First things first, it was better than Episode I …… of course, Episode I being the crapshoot that it was, that’s not saying much.
Waiting for the Star Wars premiere last night was a decidedly disappointing experience. I was expecting fans to be showing up in droves, but all we got was a quiet crowd of barely enough people to fill the theater. Maybe it was the venue, but this was Star Wars we were talking about. I thought Episode II would have its throng of insane fans built-in.
About two and a half hours later, we all stepped out of the theater a bit confused, but altogether impressed that George Lucas seemed to have regained some of his mojo. Like I said, it was better than Episode I. (On the other hand, my issues with E1 basically boiled down to two things: Jake Lloyd and Jar Jar Binks. Since neither of them have prominent roles in E2, it went a long way towards making the movie that much more bearable.)
There are jedis everywhere in this one. There are a gazillion Jango Fetts, a horde of battle-droids and a politican sureptitiously named Newt Gunray to boot. To say that Lucas went all-out is something of an understatement. Balls-out is more like it.
Without giving too much away, the plot is basically about how Palpatine continues to manipulate the Republic (which eventually becomes the Empire of E4-6). The “romance” of Anakin and Amidala is set strongly in the foreground, to make all the adolescent girls in the audience giggle. I say “romance” because they are practically strangers in one scene and all over each other in the next. A lot happens during scene transitions apparently.
Anakin has a particularly stupid line that will forever be burned in to my memory: “I hate the sand, it’s coarse … and rough … and gets everywhere. Not like here … where everything’s soft … and smooth …”
… at which point he grabs Amidala. The jedi mindtrick here was convincing the audience that that line could actually get you some.
Some notes about the acting:
Ewan MacGregor does a great job playing a young Alec Guiness, Christopher Lee is outstanding as a short-haired Saruman, and Samuel L. Jackson truly shines as Jules the hitman in a robe. (BTW, did this guy take any swordfighting lessons at all? He holds that lightsaber like he’s drunk at a halloween party.)
Still it says something that my vote for Worst Actor of the Movie goes, not to an live actor, but to Yoda, a special effect. This walking yiddish hallmark card plays a pretty big role towards the end of this movie, and I don’t want to give anything away, so let’s just say this: No amount of “suspension of disbelief” could suspend my disbelief. (That probably did not make sense, but if you’ve seen that Yoda sequence at the end, you’ll agree with me.)
Everytime Yoda came onscreen, I cringed a little, bracing myself for more mangled-English catchphrases. Truly suffering I was.
I’m not going to say anything about the CG because we all knew it would be good. It’s not subtle either, but then again George Lucas is about as subtle as a sledgehammer when it comes to making “movies”. There are landscape and background shots where I could’ve sworn even the people were computer-generated.
It could’ve been worse of course, but with such low expectations, just about anything would’ve impressed me.
Oh well. Indifferent I am.