Extras:
8 Deleted Scenes, From Puppets to Pixels, Audio Commentary,
Films Are Not Released: They Escape, Featurettes, Web Documentary
Series, Across the Stars Music Video, Trailers, TV Spots, Theatrical
Posters, R2-D2: Beneath the Dome, Production Photo Gallery, Visual
Effects Montage.
Director:
George Lucas
Screenplay:
George Lucas and Johnathan Hales
Cast:
Anakin Skywalker: Hayden Christensen
Padme Amidala: Natalie Portman
Obi-Wan Kenobi: Ewan McGregor
Mace Windu: Samuel L. Jackson
Yoda (voice): Frank Oz
Supreme Chancellor Palpatine: Ian McDirmid
Jango Fett: Temuera Morrisson
Count Dooku: Christopher Lee
How can people hate this film?
Comparing the "new trilogy" to the
original cannot be done. We didn't get
Phantom Menace
for 16 years and
look how much technology had advanced. Someone like George Lucas
wouldn't just keep using the same techniques of effects. So do people
hate these new installments because of the CGI? I think so. Even in
Menace and Clones I felt they lacked a sense of realism the others had
down pat. That was part of the appeal of the first films, wires and
models.
The characters hurt the new installments as well. Luke and Han are not
here and Chewie is nowhere in sight. But what appeals to us in this movie
is that we know who Anakin is destined to become, we know who Senator
Palpatine is, and we know Jar Jar is ressponisble for the mess to
follow; what's interesting is how they get there.
Attack of the Clones tells a fairly more complex story than Menace.
While the "what now?" political references are here the kiddy feel to
the plot has not carried over. Queen Amidala (played by the hot Natalie
Portman) is now a senator and Anakin, ten years older, is a Jedi in
training. Obi-Wan Kenobi acts as Anakin's mentor as Qui-Gon had before.
Obi-Wan and Anakin have been assigned to protect Amidal after a failed
assassination attempt. After another attempt on her life, this time by a
bounty hunter, Obi-Wan sets out to track down the shooter of a poison
dart and discovers a major event that will shape the Star Wars Universe.
Anakin takes Amidala into seclusion on Naboo and of course... they
engage in one fo the sappiest love stories seen on screen.
That's where many believe the film falls apart. The love story does
knock the wind out of the sails a bit, but only a little. In between we
join Obi-Wan as he fights bounty hunter Jango Fett (in one of the
coolest SW fights) and engages in an awesome asteroid chase that needs
to be heard to believe. Suffer through the love story and you'll see the
glory that is the Clone War. And, come on, the movie isn't THAT bad to
the fact where you shouldn't watch it. Let's run down the list: more
references to Darth Vader, bounty hunters plus a Boba Fett in training,
Natalie Portman as Padme, Yoda fighting, asteroid chase, even a hologram
of the Death Star! What more do you want?
If you have seen the TV spots for the DVD release you know what to
expect from the video department. This is a perfect transfer ported from
the digital source. Presented in anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen (to my
dismay there is a cropped full frame version available as well as a
newly released full frame version of Menace) this looks great. Blacks
are entirely solid and colors are fleshed out when needed. Colors are
particulary sharp and vibrant during the Clone War. I noticed very
minimal pixelization in interior scenes but nothing obtrusive.
The audio is as perfect as the video. A 5.1 track has never been so
alive. The cars in Coruscant, the buzz of a lightsaber, the distant
waterfalls of Naboo, all shine perfectly throughout. In theaters I
always waited (I saw it 3 times) for the asteroid chase between Jango
and Obi-Wan. When Jango fires those seismic charges it becomes silent
and then this huge wave of vibration rocks forward. That part was
awesome in theaters and has carried over very well on DVD. The only
memorable sound from a DVD is Lord of the Rings when Sauron explodes
during the prologue.
The extras are of course spread over two discs. Here's how it all stacks
up:
Disc 1:
Audio Commentary:
George Lucas, Rick McCallum (the man who thinks DVD
is killing Hollywood), Ben Burtt, Rob Coleman, Pablo Hellman, John
Knoll, and Ben Snow. Subtitles saying who is speaking is are included.
Disc 2:
TV Spots and Trailers:
4 trailers are presented here in anamorphic
2.35:1 widescreen. 3 are teasers (the laughably bad "love" one is here)
and the full trailer. 12 TV spots are here as well. 9 focus on
individual characters and 4 on action. The TV spots are presented in
non-anamorphic 1.66:1 widescreen. Last is the "Across the Stars" music
video presented in anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen.
Documentaries:
"From Puppets to Pixels" is presented in anamorphic
1.85:1 widescreen and runs 52 minutes. This documentary is well produced
and worth a watch. Focuses on the formation of Yoda and other digital
characters. "State of the Art: The Previsualization of Episode II" runs
23 minutes and is presented in anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen. This
documentary is also interesting despite the sometimes annoying
soundtrack in the background.
Deleted Scenes:
8 scenes are here with or without intros from the
crew. All are anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen and runs 12 minutes total.
Some are interesting but it's a good thing those scenes of Padme's house
didn't make it in.
Featurettes:
"Story" and "Love" both run 9 minutes and are presented
in anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen. "Action" runs 8 minutes and is
anamorphic. Each featurette features interviews from the cast and crew.
Web Documentaries:
12 total, all run under 8 minutes and are presented
in anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen. These are the most interesting as they
are short and straight to the point. Definitely check these out.
Dex's Kitchen and Still Galleries:
Stills include production photos,
international posters, and outdoor campaign. Dex's Kitchen houses the
"Films are Not Released: They Escape" documentary which runs 25 minutes.
"Episode II Visual Effects Montage" is pretty col and runs 3 minutes.
"R2-D2: Beneath the Dome" trailer (the full thing is said to be a
Suncoast exclusive DVD sometime soon) runs 6 minutes and is anamorphic.
Overall, Fox has put together one of the best extra packages on the
market and puts 'Spider-Man' to shame.
Packaging is amaray with a holder inside for 2 DVDs. Clones is split
into an enormous 50 chapters (makes
Big Trouble's
11 chapters seem
pretty pithy). The cover sports a terrible "cast" photo that should have
included the poster instead. Menus are beautifully animated and the same
template that was used in Menace's DVD is carried over flawlessly.
With all the Menace comparisons you probably thought I was reviewing
that bad movie but this is Clones alright. I liked Clones a lot and
think that Lucas finally got it together again and gave fans something
to proud of. The DVD is also one of the best on the market. Now if we
didn't have to wait until 2005 for the originals to come out on DVD.....
DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
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
