Movie Review: Attack of the Clones

Well, this is my first review of a Star Wars movie. The question of how little old me is to review a master like George Lucas weighs heavy on my soul! But, go on as I must, I shall review.

There are movies, and then there are Lucasfilms. This is a Lucasfilm. Despite my enthusiasm, however, I must admit that I was disappointed. And here is why: In the original films the technology that Lucas had at his disposal was truly in its infancy. The technology that he did use was marveled at and rightly made him famous. Now, despite the awe in which the originals find themselves today they did have some problems. Mainly the acting was lack luster and some of the dialogue shabby. If great visual effects, bad acting and cheesy dialogues was all that characterized a Star Wars movie, then Attack of the Clones fits in well. However, to my mind, the genius of the first series lay in the mythology, symbolism and classic characters that Lucas brings together into one epic and heroic story. The acting, dialogue AND the effects were of secondary importance to the incredible and simple story that Lucas is able to tell in a filmed format.

Attack of the Clones focusses too much on the effects at the expense of characters and story. This episode was perhaps the crucial installment of the series. Like The Empire Strikes Back, this episode is all about setup. Here's the problem: the story is so complicated that much needs to happen and be said. Also, the story calls for giant battles and awesome chases. Putting all of this into one movie is a great challenge. I think Lucas did a great job with the battles and chases. The problem is that they take up too much time and the stuff that needs to be said in order to bring us up to date and to move the plot ends up in drawn out dialogues that seem flat. They needed to happen as part of the action. There is a glimpse of Lucas' forgotten genius when Anakin goes to rescue his mother. Here the plot is moved by the action and the characters are developed. All three work together.In other scenes only one is developed. During the droid factory sequence we have stunning visuals lots of action, no plot and no character. The focus on the visuals is inefficient and Lucas consequently needs to rely on crappy dialogue (like the Anakin-Padmay discussions) to do what needs to be done.

Nonetheless Attack of the Clones remains a decent movie. I look forward to the next installment, though I am fearful that Lucas will need two movies to get what needs to be done done. I will abstain from giving this film a rating though.. It is too hard to separate enthusiasm and all of the baggage that accompanies a Star Wars movie from any objective criticism. If a Lucasfilm fails as a Lucasfilm is it not still a superlative film?

Movie Review: Spiderman

Wow, talk about a cool movie!

I've always been a big Spidey fan and have lamented the absence of a Spiderman movie ever since the original Batman movie came out.

I'm not going to draw out this review. The movie doesn't really need a review. It's a simple movie, nothing is really complicated. There are no no complex themes, or anything that really needs interpretation. Good and Evil are easy to identify. This simplicity is part of the beauty.

The movie is a comic book put on film, and that's all that I wanted. It has the feel of a comic and not a movie. You can't put deep thematic developments into a rag aimed at kids. You can put simple action, black and white moral situations and heroic and villainous characters. The formula is simple and time tested. The action and moral clarity dominate the film so that we can get to the action. Sappy love stories are, at best, secondary - young boys want to see fights, not kisses. Though perhaps these boys, now that they are older, would prefer to see Kirsten Dunst.

The acting was fine, though Aunt May and Spiderman get the best treatment. The Green Goblin (Willem Defoe) is great. Defoe was an excellent choice. He can play the sympathetic father, lunatic, businessman, and supervillain. He gets my vote as one of the most under appreciated actors out there. Charges of over acting have been levied, and perhaps they are justified. But this is a comic book. Things like heroes and villains are all supposed to "super" so exaggeration is necessary. If you don't like it, well, guess what? It's part of the genre, too bad.

As for the visuals, well, contrary to Mr Ebert, they were perfect. The images portray everything as they should be portrayed. The ordinary scenes are ordinary, but when the masks get put on, the rules don't apply. That's what being a superhero is. If the rules applied to you, you wouldn't be "super." Again Ebert is wrong. Parker has his problems in the real world, and that's why so many people can sypathize with him, but when he is Spiderman he leaves his problems behind and the rules that physical and social that we all deal with no longer apply.

In short, this is a comic book on film and it works - I like it.

On the official Chris' Choice scale Spiderman gets four stars.

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