AI-Themed Blogging: STAR WARS: EPISODE II - ATTACK OF THE CLONES - Photo credit: justwatch, edition by Amber255 for bitLanders.com
The whole Star Wars franchise is a phenomenon in the cinematography, a phenomenon that will be not forgotten. A phenomenon that not only showed spectacular battles in the universe but also involved artificial intelligence.
If after the first part of the Star Wars creation in 1977, there was not originally thought of making a continuation, the works of the second part of the so-called prehistory trilogy began practically immediately after the first episode's release. Started filming in 2000, episode II in cinemas came in 2002. George Lucas, the creator of this cosmic odyssey, sat again in the director's chair.
The technical wizardry of the action scenes are ultimately more important than the story and reason enough for nonbelievers to see and enjoy the movie.
Credit: stltoday
Unfortunately, although it has received quite a lot of positive criticism compared to the episode I, ATTACK OF THE CLONES became the first Star Wars series of films that did not rank first in the year by earned money. ATTACK OF THE CLONES was overtaken by Spider-Man and the second part of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The film was nominated for Oscar for the best video effects.
Episode 2 relies on the line of the first film and continues the thread to address the issue of bringing the restless Republic to order.
STAR WARS: EPISODE II - ATTACK OF THE CLONES trailer - Video credit: youtube
The Plot
Ten years after the events seen in Episode I, the situation in the galaxy has changed. In the Republic, the separatist movement, led by the mysterious Count Dooku (Christopher Lee), is intensifying. More and more planets are threatening to leave the Republic.
Senator Padme Amidala (Natalie Portman), former Queen of Naboo, is going to the Senate to vote on the creation of a clone army, as the Jedi forces are no longer enough to support peace. But during the journey, the senator is attacked. Former Naboo Senator, and now Supreme Chancellor Palpatine (Ian MacDiarmid), worried about Amidala's security, requires her to be protected by Jedi.
This task is entrusted to Jedi (Ewan McGregor) and his assistant Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen), who has grown from a sweet boy to a strong, but not always coping with his emotions young man. In Coruscant, the Senator is being attacked again, but the Jedis who have chased the attacker are unable to get the answer who wants Amidala's death.
The Jedi Council instructs Obi-Wan Kenobi to clarify the matter, and Anakin must go with Padme to Naboo. For Anakin, this is not only an opportunity to prove that he is able to handle both without the help of Obi-Wan Kenobi, but also the opportunity to spend more time with Padme, for whom hidden feelings for ten years are coming back.
At that time, Obi-Wan Kenobi flies to the Kamino - Ocean Planet, strangely disappeared from the archives and star maps, and finds there a huge clone army creation for the Republic.
Star Wars franchise - Photo credit:see-aych
The Content
On the one hand, it was easier to present the ATTACK OF THE CLONES to viewers than THE PHANTOM MENACE. There were fewer expectations added to this film, so the number of disappointed viewers was smaller. On the other hand, those who did not like The Phantom Menace at all could more or less feel what will be presented in the second episode and with such a precondition to ignore this film.
However, while the overall ATTACK OF THE CLONES have received even more positive feedback from critics than The Phantom Menace (perhaps because filmmakers have at least partly taken into account the remarks made to Episode I), we still can find some flaws.
Most of the criticism gets the film scenario. While other parts of the Star Wars shown events in one or the other weave the main thread of the story, then watching the ATTACK OF THE CLONES, there is a feeling that creators just wanted to fill the time from the beginning to the end of the movie.
Star Wars prequel trilogy ATTACK OF THE CLONES - Photo credit: imdb
In general, the full implementation of a film sometimes resembles a computer game and not a film - both visually and conceptually. In addition, this time, as never, we see a lot of strange jumps and other moves - this is a fantastic movie, but everything could be done more convincingly. And at the end of the film, even the double-use Deus ex machina method is one of the weakest directing decisions.
It looks like George Lukas considered that there was not enough politics in the Phantom Menace, and as a result, practically the whole film we look at political squabbles, disputes of the Jedi Council and the love affair of Anakin and Padme.
While reading ATTACK OF THE CLONES review, check QUERLO CHAT for more themes of artificial intelligence:
And where is the action you ask; it is at the very end of the film. ATTACK OF THE CLONES is a very epic film due to awesome battles. One battle on Geonosis is worth something: gladiatorial battles with beasts, a battle of the Jedi and droids, a battle of clones and droids, a battle on lightsabers.
It is a pity that the second film of the prequel trilogy is already a painful political drama, not an adventure, fantasy, but we should put a plus for the battle at the end; already for that, the second episode is better than the first one.
AI-Themed Blogging: STAR WARS: EPISODE II - ATTACK OF THE CLONES - Photo credit: imdb
Dialogues - this is what everyone notices, and I also noticed this. As far as in this film, with all the strong drama we have stupid dialogues. This applies only to Anakin and Padme. They talk about the sand, the love to water, the hearth inside them. Interesting, Lucas gave someone read what he wrote, or he decided that since he is the creator, then he can write whatever he wants? The dialogues in these romantic scenes are so unrealistic, stupid, not even vanilla, but stupid, that I want my ears to tear off or rewind the film. It really spoils everything; because of this, I never understood the essence of Anakin’s fears.
In ATTACK OF THE CLONES is too much politics, too much talk, too many Senate battles. It seems to me because of this I considered this episode the worst of all because watching the heroes for 2,5 hours how they stand in the room and discuss how unhappy they are, along with wretched dialogues - it’s really uncomfortable.
Artificial intelligence in Star Wars: ATTACK OF THE CLONES - Photo credit: topsimages
The Characters
Dry dialogues and characters based on clichés are not adding much charm. This is especially true of the sluggish storyline of Anakin and Amidala love story. The controversial relationship of this pair is developed according to the cliché template - we cannot, but love disregards the prohibition.
The drama here is, of course, about the relationship between Anakin and Padme. The drama is not perfect here, but we must admit that all these metamorphoses of Anakin, his panic attacks because of the mother, the fear that he cannot protect anyone, that he feels that his mentor suppresses him and because of this he breaks down - this is done strong. This adds the charm to Star Wars.
Anakin : Attachment is forbidden. Possession is forbidden. Compassion, which I would define as unconditional love, is essential to a Jedi's life. So you might say, that we are encouraged to love.
Credit: imdb
Watching Anakin's behavior is really alarming, and I think great merit of this belongs to Hayden Christensen. In my opinion, he perfectly embodied a young man who feels that being a Jedi, he is not omnipotent and cannot protect his loved ones.
Star Wars prequel trilogy ATTACK OF THE CLONES - Photo credit:imdb
True, the prayers of the Star Wars series' fans have been heard and the filmmakers, taking into account the criticism of Part One, have greatly reduced the time of Jar Jar Binks (Ahmed Best) on the screen.
If in the first episode, he was entering the screen enough often and led some viewers to the despair, then there were only two scenes with this Gungan in episode II.
So, while Lucas often likes to kill his characters in a simple way, we can see Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, Padme Amidala, Palpatine, Jar Jar Binks, Master Mace Windu, already seen in Episode I, and, of course, Master Yoda, as well as the funny droids R2D2 and C-3PO. All the sadness of the film brightens exactly these two droids: R2D2 and C-3PO.
Artificial intelligence in Star Wars: ATTACK OF THE CLONES - Photo credit: starwarsscreencaps
Padme Amidala, more often looked to be shy than resolute. Anakin resembles a big, eternally grumpy child, and not a young man fighting with internal contradictions. Obi-Wan Kenobi is freer but at the same time more mature than in the 1st episode.
True, a new antagonist is emerging - Count Dooku; Jango Fett (Temuera Morrison) gets some time on the screen too. However, this new film does not offer any new interesting character.
I do not understand - they have Christopher Lee. He could create from Count Dooku not just a villain but an antihero many times more interesting than Vader if Lucas gave more screen time to this personage, but no, they filled the film with silly dialogues, which carry almost no semantic meaning.
ATTACK OF THE CLONES review - Photo credit: lucasfilmes.wordpress
The Technical Side
The technical side of the film looks better compared to the episode I. There's plenty of action scenes to convey which needs a dynamic montage.
The breathtaking computer graphics create spectacular urban landscapes of the distant galaxy. True, not all the special effects were done without reproach - in some cases, the invisible hand intervention is more than obvious. Yes, the graphics and the 'green screen' sometimes hurt the eyes, but, funny to say, some modern blockbusters look worse in this respect than the ATTACK OF THE CLONES made in 2002.
The second episode is the widest of the entire Star Wars' universe. The peak of a distant galaxy is shown in this film. Here we have everything: Coruscant, Naboo, the planet Camilo, Geonosis, Tatooine, and all this in combination with landscapes, houses of Coruscant, deserts, asteroids in space look gorgeous. In short, ATTACK OF THE CLONES is a film, watching which you plunge into this huge galaxy, and you understand what a genius Lucas is, and how awesome ideas he came up with.
The work of the camera is good, especially in action scenes where different vision perspectives are presented.
STAR WARS: EPISODE II - ATTACK OF THE CLONES - George Lucas Interview - Video credit: youtube
Special thanks I want to say decorators and fashion designers who created the ships and costumes for the Jedi; they approached the universe of Star Wars very precisely and created such correct outfits and not clown costumes, this also happens.
The soundtrack also delights more. If in I episode it was somehow floating and indefinite, without a brighter subject, then not only the musical motifs well-known from the original trilogy come back, but also independent compositions sound in the ATTACK OF THE CLONES.
The Actors
Young actors again got some criticism. But, in my opinion, the characters are really very template and just had not the opportunity to show the actors' skills; however - the young actors have a little lack of experience.
Ewan McGregor and Natalie Portman (Obi-Wan and Padme) remained on their roles, and there are no complaints about them; the actors still look organically in their images and play quite adequately.
Hayden Christensen, who has been selected from many candidates for the role of Anakin Skywalker, failed to convey the duality of his character and the growing strength of the Dark Force. In contrast to him, Ewan McGregor's performance gave positive feelings.
ATTACK OF THE CLONES review - Photo credit: wallpaperflare
Of the secondary characters and the actors who played them, I want to mention Samuel L. Jackson, who embodies the master Mace Windu and Christopher Lee, who played the main antagonist Count Dooku (the roles of bad guys is like a business card to this actor).
On A Final Note
STAR WARS: EPISODE II - ATTACK OF THE CLONES is an intermediate link in the prehistory trilogy, often resemble a computer game and not a movie. Technically, the second part is to combine episodes I and III. Basically, might not even combine them, but just to fill the existing gap, so when you watch this movie, you often the feeling does not leave you that everything has only been done just from the affair.
In general, the episode is still not as bad as it could be. There is a decent action at the end, an interesting detective line by Kenobi, and even Coruscant’s political life is interesting to watch time from time. The problem is that this episode could be better.
Of course, the magic of Star Wars is felt here as well, and it incorporates into its cosmic infinity, so the film looks quite good, but it is a series of more impressive images than a consistent story.
AI-Themed Blogging: STAR WARS: EPISODE II - ATTACK OF THE CLONES - Photo credit: wallpaperflare
I can say that the ATTACK OF THE CLONES is a really good film by the great George Lucas. This is a large-scale, epic, atmospheric cosmic epic, watching which you admire the battles and, at the same time, feel the rising threat from the conversations of the characters. The main problem of the film, as I said, is too stupid romantic dialogues and too big a turn towards politics. Yes, there is action, but these incomprehensible political battles even more.
But in general, I think ATTACK OF THE CLONES has passed the test of time. The second episode is really a war. It is interesting when the stars' peace will come to the Star Wars Universe? Maybe in Episode III? We will see.
Padme : I'm not afraid to die. I've been dying a little bit each day since you came back into my life.
Anakin : What are you talking about?
Padme : I love you.
Anakin : You love me? I thought we had decided not to fall in love. That we'd be forced to live a lie and that it would destroy our lives.
Padme : I think our lives are about to be destroyed anyway. I truly... deeply... love you and before we die I want you to know.
Credit: imdb
My rating: 6.5/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 65/100
Metacritic: 54/100
Critics average: 54/100
IMDb: 6.6/10
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