I didn’t think I’d be adding to the original review of this one, but I do need to add that I was way off on the consistency of the movie last time – that key scene I mentioned where Anakin becomes Darth Vader being the real cutting point of the movie. Everything that follows that scene is even better than I remembered it – I’d even go so far as to say that it’s the entire 6 movies’ finest hour, it’s just sublime – but everything that preceeds it is that little bit less than what I’d remembered … I kinda felt like I was waiting for everything to start. Perhaps it comes down to the fact that until Darth Vader truly enters the fray, there simply isn’t any real evil in the series – there’s the threat of it, to be sure … aspirations to it, sure … but once Vader’s there, y’know, it’s just … more interesting :-/ The whole situation’s a little like The Matrix Revolutions, in fact … you can’t help but think the dark side of things, Agent Smith’s perspective, Elphaba in the musical “Wicked” even comes to mind – whatever – ain’t so bad after all, lol … but I’ve said too much, mwahahahahaa …

Anyway, as with the other two prequels, I can’t entirely criticise the first half of the movie, since what it contains is as essential to the story as anything else … you couldn’t just dive right into Vader’s “coronation”, now, could you? But it does mean I still can’t bring myself to give it the 5 stars I thought I’d be giving it. Right now, it is definitely, by far, my favourite in the series – but that might change as I re-watch the original trilogy over the next 3 weeks

I could say a lot here about people I think should’ve been up for Oscars but more than anything I think John Williams should totally have been nominated. Though his score is very much old themes being gradually brought back in (and that ain’t no bad thing – you should’ve seen the smile on my face the first time round when the ending just kept on going and Leia’s theme got a look in), there are also some beautiful new cues, like the slaughter of the jedi sequence, eg … just astonishingly beautiful stuff.

22nd May 2005 (gee, is it really that long?):

There’s a moment in Attack of the Clones, probably a couple, in fact, which I loved, when John Williams’ old original Star Wars themes started creeping in, and the overall look of the movie started to resemble the ‘classic’ look of the originals, and I just got goosebumps. This entire movie is such a moment, centered around one stellar key scene, perfectly executed, when Vader and the Emperor assume their respective roles after disposing of a key character. George Lucas has tied his trilogies together and answered the criticisms of the first two prequels in a way I’m sure no one expected.

There are very, very few dud moments in this movie. I’m actually astonished by how much I enjoyed it, how much it moved me, how much it even made me want to watch the original trilogy again. I found myself a couple of days ago saying to my brother, when he asked if I’d bought my ticket yet, “I’m not that interested really,” … I’ve really in general been disinterested in Star Wars for a long time. I bought the DVD box set of the original trilogy and it left me cold, I didn’t even get round to listening to the commentaries before selling it off. But this movie’s reminded me how powerful a legend George Lucas created in the first place (you can feel that in the aforementioned scene, when hoods are pulled and voices deepen and you just suddenly go, “oooh ….”), and after Alexander and Kingdom of Heaven, how brilliant and moving and funny a big blockbuster can actually be.

Four stars here is a very high four – just a couple of things niggled me. But I think when I watch the whole series, some time next year probably, this will turn out to be my favourite of the bunch with a solid five. Well done, George. I could even recognise Keisha Castle-Hughes in her tiny wittle part at the end, lol.

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 22nd, 2006 at 8:13 pm and is filed under 4 hearts, Movie Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.