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I was watching AOTC again in almost 5 years... ugh!

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Boy was Hayden Craptensen bad. Everytime he was on screeen I felt like screaming! For those of you who are more seasoned in the art of storytelling and movie making, could you describe to me the poor work done in AOTC? One thing that is obviously poorly done is the intro of the clone war battle. I don't know exactly what it is but the whole thing just seems to be one big suckfest.

 

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...and it's also a very confusing film. I mean, it basilcally boils down to the Republic using an enemy army of clones to fight the sepratists, which made the clone army in the first place. Plus, isn't it interesting that Plapatine is fighting against himself during the Clone wars? I think Hayden is the least of our problems in this movie.

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Yeah, I can't remember who it was who posted that link to confused matthew's youtube video about ROTS, but he did reviews on all the prequels, and he really did a great job of pointing out a lot of the intrinsic plot flaws about them all.  He was amazing explaining the lack of sense in AOTC!  "The senate just passed a motion to circumvent itself!  If Jar-Jar's speech was so amazing that it convinced them to give the chancellor emergency powers to approve a clone army... why didn't they just approve the clone army?!"  "You know what?  Fuck this movie!  They were investigating a conspiracy!  They found a clone army created by a rogue jedi without authorization!  It's tied to a bounty hunter who can be linked to Senator Ooba-Dooba's assassination attempt when she was returning to vote against an army!  This same bounty hunter can be linked to the Separatist movement, which is led by a rogue jedi!  They have more than enough evidence to confirm the clone army is evil and should be destroyed.  So their plan is to completely play into its hands?!"  Everyone should check out his reviews.  They are perfect!  thanks to whoever it was here who put me on to this guy!

www.confusedmatthew.com

There is no lingerie in space…

C3PX said: Gaffer is like that hot girl in high school that you think you have a chance with even though she is way out of your league because she is sweet and not a stuck up bitch who pretends you don’t exist… then one day you spot her making out with some skinny twerp, only on second glance you realize it is the goth girl who always sits in the back of class; at that moment it dawns on you why she is never seen hanging off the arm of any of the jocks… and you realize, damn, she really is unobtainable after all. Not that that is going to stop you from dreaming… Only in this case, Gaffer is actually a guy.

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I've only seen AOTC once when it first came out, and I've never had any desire to see it again. I almost walked out when Yoda fired up that lightsaber (lol). Other than that, I remember nearly nothing about the film.

Easily the worst of the prequels.

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Mielr said:

Easily the worst of the prequels.

 

You can say that again. I think I have only see that dog twice, possibly three times. And I hope never to be subjected to that torment again.

Thinking about the plot of the prequels makes my head hurt, it is such an awful convoluted crap heap.

"Every time Warb sighs, an angel falls into a vat of mapel syrup." - Gaffer Tape

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Confused Matthew's reviews are fantastic, and I also enjoyed Rod Hilton's (www.the-editing-room.com). I know this site is probably old hat to most of you, but hopefully some of you will be reading Hilton for the first time.

Excerpts from his AOTC abridged script:

TEMUERA MORRISON

Here. I got these assassin bugs for you to use.

LEANNA WALSMAN

Thanks for the bugs. It’s a good thing you, a bounty hunter, hired me, a bounty hunter, to do absolutely nothing other than put this tube into a flying droid which you could just as easily possess. It gives me some real purpose.

***

EWAN MCGREGOR

Hayden, pay attention. Be mindful of the force and do what I tell you. I had almost completed my own Padawan training when I took you as my apprentice, so I have ever so slightly more training than you.

HAYDEN CHRISTENSEN

Nuh uh.

EWAN MCGREGOR

Yuh huh! And I do a great impression of Alec Guinness, too!

AUDIENCE

Wow.. So.. Uh.. apprently Jedi bicker incessantly.

***

EWAN MCGREGOR

Hi there.

TEMUERA MORRISON

I’m just a simple man trying to make his way in the universe.

EWAN MCGREGOR

Er, um, that’s great. So who are you?

TEMUERA MORRISON

My clone son is Boba Fett. He was a small role in the original trilogy and ravenous Star Wars fanboys elevated his importance based merely on his cool appearance. George Lucas, utterly sacrificing whatever vision he claims to have for the series, has made his role much more important by coincidently making his father responsible for the clone wars. But you can take a flying leap up my ass, Jedi scum.

They FIGHT.

TEMUERA MORRISON

Isn’t it cool how badass I look?

EWAN MCGREGOR

Actually, you seem somewhat inept in this fight. I’m outsmarting you and kicking your ass repeatedly.

TEMUERA MORRISON

Hey, I said I look cool, I didn’t say I was good at fighting. I’m modeled after the original Boba Fett; he gets killed by a blind guy accidentally.

Want to book yourself or a guest on THE VFP Show? PM me!

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generalfrevious said:

...and it's also a very confusing film. I mean, it basilcally boils down to the Republic using an enemy army of clones to fight the sepratists, which made the clone army in the first place. Plus, isn't it interesting that Plapatine is fighting against himself during the Clone wars? I think Hayden is the least of our problems in this movie.

To me Palpatine is using the old politician trick to "divide and rule". He created the separatists to fight the republic, then when he doesn't need them by the end of ROTS, he send Vader to kill them.

But yeah, AOTC was "kind of fun" to watch on the big screen, IMO. But it is easily the worst SW movie.

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I vote ROTS as the worst prequel. Hayden ranting and the horribly overacted emperor, the Mustafart battle and the Yoda/Palpatine fight, plus Padme being reduced to a total nothing, all topped off with "Noooooo!!"

But AOTC is pretty rotten. It's just not as extreme as ROTS. Those two films are way worse than TPM. TPM actually has some charm, just not when compared to the OT films. AOTC and ROTS are total dogshite and have some of the lamest stuff in cinema history. "You underestimate my POWER!!!" "I hate you!!!"

The Yoda/Dooku fight is idiotic. Yoda buzzing around, flitting around, like a big glowing bug. And Dooku also comes off so full of himself. The arena battle was pathetic. All this big spectacle with all these Jedi and it was done so feelinglessly. I totally fail to see the point of that droid factory obstacle course nonsense. I did like the Kenobi/Jango fight, though. It had atmosphere and, unlike most of these two films, it was actually involving. The flying car chase at the beginning wasn't bad either.

The romance in AOTC is of course bad news. That goes without saying. And Padme seems to find Anakin charming even when he's talking like a psycho or admitting he's murdered a whole tribe. Hayden Christensen's performance is painful. I mean, THIS is the Anakin we waited all these years to see? 

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I am no PT defender, but AOTC is the only Prequel movie I enjoyed.  I thought TPM was too kiddy, and I thought ROTS just dropped the ball on too many key issues that try to tie up the 6 movies, but AOTC kinda was a standalone movie to me in some respects.

Of course the Padme/Anakin romance is horrendous, but I totalled it once, and it came out to about 12 minutes of screentime they had together that would make you puke.  So only 5% of the movie gave me the dry-heaves:)

I think I enjoyed AOTC simply because it is Obiwans movie, and he is the only character I reallly cared about in the PT.  I liked the whole Kamino part and thought his fight with JangoFett was good too.  I was always suprised that many fans missed a funny line from ObiWan taking a shot at the Jedi Council, "R4, send the signal back to the old folks home!" 

Another scene I liked was when Count Dooku was tempting ObiWan after he was captured on Geonosis.  Again, maybe this comes down to me being a huge fan of Christopher Lee, but I like the line, "Join me ObiWan, and together we can destroy the sith!"

Overall, the ending to AOTC is the best of the PT cause it sets everything up for what should have been a great third movie, as Dooku meets with The Emperor, Yoda/Obiwan/Windu discussing the upcoming Clone Wars,  then Palpatine is overseeing the formation of the Empire, while Padme and Anakin are secretly getting married, great montage! 

Then we get to Episode III, and Lucas just fucked that movie up royally!  Geez, what a huge letdown, but we've been down that road before....

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ROTS could have been okay if Lucas did not loose so much screen time on TPM and AOTC. The principal flaw (other than poor dialogue and Hayden presence) is that it feels so rushed. But well, it's nothing new!

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I agree; the PT was 5 hours of filler and about 30 minutes of actual stuff that Lucas apparently made the PT for.

On another note, It's kinda ironic that everyone was so hyped up about Yoda using a lightsaber- and then 3 months later we realized how ridiculous it was.

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The only thing remotely fun about AOTC was some of the visuals.  And, of course, the audible in-theater-laughing during some of the scenes.  Those romance scenes in the fields of flowers looked like some sort of parody.  Then of course, there was Yoda being plugged into a light socket, and the dialogue... ugh is right.

"Close the blast doors!"
Puggo’s website | Rescuing Star Wars

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Puggo - Jar Jar's Yoda said:

  Those romance scenes in the fields of flowers looked like some sort of parody. 

I agree the romance scenes are painful, and don't work overall.

But the scene in the field, with the waterfalls ("I'd be much to frightened to tease a senator") are the only romance scenes I think work. For a brief moment I buy that thesetwo young people are falling for each other. I also think it's the only time in either movie Hayden and Portman have real chemistry going on.

 

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I thought Dooku was destractingly similar to Saruman, who Christopher Lee was playing about right at the same time.

"Fuck you. All the star wars movies were excellent. none of them sucked. Also, revenge of the sith is the best."

- DarthZorgon (YouTube)

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I too have recntly come back to the prequels after years of disowning them. While TPM is bad at least it works as a film in its own right. AOTC is a near atrocity. I wince in almost every scene Anakin appears and has any dialogue! What I wondered was: what does Dooku have in mind if Obi-Wan joins him-he's now a Sith so why would he destroy them? On top of that, if the Separatists supposedly designed the Death Star-wouldn't that undermine the story of Maw Installation and render parts of the EU null and void?

AOTC would have been a great film if it had been nothing but Obi-Wan and Dooku-how the hell did they get Christopher Lee to be in this mess? His scenes are the only high point, and he maimed Hayden Christensen-at least he still has some sense!

Jango Fett is retarded! Boba Fett is not some little retarded clone! Long live Mandalorians! Why couldn't the novel Shatterpoint be a film? It is leagues above this absolute heap of bantha fodder!

Am going on to ROTS next, hopefully it isn't as bad as I remember.

These prequels made me give up SW for some time-until I discovered the GOUTS!

VADER!? WHERE THE HELL IS MY MOCHA LATTE? -Palpy on a very bad day.
“George didn’t think there was any future in dead Han toys.”-Harrison Ford
YT channel:
https://www.youtube.com/c/DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader

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The problem is that Dooku is just quickly killed off five minutes into ROTS; so what was the point of having him in AOTC the first place, establishing him as the main antagonist toward the end, and then throwing him right away in the next film? And then they add General Grevious in ROTS for no reason at all. It should have been Dooku instead of Grevious, that would have made it much more satisfying story arc. 

Plus, why did Lucas even choose Hayden?? Anakin was supposed to be the lynchpin of the PT and they screwed it up by an irresponsible casting choice.

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Lucas screwed it up with irresponsible directing. I can imagine Hayden and Natalie doing great takes, doing the best they could with the dialogue, and then Lucas having them do it over again. Remember, Empire Strikes Back is his least favorite Star Wars film. Meaning he has jealousy problems, or, I think also he has crap taste in what's good in film.

Lucas is an idea machine. He has some good ideas, but he faulters as a writer and director to the point that I'd consider him downright incompetent in those areas. Realize how important they are in making a film a classic.

"Fuck you. All the star wars movies were excellent. none of them sucked. Also, revenge of the sith is the best."

- DarthZorgon (YouTube)

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Well then, Lucas couldn't even realize that Anakin was the lynchpin of his vision and not be some emo kid that nobody likes.

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DarkFather said:

Lucas is an idea machine. He has some good ideas, but he faulters as a writer and director to the point that I'd consider him downright incompetent in those areas. Realize how important they are in making a film a classic.

Come on man, Lucas did direct Star Wars, American Graffiti and THX-1138, so he is not an incompetent director.

I won't rate Lucas in the Spielberg/Scorcese league, but he still has a good body of work in the 70's.  I just think Lucas was well past his prime by the time the PT came out in 1999.  He was essentially an Executive Producer from 1980 on.

 

 

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Come on man, Lucas did direct Star Wars, American Graffiti and THX-1138, so he is not an incompetent director.

He had substantial creative support for writing ANH, and the superb acting in that film is largely because of Alec Guiness' seasoned talent, and the other actors improvising for themselves. It's nothing to do with Lucas being a good director. He was bad. Really bad. On all accounts during production, the guy was sorely lacking in the social skills department. "Faster and more intense, CO."

ESB was neither written nor directed by Lucas. Kasdan wrote the script, and Kershner directed. Lucas was on the other side of the globe during most of the production.

And American Graffiti I don't see as being anything to write home about, and THX-1138 I've only watched clips of (didn't interest me). That's preferance, though. I'm trying to bring around the idea that the more control Lucas has over a Star Wars film, the more it's panned by critics and fans.

"Fuck you. All the star wars movies were excellent. none of them sucked. Also, revenge of the sith is the best."

- DarthZorgon (YouTube)

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THX-1138 is fantastic. Lucas was a visionary director, and ANH is well directed for what it is-despite "faster and more intense". Kershner was able to direct the actors in a way that Lucas never could, and Kasdan infused new life into the script. I have nothing against George but the prequels and the OT fiascos are really pissing me off. At least we can remember the George Lucas who made the phenominal THX-1138.

THX-1138 was made by the same guy who made AOTC? HOW IN THE HELL DID THIS HAPPEN??

VADER!? WHERE THE HELL IS MY MOCHA LATTE? -Palpy on a very bad day.
“George didn’t think there was any future in dead Han toys.”-Harrison Ford
YT channel:
https://www.youtube.com/c/DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader

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"Fuck you. All the star wars movies were excellent. none of them sucked. Also, revenge of the sith is the best."

- DarthZorgon (YouTube)

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I watched all of confusedmatthew's movie reviews of the prequels. Confusedmatthew interprets only what is seen on screen as canon, but I think George Lucas intended a lot of the character developement and the story to be interpreted off screen. I think it was just lazy film making, a way to get out of doing "the hard parts". It is not a good way to make a movie and one of the fatal mistakes with the prequels IMO. No matter whether you're a die hard SW fan, know all of the EU stuff, watch all of the TV shows, and collect all the merchandise, or if you're just an average Joe who knows little or nothing about SW, everyone can enjoy the OT and understand the plot. In the prequels, GL almost makes you have to read EU and watch the Clone Wars Cartoon before you understand what is going on. The movies throw you into the world with little explanation and the idea is you're suspose to just become absorbed, it worked in the OT because the OT focused on characters, you were able to suspend disbeleif, but in the prequels, they focus on politics, insult our intelligence and didn't connect with the audience. The PT to me seems like a bunch of ideas linked together in contrived manners. GL was obviously a lot more concerned about incorperating a bunch ideas in the movies rather than making a beleivable, coherant story. There are so many instances where GL put stupid pointless shit from the OT in the PT, it is hard to know where to start. For starters, Anakin building C3P0, that was a horrible idea, Boba Fett in AOTC might have been even worse. The Death Star in AOTC? I would've much preferred a convincing story rather than see so much screen time wasted on a bunch of characters and stuff from the OT poping up in the prequels.

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Seriously.  The Death Star didn't need to be in either Episodes 2 or 3.

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generalfrevious said:

Well then, Lucas couldn't even realize that Anakin was the lynchpin of his vision and not be some emo kid that nobody likes.

I think when Lucas came back to Star Wars in 94 (or maybe even as early as 90, judging by a quote), he had a thoroughly revised interpretation of the story and the characters and he totally changed the sort of person Anakin was supposed to be. Hayden's performance makes it worse, but if you look at the writing for Anakin it's not good either. Whiney megalomaniac who goes "I hate you!" and all that. Hayden's performance may actually be what Lucas was looking for, what he envisioned Anakin as. In other words, his vision of Anakin got totally screwed and became entirely incompatible with the OT. I mean, no way is Sebastian Shaw playing an older version of the guy we saw in the prequels and no way is the OT's Vader the same guy as Hayden's Anakin, or as Mr "Nooooooo!" either.