George Lucas' Star Wars 'prequilogy' continued with Star Wars Episode II
- Attack Of The Clones; a more entertaining venture into ILM wonderland,
cruelly let-down (again) by a mediocre Lucas screenplay. The
technicalities of the film managed to impress those who love their
spectacle big, the near-absence of Jar Jar Binks nipped fanboy rants in
the bud, and drunken discussions debating the outcome of a Yoda Vs Neo
fistfight ensued. A flawed guilty pleasure.
The tiny mouse Stuart Little returned for the imaginatively titled
Stuart Little 2, now with a feathered girlfriend (voice by Melanie
Griffith). Another fun adventure for the kids with some excellent
special-effects for Stuart himself, voiced to perfection by Michael J.
Fox. Cute harmless fun, although lacking the original's smart
screenplay.
With best-friend Matt Damon turning into an unlikely action hero with
The Bourne Identity, Ben Affleck jumped straight into the genre with The
Sum Of All Fears. The film was another Tom Clancy adaptation starring
the Jack Ryan character previously portrayed by Harrison Ford, who
decided not to star. The movie performed adequately at the box-office,
but the lure of Affleck as action-man just wasn't enough. Either that,
or everyone realized the trailer gave the whole plot away!
Reese Witherspoon is being primed as the next Julia Roberts following
her enjoyable performance in Legally Blonde. Let's hope she's not the
next Alicia Silverstone as seems more befitting. The 'Spoon had a true
smash-hit this year with Sweet Home Alabama, a rom-com with plenty of
vacuous moments and touchy-feely good vibes. The Americans loved its
sappy tones, the Brits avoided like the plague.
Films don't disappoint quite as annoyingly as The Time Machine – a
second film adaptation of the H.G Wells novel. Guy Pearce played the
love-sick Professor who builds a time-machine to stop the murder of his
fiancée (as you do) only to wind up 40,000 years in the future fighting
cannibal Morlocks from Samantha Mumba's species of Eloi. Directed by
H.G's grandson Simon, the project was cursed from the start. John
Logan's script was solid - but a post-9/11 world demanded the omission
of a key sequence that saw New York destroyed. The Morlock creatures
were shoddy throwbacks to 80's animatronics, and Jeremy Irons' villain
had less screen time than the film's trailer! Overall, a waste of time,
and better suited as a TV-movie.
Nicolas Cage didn't have much luck this year. His months-old marriage to
Lisa-Marie Presley ended in divorce, his dreams of starring as a
superhero further diminished, and he also starred in another of John
Woo's sadly multiplying cinematic turkeys. Windtalkers was to have been
a kinetic tale of friendship set against the backdrop of World War II.
It became this year's Pearl Harbor. Woo's style is at-odds with the
period setting, Cage looks lost, and the action sequences are
surprisingly tame. Must try harder, Woo. Someone give the man back his
twin-guns and slow-motion playback.
The name's Diesel. Vin Diesel. xXx marked the supposed birth of the Next
Action Hero™ - with slap-head Vin Diesel having great fun trying to
out-Bond 007 in Rob Cohen's preposterous marriage of espionage and
extreme sports. Hardly the Hollywood-hyped threat 007 fans feared (thank
God) mainly because it offered nothing new beyond its OTT stunts. Still,
solid entertainment for those wanting pure visceral thrills with their
popcorn.
THE Best Action Sequence Of 2002 The nerve-jangling Helm's Deep onslaught in The Two Towers. CGI has
never been so effectively employed. George Lucas take note.
THE Best Newcomer Of 2002 Jake Gyllenhaal for Donnie Darko. An immediate star. Impressive,
evocative, talented... you were just drawn to the screen.
THE Man of 2002 Tobey Maguire. Maguire has been around for years, but only found
mainstream success and fame with his accomplished performance as Peter
Parker in Spider-Man. A potentially dumb film was raised a notch or
three by Maguire's sensitive portrayal of a well-meaning everyman.
THE Woman of 2002 Halle Berry. Fresh from Oscar success (the first black woman to receive
a Best Actress Award - for Monster's Ball), Berry proved herself one of
the best Bond Girls of recent times in Die Another Day.
THE Best Special Effects of 2002 Gollum for The Two Towers. The best CGI character ever created.
Expressive, emotive, expertly realized and given life by actor Andy
Serkis. A sterling effort and a landmark for special-effects.
THE Kiss of 2002 Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst for Spider-Man. Every teen's wet dream:
you're given superpowers, you save the city from danger, then you get to
kiss a wet-shirted Kirsten Dunst (upside-down).
THE Best Line of 2002 "With great power comes great responsibility. This is my gift, my curse.
Who am I? I'm Spider-Man!" - Tobey Maguire, Spider-Man
THE Best Moment of 2002 Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi lay defeated on the ground at the
feet of Count Dooku, Anakin's hand sliced clean off by a lightsabre.
Just as it looks as if Dooku will make his escape, who should come
shuffling into the room? Yoda. The best screen fight of the year is then
played out to crowd-pleasing results. It could have been funny. Well, it
IS funny. But funny in a cool way.
THE Best Mystery of 2002 Sadly not the plot of Scooby Doo, but the plot for Mulholland Drive.
Just when you think you've got a handle on the film, the last Act
arrives. Startlingly brilliant and bizarre, yet with the a surreal kind
of drippy logic...
THE Sequel of 2002 The Two Towers. Not quite as good as Fellowship due to its limitations
as a middle film, but still a supremely confident return to Middle Earth
blessed with better effects and more rousing and memorable moments.
THE Disappointment of 2002 Panic Room. Still a very good movie, but expectation in the wake of
David Fincher's master-class of movie-making Fight Club left audiences
(and particularly fans) wanting so much more thrills...
THE Biggest Scare of 2002 Signs. Mel Gibson. Alone. Corn field. Torch. Alien... oooh...
THE Biggest Laugh of 2002 Austin Powers In Goldmember. Austin infiltrates Dr Evil's sub with the
help of Mini-Me, by standing on the tiny clone's shoulders wearing a
long trenchcoat. Then they're questioned by a henchman and given a
medical examination...
THE Best Trailer of 2002 It has to be Spider-Man. Fresh, vibrant and funny. It also helped that
it had fantastic backing music... and what a killer final line that
'Superman' jibe was! Excellent work that appeased critics that director
Sam Raimi could handle such a big project.
THE Film of 2002 In reverse order, starting at #10:
10. Road To Perdition
09. Blade II
08. Signs
07. Minority Report
06. Die Another Die
05. Harry Potter & The Chamber Of Secrets
04. Spider-Man
03. Mulholland Drive
02. Donnie Darko
01. The Lord Of The Rings – The Two Towers
And so onward to 2003. A year that should see the superhero movie
dominate the box-office in the wake of Spider-Man with Daredevil, The
Hulk, X-Men 2, League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and two Matrix sequels
to look forward to. If you thought 2002 was big business, just imagine
the combined takings of those beauties!
Then we have the return of Tarantino with Kill Bill, which also ensures
2003 will also be remembered for martial-arts – as it joins the ranks of
the aforementioned Matrix sequels and Tom Cruise's The Last Samurai,.
Sequels are well-catered for (as always), with... deep breath... Matrix
2, Matrix 3 (have I mentioned those?), the final Lord Of The Rings epic
at Christmas, Dirty Dancing 2, Jeepers Creepers 2, Final Destination 2,
Terminator 3, Bad Boys 2, Charlie's Angels 2, Shanghai Knights, Freddy
Vs Jason, Tomb Raider II, Legally Blonde 2, Jungle Book 2 and American
Pie 3! Phew!
And the post-Phantom Menace vogue for prequels? Yes, with Dumb &
Dumberer and Exorcist – The Beginning. So there.
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
