best two tickets in Europe's biggest cinema? It was an excellent yarn, and it was STAR WARS. In my humble opinion, of course. :) - PinxitJenny
Bad things:
- Shmi's death. Talk about hackneyed! I have now looked at spoiler sites, and apparently
it was first written differently, with a Tusken striking her the blow that ultimately
kills her. I'm sure it would have worked better. She's been a prisoner for a month, and
she lingers on *exactly* until five minutes after Anakin finds her? Puh-leeese.
- Young Boba Fett is the exact clone Jango asked in payment for his DNA, right? It would
have been nice to see these two a little more *before* Obi Wan shows up.
- From all accounts, Natalie Portman can act. What happened here?
- It makes NO sense to send practically all the Jedi in the Temple on the single mission
to rescue Owi-Wan, Anakin and Padmé. We thought they were "overworked" already,
according to the opening crawl.
- I'm in a minority here, but I didn't like Yoda suddenly mounted on springs and jabbing
at Dooku in the final fight like a rabid Chihuahua. However the rest of the Dooku fight
was great.
- Ditto the conveyor-belt set piece in the droid factory. Even Galaxy Quest had a spoof of
that. And Monsters, Inc.
- The Jedi Temple really looked like a matte painting.
And among the good things:
- Obi-Wan is HOT. Really, really HOT. "You don't want to sell me death sticks. You
want to go home and rethink your life" will be another of those classic SW lines.
- Anakin's delivery may be wooden, but he looks TERRIFIC, and he sulks like nobody's
business. He also moves beautifully. Two sexy beasts in one movie, yum, yum.
- The Coruscant chase is utterly splendid, with echoes of Blade Runner.
- The entire Kamino scenes. In fact the cold tones there and the acting almost sets this
apart from the rest of the movie, AI-like. Very elegant, a great Jango-Obi-Wan fight,
everything detached - and in keeping with cloners who don't see the ethical problems of
their industry. (I agree with Jodo's question of "who else did they produce clones
for", though.
- Palpatine is terrific. In fact, and in the absence of direction, the Brit thespians do
better, as usual: McGregor, Lee, McDiarmid. Technique, 1, Method, 0.
There will be more (I don't forget I promised to update my *previsions* in the emag), but
before I write, I want to see AOTC a couple more times. And a bet: will it age well? I
think so. - Shezan
I was waiting for the charm Anakin made for her to pop up. Where the heck was it?? - KMG-365
If the Senate was being taken over by the Dark Side then why not just have one of them propose Empire status? Why, for the love of all things holy, does the unbearable Jar Jar have to be the one? Tracing back the official start of the Empire should not lead to that floppy eared freak show. - big mac
This time around I read all of the spoilers I could. I
even read the novel before I saw the movie. I still really enjoyed myself. I just took my
students on a field trip today to see it. That makes it 4 times for me. I could watch the
last 20 minutes at least a few more times. There are some problems with the film but that
is to be expected. Despite the problems and things that annoy me I've been having a great
time with it. -
Nekhrun
Updated 5/14/02
"Just back from the theater. E2 ROCKS and George Lucas now officially owns my soul. :o) Can't f***ing wait to see it again Wednesday night. This movie is DA WORKS." - Darth Kraut
We'll be posting more comments from our message boards at random intervals, so check back often!