Plinkett's Prequel reviews — Page 4

The dismissiveness you’re talking about also comes from exactly the same scene and has the same amount of dialogue, so it doesn’t make sense to say that what Mace is expressing is some kind of small outlier.

There isn’t a “vibe” that it’s countering, the “vibe” changes through discussion. Which is the point of having a council. It’s a sequence of events.

1. Qui Gon reports
2. They express skepticism at the report
3. Yoda points out that the dark side is hard to see, so they could be missing something
4. Recognizing this, Mace gets more serious, refocuses on Naboo but tells Qui Gon and Obi Wan to follow up - he believes there is a Sith involved and this is their chance to figure it out; he also says they’re going to use all their resources on it, whatever that means

What did they use their resources on? We don’t know. What kinds of resources is he alluding to? We don’t know. Why didn’t they send more Jedi? We don’t know, possibly they didn’t want to escalate the Naboo problem. Why don’t they investigate more in the next movie, or between movies? We don’t know, maybe they did but we’re never told. But at the very least we do know that Mace, representing the Jedi council, does believe Qui Gon’s report and take it seriously. Or at least he says that he does.

“Call it a flaw in the movie, if you want,”

That’s what I’m doing. I’m saying the flaw is the script, or the script for Attack of the Clones. It’s not an indication that the Jedi were intended to be suffering from great hubris, at least not in this movie.

Vladius said:

The dismissiveness you’re talking about also comes from exactly the same scene and has the same amount of dialogue, so it doesn’t make sense to say that what Mace is expressing is some kind of small outlier.

There isn’t a “vibe” that it’s countering, the “vibe” changes through discussion. Which is the point of having a council. It’s a sequence of events.

1. Qui Gon reports
2. They express skepticism at the report
3. Yoda points out that the dark side is hard to see, so they could be missing something
4. Recognizing this, Mace gets more serious, refocuses on Naboo but tells Qui Gon and Obi Wan to follow up - he believes there is a Sith involved and this is their chance to figure it out; he also says they’re going to use all their resources on it, whatever that means

I don’t agree that there’s really a change in the vibe like that. I think that moment, to me, is more of an add on to the conversation rather than that. Like I said, criticize it the discrepancy of them not actually doing anything if you want, but I don’t agree that they’re depicted as that invested.

What did they use their resources on? We don’t know. What kinds of resources is he alluding to? We don’t know. Why didn’t they send more Jedi? We don’t know, possibly they didn’t want to escalate the Naboo problem. Why don’t they investigate more in the next movie, or between movies? We don’t know, maybe they did but we’re never told. But at the very least we do know that Mace, representing the Jedi council, does believe Qui Gon’s report and take it seriously. Or at least he says that he does.

“Call it a flaw in the movie, if you want,”

That’s what I’m doing. I’m saying the flaw is the script, or the script for Attack of the Clones. It’s not an indication that the Jedi were intended to be suffering from great hubris, at least not in this movie.

Like I said. Flaw in the script, in that they have Mace say they’re going to do something, but they do nothing as far as we see, but that doesn’t mean I agree that them saying they’ll look into it changes the attitude I think the rest of scene suggests to me.

If the movie inside your head is different from the actual movie then that’s that.

For anyone interested it’s actually two scenes, this video until 30 seconds in:
https://youtu.be/mwFVVyHgMAI?si=lq-3MNp4MTfnRdo2

Then this video from 1:06 to 1:30
https://youtu.be/rU_wrhQrDh4?si=jTLMf6YaAJSZxuis

Notice how, like I said, there’s actually MORE lines telling Qui Gon it’s important than dismissing it. The dismissal has exactly two lines, one from Ki Adi, and one from Mace.

I think the vibe you’re thinking of is their attitude toward Anakin, which is consistently there and takes up much more time in those scenes and between those scenes. They actually discount Anakin to talk more about Naboo/Maul in the second video, “Now is not the time for this.”

Vladius said:

If the movie inside your head is different from the actual movie then that’s that.

For anyone interested it’s actually two scenes, this video until 30 seconds in:
https://youtu.be/mwFVVyHgMAI?si=lq-3MNp4MTfnRdo2

Then this video from 1:06 to 1:30
https://youtu.be/rU_wrhQrDh4?si=jTLMf6YaAJSZxuis

Notice how, like I said, there’s actually MORE lines telling Qui Gon it’s important than dismissing it. The dismissal has exactly two lines, one from Ki Adi, and one from Mace.

I didn’t say they dismissed it. I said more a dismissive view of it and “a bit dismissive”. I think I even said that I don’t necessarily think that means they be depicted as overly dismissive.

What’s wrong with someone having a perception of a movie’s intentions that they think is presented within the movie? Why does that equal, in your words, being “movie inside your head” (I think that’s a bit of a dismissing approach to the discussion)? I said why I think it’s there. You even acknowledge that those moments happen. I think you put more stock in another part of the situation than I do. I think the weight of the scene and how it begins says more to me than the end of the scene. As you acknowledge Mace says that they’ll look into it after Yoda’s suggests the dark side is hard to see.

I think the vibe you’re thinking of is their attitude toward Anakin, which is consistently there and takes up much more time in those scenes and between those scenes. They actually discount Anakin to talk more about Naboo/Maul in the second video, “Now is not the time for this.”

I never stated here the jedi’s arrogance and dismissiveness were harsh or pompous to the degree of them being ignorant or unwilling to do anything. I didn’t state they were fully ignorant or whathaveyou. Pointed to the general structure of the situation and the characters I think they showcase. To me, the very notion that Ki-Adi says it’s impossible, and Mace moreso assumes that they wouldn’t have sensed it, I think suggests an arrogance to me. That he listens to Yoda when Yoda points out the flaw in that doesn’t change it to me. I said from early on that I think that didn’t make them bullheaded or pompous. I think, to me, it seems more like you’re perceiving it through the lens of arrogance as if it’s a harsh presented flaw rather than what I’m referring to it as, which is as a more casually flawed viewpoint.