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Just saw STAR WARS II

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HighLordDave
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Post by HighLordDave »

Originally posted by Georgi
I want to know why Jedi, in their infinite wisdom, never thought of carrying guns for long-range attack, instead of having to run some distance towards people/droids firing straight at them (but amazingly missing them) before attacking with lightsabres (cool though they are) :D
The lightsaber is the weapon of a Jedi Knight. Not as clumsy or random as a blaster, it is an elegant weapon of a more civilised time.

Luke carried a blaster in addition to his lightsaber, as do some of the New Jedi in the Expanded Universe. If I were a Jedi, I would use the Force for ranged attacks, and use the lightsaber in both an offensive and defensive role, which is something a blaster cannot do. Plus lightsabers are cool.
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Post by Georgi »

Originally posted by HighLordDave
If I were a Jedi, I would use the Force for ranged attacks, and use the lightsaber in both an offensive and defensive role, which is something a blaster cannot do. Plus lightsabers are cool.
Using the Force for range attacks, that would work too - but they seem to prefer the running strategy :D

Although lightsabres are cool. Especially purple ones :cool:
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Post by Kayless »

Originally posted by Georgi
Using the Force for range attacks, that would work too
A Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and events... Never for attack. Image Though if I had I lightsaber to go with my homemade Goblin Glider and self-inflicted Spider Powers I’d be invincible!!! Image
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Post by Georgi »

Originally posted by Kayless
A Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and events... Never for attack.
Riiight... so what would you call it when they knock over a troop of droids with a mere sweeping gesture? :p I mean, it's obvious they could do that, they just don't choose to when surrounded with a whole army of droids and could really use a nifty solution like that... :D
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Post by Nightmare »

Hmmmm... Movie looks good! :D It got really bad reviews, but the reviewers were a little weird. They didn't like star wars to being with, and they hate CGI and action scenes. :rolleyes: Amazing how they are chosen to review AotC.

I'll probably see it this weekend. :)
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Post by Kayless »

Originally posted by Georgi
Riiight... so what would you call it when they knock over a troop of droids with a mere sweeping gesture? :p
They call it aggressive negotiation. Image
Originally posted by Georgi
I mean, it's obvious they could do that, they just don't choose to when surrounded with a whole army of droids and could really use a nifty solution like that... :D
I always wondered (during the final duel of TPM) why Obi-Wan runs so slowly through the force fields (only to watch helplessly as Qui-Gon dies). I mean, at the beginning of the movie they showed the two Jedi moving like the fricking Flash! Continuity error or the Jedi getting "winded" Force-wise: you decide. Image
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Post by Ode to a Grasshopper »

Originally posted by Georgi
but they seem to prefer the running strategy :D
They're "Force-running". :D That's also why Obi-Wan moved so slowly through the force fields (What was the point of those force fields anyway? Aside from providing a convenient plot device, that is. :rolleyes: ).
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Post by Maharlika »

Yoda ROCKS!!!!...

...which makes me think that that walking stick of his is actually a deception to make his enemies think that he is a pushover...his fighting style is like a whirlwind hobbit! :D :cool:

Originally posted by HighLordDave
Anakin is not a very convincing character and Hayden's delivery is stilted and forced. I am trying to decide if this is because he's a bad actor with little range or if George is a bad director. I am leaning towards the latter.

Some of the dialogue ranges from trite to comical, but most of it is okay. However some of it is atrocious, especially some of the exchanges between Anakin and Padme. They sound like something you'd hear on a soap opera. Maybe George just hasn't gotten the love story thing down, or maybe he's trying too hard to get a Titanic-style romance happening, but there is a section of the movie in the middle that drags on for about 20-25 minutes that really could have been cut down to about 8 minutes and the world would be a better place for it. Besides, who said that Anakin and Padme had to fall in love to have kids?
Hate to tell you this, HLD, but consider yourself lucky they got Hayden for the role... coz if memory serves, Leonardo "Jack" diCaprio was supposed to be Anakin... :rolleyes:

@Georgi: as to having blasters for distance attacks, remember (as Mace would say) that the Jedi Knights are keepers of the peace and not soldiers. Being so, they are more of counter-punchers using the lightsabers to deflect those blasters back to their source.

BTW, that receptionist (I forgot the name and the planet) who received Obi-wan thinking that he was inspecting the development of the clone project... her movements reminded me so much of Akasha in the movie Queen of the Damned! :D

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Post by Kayless »

Re: Yoda ROCKS!!!!...
Originally posted by Maharlika
if memory serves, Leonardo "Jack" diCaprio was supposed to be Anakin... :rolleyes:
That was just a fan-circulated rumor (thank God).
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Post by HighLordDave »

@Maharlika:
That's why I think his flat performace is more the result of sub-standard direction than sub-standard talent. I don't have anything against Hayden, but he didn't play Anakin very convincingly.

By the way, has anyone found any of the "easter eggs" in the movie? For instance, did you all spot the Millennium Falcon?
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Post by THE JAKER »

the best thing about Anakin is that he is tall - works well for him becoming Vader because Vader is really tall and imposing.

My theory on the romance thing: see, the thing is that Lucas is incredibly uncomfortable with sex and sexuality. There has never been any sex scene in any of the movies, Han and Leia get together but (thankfully) we never see them do it or even really have it implied that they have. Elsewhere in the movies we see bachelors, monks, clones, and an apparent immaculate conception for Anakin. However, Anakin and Padme HAVE to actually do it, their romance and offspring are the whole point of the movies. But Lucas is so uncomfortable with sexuality that I am quite sure the actual conception will occur in between this movie and the next, i.e. this movie ends with the marriage, the next will find Padme already pregnant.

I think you can't just blame Lucas or Hayden though, Natalie Portman is fine but she is not much of an actress I'm sorry to say. She was especially painful in ep 1 but not that much better in this one. It will always be Carrie Fisher for me.
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Post by Kayless »

I thought Hayden’s performance was bit uneven, but overall pretty good. My favorite Anakin scene is the one at the Tusken camp and his subsequent scenes. He was channeling a lot of frustration, hatred, and rage (worthy of Vader). Image As for Yoda, can I just say HOLY SH!T!!! Image Image Image Don't screw with the master! You will lose, he will laugh. His duel with Tyrannus at the end was worth the price of admission alone (as Yoda showed up the folks in the audience were saying "Oh oh" and "You're in trouble now" to poor Tyrannus). BTW how the hell did AotC get PG while Spider-Man was PG-13? I was amazed at the decapitations and lightsaber maulings! Image Image
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Post by HighLordDave »

Originally posted by Kayless
BTW how the hell did AotC get PG while Spider-Man was PG-13? I was amazed at the decapitations and lightsaber maulings!
The American movie ratings system is very tolerant of violence and death (like the dismemberments and decapitations) but heaven forbid there be any implied nudity or sexuality . . . remember the scene where Mary Jane gets jumped (and it just happens to be raining)? Well, somehow, MJ just happens to lose her jacket and is wearing that sheer v-neck shirt and apparently no bra (I thought she was going to poke one of my eyes out), so they gave Spider-Man the PG-13.
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Post by KidD01 »

Well so much for spoilers :D Since I haven't see it I just drop by with this oldies :
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Post by Georgi »

Originally posted by THE JAKER:
My theory on the romance thing: see, the thing is that Lucas is incredibly uncomfortable with sex and sexuality.
I heard it described on TV last night as "the kind of movie a 13-year-old boy would make, if a 13-year-old boy made a movie" - there is a complete lack of sophistication when it comes to human relationships etc.

Then again, someone else tried to claim that the Republic is an allegory for the USA, and there is some subconscious political comment in Star Wars :D
Originally posted by Kayless
I thought Hayden’s performance was bit uneven, but overall pretty good. My favorite Anakin scene is the one at the Tusken camp and his subsequent scenes. He was channeling a lot of frustration, hatred, and rage (worthy of Vader).
I agree to an extent... but the scene where he's having a nightmare is just terrible - from that article I linked to earlier, it does sound like HLD is right, it is more Lucas' directing that is at fault. I also thought the scene where (spoiler) his mother dies was awful, but he was good in the following scenes :)
BTW how the hell did AotC get PG while Spider-Man was PG-13? I was amazed at the decapitations and lightsaber maulings!
I don't think it made that over here, I could have sworn it was a 12 cert (or maybe even a 15...). *shrug*
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Post by ThorinOakensfield »

Just saw the movie. I liked it, it was far better than Phantom Menace. Infact TPM looks like a joke now, it was that stupid.

I found the way Palpatine was manipulating both sides really interesting. Anakin actor was really bad, or maybe he was made to be so bad. He was forcefully made to be sullen and really dislikeable. I guess it all is going with the Darth Vadar issue.

Man, when Yoda came into Dukku's chamber, the crowd cheered and laughed. THen he took out his lightsabre and man what a beating Dukuu took.

Related to that, I was disappointed how easily Anakin was thrashed by Dukuu, and how weak Obi Wen was throughout the movie. I understood in TPM he was apprentice and I expected him to be pretty bad at fighting, but now as master he's still so bad.

Anakin was just starting with the dual lightsabres, and then he lost one, and then got chopped up.

The screenwriting was horrible, Lucas should definetely never do any love scenes, they were cliche and cheesy. Overall the 3rd movie should be interesting with all out war, but *sigh* Anakin becomes Darth Vadar, and poor, poor, Mace Windu and the Jedi.
:(

Otherwise the movie was far better than Episode 1.
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Post by Kayless »

Here there be Spoilers

"I... I killed them. I killed them all. They're dead, every single one of them. And not just the men… the women and children too! They're like animals, and I slaughtered them like animals!! I HATE THEM!!!"

Yikes. Image I love this scene, creepy and intense though it may be. I like how Anakin goes from remorseful to steadily angrier and more hateful (culminating with the "I HATE THEM!!!" line). Image The music was great too, blending Vader’s Imperial March with the Emperor’s Theme (which also serves as the Sith Theme) in a dreadfully slow dirge. And Padme’s shocked close up as he tells her that he butchered women and children is just the icing on the cake. I found this scene even more effective than the actual massacre (though admitedly I was kind of in shock from watching Anakin decapitate three people in as many seconds). Image

The follow up was a bit weak, but Anakin's attitude and dialogue here was perfect.
Image
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Post by Morlock »

Warning: long post!

I saw it last night- and I really liked it. It'll take me at least one more time to get all my thoughts together though.

WARNING: CONTAINS MANY SPOILERS!!! ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!

I thought the end was a bit too much- the entire audience was cracking up at the same time- most of all when you think Amidala is dying and then she comes out of it in a second
Amidala is groaning, when she's aproached by a storm trooper Storm trooper: 'Are you alright?'
Amidala: 'Yah, I'm fine' :rolleyes:

I think the whole Yoda thing was good in theory, but simply produced too much laughs- when it's the most expirienced good guy against the second most expirienced bad guy, fighting for the fate of the Republic.

I was glad that the love scenes were done like they were. They had to be in the story, so instead of making it paramount and original and memorible, Lucas stuck to cliche and corny stuff- basicaly saying 'I don't know how to make this better, so I'll just stick to the classic lines- and get it out of the way'.

I loved the irony of the storm troopers coming to the rescue.

I didn't like Samuel L. Jackson as a superhero, although the big fight needed Jedi with character. But the lines they gave him- the 'Pulp Fiction' type line were so ridicules, it destroyed his character.

Ian McDiarmid was great- he really started to show resmblence to the emperer from E6.

Jimi Smits was a bit out of place, as his part was both too big for a cameo and too small for a main figure.

Christopher Lee was great as usual, especialy for a 78 year old (filming was in 2000).

Jango Fett was decent, but showing his face dispells a lot of the mysteriousness that surrounded Boba in E4-6. Boba was stupid looking and sounding- he should have had a tiny part in one scene just as a joke, not the whole father son thing.

I didn't really like Ewan McGregor, since unlike in E1, he was coming into his own, and since he and Alec Guiness are not even on the same level of acting, I could not really accept him as Obi-Wan.

I never really liked Natalie Portman, (even though she is an Israeli ;) ) but her part was less noticable than in E1 IMO.

I actualy thought that Hayden Christenson did a good job, and not only compared to Jake Lloyd. His delivery was stiff at times (especialy around Portman), but I thought he was the best man for the job. As Maharlika pointed out- it was either him, Leo, Ryan Phillipe (who'se acting is usualy pretty stiff), Colin Hanks (son of), or Paul Walker (Who I've never seen in a movie).

Without a doubt, my favorite reference in the movie is the fact that they are really building the death star on that planet. I loved it.

And, saving the best for last- the music by John Williams.
Now that I've seen the movie, I know how great the soundtrack is. Everything fit so perfectly. Whes I got the ST I thought it was really out of place to have an electric guitar in a Star Wars movie- but it fit in perfectly (during the chase scene in Curoscant).

All the old themes, which were great too listen too, were made so much better with the movie. Whether it's the droid army's theme when they show the clones for the first time, or Luke's theme followed by the Duel of the fates, when on Tatooine.

But the best, without a doubt is the imperial march at the end. It is one of the best musical moments in the whole series. It makes it clear, that without a doubt- this is bad. Without it- you could think that what was happening is just Palapatine, as Chansler, is over seeing the clones. But the music makes it clear that this is really the emperer overseeing his army of storm troopers. Brilliant.
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Post by Tamerlane »

Well I saw Star Wars today.

Like most people I had few expectations but I guess I enjoyed it in the end.

It was actually amusing seeing a lot of Australian and New Zealand actors in the movie, as they tend to grace our TV stations in crappy shows. They did all right, as for seeing Yoda fight.

That was sweet :D
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Post by Georgi »

Originally posted by ThorinOakensfield
Infact TPM looks like a joke now
It did before :D

@Kayless IMO Amidala didn't look half shocked enough when Anakin was telling her how he slaughtered all those people...
Originally posted by Morlock:
I actualy thought that Hayden Christenson did a good job, and not only compared to Jake Lloyd. His delivery was stiff at times (especialy around Portman), but I thought he was the best man for the job. As Maharlika pointed out- it was either him, Leo, Ryan Phillipe (who'se acting is usualy pretty stiff), Colin Hanks (son of), or Paul Walker (Who I've never seen in a movie).
I don't think Leo was seriously in the running. But out of the rest of them... I think Hayden Christiansen was probably the best choice. Phillipe might have been ok, Walker is uniformly wooden in whatever I've seen him in, and if Colin Hanks is anything like his father... ;)

I liked Jango Fett, but I agree that it kinda diminished Boba Fett seeing him as an annoying little kid (if he was in it any more, he would have been as bad as Anakin in TPM...). Though when (spoiler) Jango gets killed, and Boba goes and picks up his helmet... isn't Jango's decapitated head still inside it? Nice. :D
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