Review of Star Wars: Episode II Attack Of The Clones (2 Discs)

Introduction

I have mixed feelings about Star Wars: Attack Of The Clones (AOTC). As someone who "got" Star Wars from the beginning back in 1977, I`ve looked forwards to and enjoyed each of the instalments as they have been released, and revisited them in their video and now DVD re-releases and reincarnations. Was I disappointed by AOTC? Yes and no.

The movie is a great second-act in this trilogy of the series. It is stunningly spectacular, has a stronger, more involved and more "grown-up" storyline than its predecessor, and as a DVD is definitely a new reference disc to show off your system with. It just lacks a certain something.

There is good news and bad news about AOTC. The good news is that it isn`t a feature-length advertisement for action toys as "Phantom Menace" was, and Jar Jar Binks` involvement is minimal. The bad news is that in trying to develop a darker, more rounded adult storyline, George Lucas has lost the characterisation and heart that made the original trilogy such a success.

AOTC does suffer from being the second-act in a three-act story, in much the same way that "The Empire Strikes Back" suffered in the original trilogy. Both stories have an overlying downbeat atmosphere, but where things could only get better in "Return Of The Jedi", we know things can only get darker for Part III.

Young fans of the series who are only there for the explosions may be disappointed by the movie, although there are still plenty of huge battles and spectacular action. It`s simply that AOTC is paced much slower and there are three intertwining storylines. One follows the politics leading to the rise of the Empire, one concerns the investigation into the attempt on Senator Amidala`s life and the third is the developing relationship between Padme Amidala and her padawan Jedi protector Anakin Skywalker.

I have to fall in line with a good number of other reviewers and critics and say that the love story (which should be the strongest element in the film) is the weakest. It *should* be shades of Kate and Leo on the Titanic, of Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh in Gone With The Wind - hell, even Fiona and Shrek would be an improvement, but it isn`t. Apart from the woeful dialogue (and the elimination of a number of character-building scenes deleted for time), the sad fact is that Hayden Christensen (Anakin) and Natalie Portman (Padme) just aren`t (if you`ll pardon the pun) engaging or appealing. You just don`t care about them, and if you can`t fall for them falling for each other, you`ve lost a honking great chunk of your involvement in the story. The love story section of the film drags when it should be a welcome respite from the breathless action sequences. Instead of caring about Anakin and Padme, you`re more concerned about what trouble Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) is getting into. You know the characterisation and storyline has gone pear-shaped when your reaction to Anakin`s offscreen slicing and dicing of the Tusken Warriors is approval rather than horror.

Of course a mitigating circumstance might be that the love story is a doomed one. In the next film Anakin will descend to the dark side and become Darth Vader. That can`t be good for Padme, especially if she is pregnant with Luke and Leia.

George Lucas has said that after Episode III, he will be finished with the Star Wars saga. He was originally considering a third trilogy to follow on from the original trilogy (episodes 7,8 and 9), but he has since said that he doesn`t want to devote such a large chunk of his life to the enterprise again. Neither does he want anybody else to do the final trilogy, and I have to say I`d agree with that viewpoint as the only place you can go after Return Of The Jedi is downhill - back to the dark side. Personally I`d rather see the series end on a high note (although not necessarily played on an animal horn by an Ewok.)

Video

I chose not to see AOTC at the cinema for a number of reasons, but primarily because I knew if I saw it at my local Odeon I wouldn`t be seeing the movie at its best. I`d be watching a film print. That is the most remarkable thing about AOTC - it is a movie made entirely without celluloid, on the world`s most expensive digital video camcorder - the Sony-built, Panavision-lensed CineAlta HDW-F900 24P. Now, you shouldn`t confuse this with some of these recent budget movies shot on DV cameras. AOTC is a completely different animal. The cameras Sony developed for Lucasfilm are High Definition, Progressive Scan Digital Video, HDCAM for short, which means the picture is enormously higher definition than standard video, is photographed at 24 frames per second like proper movie film rather than the 25 or 30 frames of video and the image is recorded directly to digital tape. As virtually every shot in the film requires some special effects enhancement, it makes commercial sense to bypass the technical shortcomings of traditional film - as there is no film processing, scenes can be viewed immediately and reshot immediately, the images can be manipulated digitally straight from the camera master tapes and only when the movie is locked down, polished and ready for release does it need to be recorded on to film. Better still, the movie can be viewed on a big screen direct from the digital masters.

In among the extras is a small documentary about the new technology, including interviews with a couple of nay-sayers from the cinematographers` professional bodies. They reckon that HDCAM technology will never replace film, that the results aren`t as good as film. Even Steven Spielberg has criticised HDCAM for not having "the feel" of film grain. Personally I don`t see the attraction. Colour film grain is the ghost image in coloured dye of particles of silver deposited by the photo-chemical reactions of film processing. Up close, film grain boils and broils on the screen as a never-stable chaos that you view the image through, like a badly-tuned tv picture. Grain is never identical from frame to frame, being flecks of cyan, magenta or yellow superimposed on one another to give the impression of full-spectrum colour. I remember my days of 8mm film collecting (Star Wars was one of my first). Getting the grain sharp was the test of your focus and on a fifty-inch screen you could hardly tell what you were looking at up close. Film grain dictates the definition of the picture, and in the 1970`s in particular grain was so rough it affected the look of many movies such as Close Encounters. HDCAM does away with grain entirely. The definition of the picture is governed by the resolution of the CCD chip at the heart of the camera. In AOTC`s case the chip is a 2.3 megapixel array that can render an image on a par with 35mm film in an area less than that of a 35mm frame. Special Panavision lenses had to be ground to focus a high quality image on the smaller frame area. For the next instalment, the CCD array will be enlarged to the same size as a 35mm frame, but boasting 10 megapixels which should make for a phemonemal image.

So how does it actually look? The results are quite impeccable. There are absolutely none of the shortcomings associated with either film (grain, potential for print damage, generational issues) or video (reduced definition, lack of depth, poor contrast or colour). AOTC is photographically simply perfect. David Tattersall`s photography is glorious, with strong, stable colours, outstanding depth and clarity of image and beautiful contrast. The 2.35:1 anamorphic image is sharp, void of any defects or artefacts and the special effects are simply eye-popping. There are Luddites who hate anything CGI, saying it looks fake, but I`m an old hand at spotting special effects and I think the latest generation of CGI effects are simply seamless. If you want fake-looking, go back to some of the `seventies movies but switch off your nostalgia first.

Audio

The DD5.1EX mix is as spectacular as the visuals. Lucasfilm has long established a name for itself in the field of cinema sound. The first Star Wars movie was one of the first of the new generation of Dolby Stereo movies in the 1970`s. Lucasfilm pioneered THX, the theoretical standardisation of image and sound performance for movie theatres.

AOTC is graced with a wonderful, complex soundtrack, the cornerstone of which is John Williams` iconic score. Introducing a magnificent new romantic theme to the Star Wars repertoire, John Williams` music holds the picture together and weaves it into the tapestry of the other four movies. Ben Burtt`s sound design legacy from the other films is continued and we are treated to more of Artoo Detoo`s electronic burbles, the familiar hum of lightsabers and new sound treats like the detonation of seismic mines. The sum of all of this audio expertise is a soundtrack that envelops the audience, with sound effects swopping around the soundstage, sometimes startling, always entertaining.

Features

As with Phantom Menace, AOTC comes with a plethora of extras, from documentaries to trailers, tv spots to web-links. There are so many extras, the entire second disc in the set is devoted to them. There are enough in-depth documentaries wandering the halls of the Skywalker ranch to keep the most ardent fan happy. There are photo galleries, storyboard comparisons, eight deleted scenes (mostly character building for Padme and Anakin) and a spoof documentary trailer for "R2D2: behind the dome". To do justice to these extras would wear my fingers down to the elbows typing, so all I`ll say here is "outstanding".

Conclusion

Like "The Empire Strikes Back" in the original trilogy, I wouldn`t have missed AOTC for the world. My senses are reeling from my first marathon viewing of the movie and a good chunk of the extras. This disc set will keep me entertained much of the time on the lead up to Christmas. Although I`ve had some reservations about elements of the movie, I honestly can`t say I`m disappointed because the shortcomings are far outweighed by the genuinely enjoyable and spectacular balance of the movie. Star Wars fans won`t be disappointed, but then again they`ve probably already bought it.