Again, spoilers ahoy
Okay, I loved episode II, just to say. It rekindled my hope for the series after the abysmal episode I, and here's why. Has anybody else noticed that I and II are very similar to IV and V? A New Hope and Phantom Menace were both fairly self contained, meaning they could be viewed alone and accepted- no cliffhangars. This meant they had to be short- they had to contain complete introductions to characters and complete closure, which limits your time in between for dramatic content. Empire strikes back and Attack of the Clones were not self contained, though- they both had cliffhangers and open beginnings that assume you saw the ones before them. Also, Episodes II and V were both more romantic than their predicessors, we saw more planets in each of them, there was a cool giant ground-battle scene in both, more yoda by the percentages, and more big revelations (Vader is Skywalker's father, re-building of the death star, where the deat star came from, who boba fett is, and both of the emperor's overall plans are revieled). I think the biggest parallell is the way the story was structured though- In episodes I and IV, there were bands of characters- Luke, ObiWan, 3PO, R2, Han, Chewie, and Leia compared to Quaigon, Obiwan, Jar Jar, Padme, and young Anikan. These bands of characters traveled everywhere together, and only out of necessity. In II and V, though, the characters split up ALOT, and actually decide to go places on their own accord. Also, look at the supporting non-main-but-still-major characters- very few in I and IV, witht the exceptions of Grand Moff Tarken and Watto, but more in II and V, with Lando, Mace Windu, Yoda, Boba Fett, Jenga Fett, Count Dukoo, the cloning guys, the diner alien- much more depth. I think, from a story structure point of view, that the middle installment of each trilogy has an advantage, because it has something to work off of from the first, but it doesn't have to wrap it all up yet. It can be very steadily paced and detailed, no heavy responsibilities for over-all introductions or closure like the first parts have to have, just updating. The entire movie can be devoted to the advancement of characters we're already familiar with, so it can concentrate on just that. Which is probably why even the most die-hard fans generally think of Empire Strikes Back as the best of IV V VI, and I'm thinking that Attack of the Clones will probably be considered the best of I II III. But only time will tell for sure.
Man, talk about your over-analysis. Am I crazy, or does any of this make sense?
|
Attack of the clones
I rate this movie a ten in my book. which is great!
